gross warning one of my helix piercings is healing up just fine, and the other is not. the one in the left ear is surrounded by a distressingly squishy bump on the back of the ear. haven't gotten anyone to check yet, so I don't know if it's discolored but I suspect that it is halp
weird squishy thing is probably a blood bump! it's weird but not, like, bad. what i think i've heard happens is if a new (or sometimes old) piercing is moved a little more than it wants, it can catch on skin and make a kind of blood blister. if you were to pop it (my not-totally-acceptable way of dealing with them), all that blood would come out and it would be super weird. Actual ways to deal with blood bumps! leave it alone, don't pop it (can introduce infection and make it more likely for future blood bumps), and wait for new skin to form under it. sea salt soaks will also help. I've heard this takes upwards of a week to resolve, but it is SUPER POSSIBLE that it is Not an infection if it gets hot to the touch, or the area AROUND it also swells the fuck up, you might need to step up your antibact/sea salt game and/or see someone, but it really does just sound like a blood bump
Ive had bumps on the backs of both of my upper ear piercings basically since i got them pierced(like... 2-3 years ago), and theyve never been more than annoying and somewhat sensitive, so its probably no big deal. Once you can switch earrings though i would try a bioplast one. I took my earrings out for like a week and the bumps went down/away, but the holes also started to close up, which was a mess, so getting something super innoffesive to the holes might be a good middle ground. Im sensitive to a lot of metals, so im thinking the irritation is part of the issue. But basically, unless they swell up more or really hurt, then its very likely nothing to worry about. Just do your normal cleaning routine and you should be good.
