Is a little redness normal with an ear piercing?
 

So my granddaugher got her ears done at noon yesterday, and one has a tiny bit of redness around the hole? We're cleaning twice a day with the cleanser. Is this normal?

You may be cleaning it a bit much. Is she very little (that she can't be trusted not to touch her ears often)? If not, then try once a day.

Unless it gets worse or different than yes, its normal. I have 3 piercings in each ear and I just got them done say... 3 months ago. It was red for awhile but after a couple of weeks the pain and redness completely vanished. Just make sure she washes it if she gets sweaty or her hair touches it a lot.

As long as they are not hot, weeping or have any puss coming out of it they should be fine ;)!

I was a piercer for 10 years and now I currently work in the medical field so take this for whatever its worth to you.

When you introduce a foreign body you will get inflammation and in some cases a minor amount of rejection of the material in the jewelery. If you over clean the area you run the risk of drying our the outer skin and causing a higher amount of inflammation and rejection on the inside of the self inflicted wound. Let the body do it's natural healing process. The cleansers that "fake" piercing joints like mall retail chains give you will will dry out the outer area of the piercing not leaving room for the wound to naturally heal it self. A piercing wound should heal from the inside out, not the outside in. If the area is inflamed and has a "fever" type feeling to it remove the jewelry immediately or an infection in the interior of the wound will follow and can cause a serious abscess.

It is important to get all piercings done by a professional piercer. They are trained in infection control and provide a higher level of aftercare product and information then the retail chains that pierce with "guns" or punches. All piercings should be done with a hollow tip needle or you run a higher risk of infection, rejection and keloind scarring. DO NOT USE PETROLEUM PRODUCTS ON PIERCINGS OR TATTOOS!!!! They suck moisture out of the skin and without proper hydration healing cannot occur.

1) Don't use the cleanser they gave you at the piercing place. It's awful for piercings. Use a sea salt soak (google that phrase and instructions should pop up for how to make and use one).

2) If it's not 316LVM stainless steel (what's marketed as "surgical stainless steel" is actually a variety of grades with a variety of impurity levels), 18-24 karat gold or titanium jewelry, she could be having an allergic reaction to the metal. I had one when I was little - it started out as a little redness, eventually my ears swelled up over the earrings and they had to be surgically removed. Most likely this isn't the issue, but really watch out for any sort of swelling.

3) In the future don't use a place that uses a piercing gun. It does all sorts of nasty damage to the piercing site and makes healing more difficult - http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Piercing_Gun for more info