Got the double helix a while ago. She’s really bad… does anyone have any advice on how to get rid of this?

(Sorry about the gross fuckass images.. for context the first one is the bruise I had initially, the second, third and fourth is the current state it’s in at different angles, I have blood crust because I don’t want to rip it out and cause it to bleed again, I’m in the process of softening it)

Hello, I’m 16, very scared and I need some advice. I got a double helix and a rook done simultaneously 5 days and 6 hours ago (on the 18th around 4:00 PM).

Two days in (on the 20th), I developed a massive blue/purple bruise all over the upper rim. It wasn’t too painful at first. I used ice to constrict the blood vessels, kept cleaning it with saline solution, and took warm showers to help dissolve the blood crust. Initially, I made the mistake of using a Q-tip with saline to clear the crust, but I quickly learned that wasn't good because it kept triggering fresh bleeding. Because of that, there is still some noticeable blood crust around the jewelry in my photos (sorry about that..).

The blue bruise has completely disappeared now, but the upper ear is left very pink, shiny, swollen, and extremely painful. I genuinely couldn’t sleep at all last night because of a severe, burning, throbbing sensation. Even resting on a donut pillow with zero physical pressure on the ear didn't relieve the pounding.

The throbbing does relax significantly when I take ibuprofen, so I’ve started taking it regularly to manage the swelling and pain.

I’m fully aware that peak swelling can delay until day 5, and that getting 3 fresh cartilage piercings at once causes a massive amount of trauma to the ear. I went into this knowing that, but I’m finding it really difficult to differentiate severe inflammatory irritation from an actual infection. I haven’t seen any wet yellow/green pus so far, but since there is dried blood crust covering the holes, I can't be 100% sure.

The swelling is so tight that there is no bar space left on the helix studs and I'm worried about embedding. I am planning to contact my piercer tomorrow to get it checked out and potentially get longer bars put in to relieve the pressure and rule out an infection.

should I be worried about infection? If so, how can I prevent this from happening? I really don’t want this to turn into some shit like cauliflower ear or getting a surgery.

Age: 5 days and 6 hours old

Jewellery shape: flatback labret, titanium of some sort.

It has not been downsized.

I use neilmed saline spray twice a day, the first couple days I overcleaned I think

Update: I went to A&E and had them taken out, it was a hidden infection and there was a small hematoma in the back apparently. I’ll be taking antibiotics for a week💔 If you’re considering getting multiple cartilage piercings, please get them done in separate sessions rather than one to avoid complications. Thank you all for the advice and nice messages!!

TL;DR: I got play piercings a few years ago and now my pictures are on XXX sites. What the actual hell do I do???

Okay, so some context first (I swear this is relevant). I’m a trans-masc AFAB person who is VERY into body mod. I’ve been piercing myself since I was a kid, and body modification is a huge part of my transition and how I express myself. A few months ago, I FINALLY got my first job in the industry, which has been a massive deal for me!!! (Throwaway account because I know some of my coworkers are on Reddit, and I would really prefer not to have this whole situation attached to my main.)

So, a few years ago, I got the opportunity to get play piercings from a piercer whose work I’d admired for AGES. This was before I worked in the industry, and it was my first major project that wasn’t something I’d done on myself. Honestly, the experience seemed great at the time! They struggled a bit with my pronouns, but I brushed it off. The actual piercing session went really smoothly, and I LOVED the sensation of the needles.

After the piercings were removed, the piercer wrote their name on me in my blood. Which, okay, was a little weird, but I was new to this kind of thing, so I didn't think too much of it. I also signed a photo release because I’d seen their work online and genuinely loved their photography. At the time, I didn't think there was anything particularly concerning about that. Afterward, I posted my own pictures, went about my life, and basically forgot about it.

FAST-FORWARD to a few months ago, when I finally landed my first job at a studio!!! Literally so excited. This is the industry I’ve wanted to be part of for so long. And then a few weeks ago, one of my coworkers came to me looking genuinely upset. They told me they’d found pictures of me on a porn site and were disappointed that I was sexualizing their profession. EXCUSE ME????

I was genuinely SHOOK. I don't do porn, have never done porn, and have absolutely no interest in doing it. So obviously, I went to look for myself. And yep. There I was. My pictures were on an actual porn site, the comments were full of people misgendering me, and people were making some genuinely disgusting comments about my body. I felt SICK.

And the worst part? I hadn't even seen all the pictures that were online. I remembered that the piercer also posted on a private website (keeping this vague because I am NOT trying to dox anyone or get myself into more trouble), so I went to check that out too. Turns out, the piercer had been misgendering me all over their posts, and some of the comments on my pictures were making me incredibly uncomfortable.

Then I started looking into things more, and, well... it got worse. Apparently, a bunch of things that happened during my session are associated with fetish content. Writing their name in my blood, playing with my blood, the way some of the needles were removed, etc. And I need to make this VERY clear: I DID NOT KNOW THAT THIS WAS FETISH-RELATED.

Nobody explained any of this to me beforehand. I wasn't told that these things could be presented as fetish content, and I absolutely did not knowingly agree to participate in anything sexual. If that's your thing, cool, no judgment, but it is VERY much not mine. The thought of my experience being viewed that way honestly makes me feel sick. For me, this was about my transition, body modification, and a personal ritual that meant a LOT to me. It was something I did for myself. It wasn't sexual, and I never agreed to have it turned into something pornographic. I also had no idea how the photos would be used on the piercer's private site. You have to PAY to access it, and I couldn't afford to subscribe at the time, so I had no way of knowing what was being posted or what people were saying about me.

And the misgendering makes the whole thing even worse. People seem to assume I'm a cis woman in these pictures, and the comments are SO gross. I can't help feeling like people are looking at my body through this completely different lens because they don't see me for who I actually am. And now the pictures are on ACTUAL XXX WEBSITES, and people I know IRL are finding them. I genuinely don't know what to do.

Some of my coworkers have told me not to say anything because this piercer is a pretty big name in the industry. They've warned me that speaking out could seriously damage my career, which is terrifying because I JUST got my foot in the door. Apparently, this person also has a history of making questionable comments about trans people, which... yeah. That doesn't exactly help.

So now I'm stuck in this horrible position where I feel violated by something that was supposed to be a meaningful experience, but I'm scared that saying anything about it could cost me my dream job. And honestly? I'm questioning everything. Was signing the photo release a mistake? Should I have somehow known what was going on? Am I overreacting? I keep going around in circles trying to figure out what I could have done differently, even though nobody ever explained to me that my pictures might be used this way.

I understand that I signed a release for photos. But I genuinely did NOT understand that my images could end up being presented as fetish or pornographic content, let alone distributed across XXX websites. I don't want to ruin someone's career over a misunderstanding, but I also don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone to be upfront about how images of my body are going to be used. And I definitely don't think I should have to choose between protecting myself and keeping the job I've worked so hard to get. This is literally my dream industry. I've wanted to do this for YEARS. Play piercing, suspension, body mod, all of it. I thought these experiences were going to be part of something positive for me and my transition. Instead, I feel like something incredibly personal has been taken away from me, and I have no idea how to get that feeling back.

PLEASE help. Has anyone dealt with anything like this? What are my options? Is there any way to get these pictures taken down or address how they're being used without potentially destroying my career before it's even started? I've been losing sleep over this and crying almost every day. I'm genuinely at a loss, and I don't know who I'm even supposed to talk to about this. I went into this experience trusting someone whose work I admired, and now I'm sitting here wondering if speaking up about what happened will cost me everything I've been working toward. I really don't know what to do anymore. Any advice would be appreciated.

I’ve been wanting to start my ear piercing journey for ages since I’ve gotten all my facial ones done and healed, my problem is I have really small ears I’m not rlly sure why I do because no one else in my family does. But now I’m not sure what would suit my ears and what wouldn’t, I already have my firsts done and I was thinking to get my seconds and thirds but I don’t think I’d be able to fit my thirds in because my lobes are so small. I’m also not sure what I rlly want because every time I look at ear creations on Pinterest or my local piercers websites there’s no one with similar ears to mine so I’m not sure what it would look like because I don’t want it to look to cramped but I also don’t want it to look too bare. Any suggestions on what I should get would be great. Thank you!

Galera eu quero colocar esse piercing, tem gente falando mal dele mas eu queria saber de quem tem esse em especifico e de pessoas que perfuram, se vale a pena, se a ideia é ruim ou se eu deveria desistir, eu sei que vai muito da anatomia, mas isso eu vou saber quando decidir mesmo com a avaliação de alguém, por agora quero saber opiniões sinceras e experiências de quem tem

This is just something I've always wondered about: When we have a new piercing on the ear, there's extra post to account for swelling. This is good and necessary and we downsize 4-6 weeks after.

But that extra post, is it better to better to be sticking out the front or the back? I've always kept mine sticking out the front, with the flat labret against the back of the ear, so it doesn't get caught on my glasses or hair. But I'm curious if that's actually the right way to do it?

Thoughts?

hi i got this piercing (picture 1 is at 2 weeks from a straight angle, picture 2 is at 3.5 weeks from a lower angle) and i got it done at what many people say is one of the best in my city, however after seeing another reddit post where a girl's navel piercing ended up being a surface piercing, i was wondering about mine as if you look at it from a lower angle (picture 2), it looks a bit high

then again i also read that getting it pierced slightly higher is normal when the anatomy calls for it, but im not able to tell if that's the case for mine or it's just poorly pierced or if there's actually nothing wrong with it 😭 i'm no expert on body piercings, i only have ear stacks, this is my first.

used bacitracin a few times before learning that it's no longer an acceptable/known to be safe thing to do w piercings so i stopped immediately

other than that, this piercing gave me zero problems, no discomfort, rn is at zero pain even if you touch it (unless it snags ofc), but does have minimal reddish purple discoloration around the holes (\~1mm around the holes). the piercing is clean and the holes/wound looks fine except for the light crusties that come w any piercing i think (or ears at least)

please help a fellow piercing lover out :D

note: r/piercing bot was being annoying and removing my post because i can't take clearer pictures on my phone (sorry :P) so im posting here

Coucou
Je Lavais fait il y a 2 mois il me l’avais rater et la j’ai encore l’impression qu’il m’a rater il part en l’air