You know those bumper stickers that say things like "there's no rainbow without rain" or "sometimes it gets darker before it gets lighter?" Well, I think they should make one that says "sometimes the tragus bump must get nastier before it gets better." In other words, the witch hazel was a success! I used it 2-3 times a day for 3 days and since then, the keloid went from what my dad refers to as a "big nasty zit about to explode" :P to a smaller, lighter, and all around more tolerable scar. What's been happening is a layer of skin will kinda die or something and peel off. And be even smaller. I'm almost afraid to say anything for fear that I will jinx it, but to anybody trying to rid themselves of a keloid, I highly recommend witch hazel. It smells a little funky, but it doesn't burn and it helps so much!
I will post a picture of the improvement whenever I get the chance.Until then...
This is Maddie, enjoying not looking like a bee stung my ear :)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The Tragus (Part 2)
The keloid that I have (not so affectionately) named the demon-bump or something along those lines had not gotten any smaller. In fact, it's gotten worse! Now, it looks like this (sorry it's sideways):
Needless to say... the aspirin trick didn't work. Not to say that it's the culprit for making it worse. That could be from having it bleed last Wednesday, or that I still slept on it, whatever the reason is, it is driving me CRAZY! Next I think I'm gonna try Witch Hazel. If that doesn't work, I'll move on to tea tree oil or just ask my doctor. Grrrr... this is making me really mad.
This is Maddie getting really frustrated because this is my favorite location for a piercing and this scar is ruining it :(
 |
| Disgusting. Freaking disgusting! |
This is Maddie getting really frustrated because this is my favorite location for a piercing and this scar is ruining it :(
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Tragus (Part 1)
Well my tragus piercing has been causing me grief here lately so I decided to kick off this blog with that story... But first you should know this: I have had 8 needles go through my ears and my piercings have (for the most part) seen the good, the bad and the ugly.
Now, for my 16th birthday, my dad let me get my tragus pierced. Your tragus is the flap of cartilage on the side of your face covering your ear. When you have ear buds in, this is what holds them in. So there I sat in a tattoo shop that was inside a 100 year old house. It sounds weird but the place was really cool, professional, but most importantly it was immaculately clean. The lady who pierced my ear showed me that all of the supplies were sterile and the next thing I knew she had shoved a needle through my ear. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt, it definitely did! My other piercings were nothing compared to this. But before too long, the pain had subsided and I had a little hook with a blue bead in the middle through my tragus. It was sore for a few days afterwards, but nothing too bad (you think your ears don't move? Get your tragus pierced and I can promise you will feel it in your ear when you smile, talk, laugh, etc.). Over the next few weeks it seemed to be healing well, and just like with all my earrings, I would spin the hoop around, push it up and down, whatever when I was bored. Sounds good, right? Wrong.
The other day when I was looking in the mirror, I noticed that the red spot near the piercing wasn't just a little red scar dot, it was a keliod (you say it like key-loid). Everybody who gets anything pierced hears horror stories about gigantic keloids forming. Thankfully mine only looks something like this (that's not my own ear, though). Well, when I saw that devilish little bump, I basically freaked out, worrying that my ear would become this nasty mutant scar-growth. I squeezed it, I picked at it, I even tried to poke it with a sewing needle. Which I'm sure is just asking for an infection, but I put it through a flame to sanitize it first so hopefully that helped, also I put hydrogen peroxide on afterwards, too. Anyways... It wasn't shrinking! So, being my paranoid-must-fix-it-now self, I went on the internet.to research. I don't recommend this because one of two things tend to happen: 1) You think you have something super rare and think you are going to die or something OR 2) on rare occasion, you find valuable information that actually helps you out. Fortunately, the second happened.
Of the "cures" I found, the most common were making a paste out of aspirin and warm water, tea tree oil, or surgery. Well, just like horror stories of keliods from tragus piercings gone wrong, there are plenty of stories of what could happen if you try to cure them. Tea tree oil, although it sounds like is very affective, can burn your skin. If you feel the need to see that burn, click here! Surgery can cause keliods to come back, and come back bigger, resulting in something resembling this. NASTY!!! So, seeing as I don't have tea tree oil, don't want to risk burns or growing of the keliod. I thought I'd give the whole aspirin-paste thing a try. I actually went back to the place I got it pierced at to ask them. The conversation went something like this:
This is Maddie, reminding you that I am not a medical doctor so don't try and sue me if you try what I'm doing and it goes horribly wrong. I highly doubt it would, but hey morons can find a way to screw themselves over in the dumbest ways. :)
Now, for my 16th birthday, my dad let me get my tragus pierced. Your tragus is the flap of cartilage on the side of your face covering your ear. When you have ear buds in, this is what holds them in. So there I sat in a tattoo shop that was inside a 100 year old house. It sounds weird but the place was really cool, professional, but most importantly it was immaculately clean. The lady who pierced my ear showed me that all of the supplies were sterile and the next thing I knew she had shoved a needle through my ear. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt, it definitely did! My other piercings were nothing compared to this. But before too long, the pain had subsided and I had a little hook with a blue bead in the middle through my tragus. It was sore for a few days afterwards, but nothing too bad (you think your ears don't move? Get your tragus pierced and I can promise you will feel it in your ear when you smile, talk, laugh, etc.). Over the next few weeks it seemed to be healing well, and just like with all my earrings, I would spin the hoop around, push it up and down, whatever when I was bored. Sounds good, right? Wrong.
The other day when I was looking in the mirror, I noticed that the red spot near the piercing wasn't just a little red scar dot, it was a keliod (you say it like key-loid). Everybody who gets anything pierced hears horror stories about gigantic keloids forming. Thankfully mine only looks something like this (that's not my own ear, though). Well, when I saw that devilish little bump, I basically freaked out, worrying that my ear would become this nasty mutant scar-growth. I squeezed it, I picked at it, I even tried to poke it with a sewing needle. Which I'm sure is just asking for an infection, but I put it through a flame to sanitize it first so hopefully that helped, also I put hydrogen peroxide on afterwards, too. Anyways... It wasn't shrinking! So, being my paranoid-must-fix-it-now self, I went on the internet.to research. I don't recommend this because one of two things tend to happen: 1) You think you have something super rare and think you are going to die or something OR 2) on rare occasion, you find valuable information that actually helps you out. Fortunately, the second happened.
Of the "cures" I found, the most common were making a paste out of aspirin and warm water, tea tree oil, or surgery. Well, just like horror stories of keliods from tragus piercings gone wrong, there are plenty of stories of what could happen if you try to cure them. Tea tree oil, although it sounds like is very affective, can burn your skin. If you feel the need to see that burn, click here! Surgery can cause keliods to come back, and come back bigger, resulting in something resembling this. NASTY!!! So, seeing as I don't have tea tree oil, don't want to risk burns or growing of the keliod. I thought I'd give the whole aspirin-paste thing a try. I actually went back to the place I got it pierced at to ask them. The conversation went something like this:
Piercer: Well, the keloid isn't that bad yet so I wouldn't do anything to it yet. Are you still doing the salt-water soaks twice a day?
Me: (obviously lying): Yeah, twice a day ~in other words~ it has been two months, no I'm not still doing that
Piercer: Well, like I said, it doesn't look to bad at this point, but if it gets worse come back in
Noooooo! I am not waiting for this little demon-bump on my ear to grow to get it off! I'm gonna nip this mofo in the bud. So here begins the saga of the tragus (hahaha). I actually started this blog so if someone else has these issues, I might be some help! So in a week or so, I will update the world on the aspirin-paste-on-keliod situation. Until then....This is Maddie, reminding you that I am not a medical doctor so don't try and sue me if you try what I'm doing and it goes horribly wrong. I highly doubt it would, but hey morons can find a way to screw themselves over in the dumbest ways. :)
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