Ear piercing causes intracranial infection. Can a small ear piercing cause such a big harm?

Ear piercing has been a common thing since ancient times, especially now, not only girls but also many boys do it.

However, recently a piece of news about "a girl born in the 2000s developed an intracranial infection after getting her ears pierced" became a hot topic and taught people a lesson. Isn't this a bit unbelievable?

A small ear piercing can lead to such serious consequences? Is this true? Is it still okay to pierce your ears? Let's talk about it today!

01. What happened

The story goes like this: An 18-year-old girl in Jinan, Shandong, got an ear infection after getting her ears pierced in a shopping mall. She became repeatedly inflamed, swollen, and even had pus. She didn't take it seriously at first, but was sent to the hospital a few days later because of a high fever. After examination, her liver and kidney functions were damaged, and she had an intracranial infection. Because the girl had no injuries on other parts of her body except for the pierced ears, and her ears were severely swollen, the doctor speculated that the pierced ears caused an infection, which led to bacteremia, causing a sudden high fever and liver and kidney damage.

02. Is ear piercing really that harmful?

Perhaps few people realize that ear piercing can actually be considered a minor surgical procedure, but this operation has become an everyday practice, leading to a series of problems.

You can think about it, the process of ear piercing is to operate on the auricle, pierce the auricle through various means, and then prevent the hole from completely healing. This leaves a big problem, that is, infection.

Wound healing is a very complicated matter, which has a lot to do with the size of the hole and the individual's physical condition. For example, some people develop tumors after getting their ears pierced.

03. Risks of ear piercing

Of course, the main risk of ear piercing is infection. Ear piercing is a wound, and any wound is prone to infection. After all, microorganisms are everywhere. There are mainly two risks.

1. Ear piercing equipment

Currently, the most common way to pierce the ears is to use instruments similar to the one shown in the picture below. If the instruments are not properly disinfected, microorganisms will easily attach to them. Once these microorganisms invade, it will be troublesome, especially the invasion of certain conditional pathogens.

2. The healing process after surgery. This process is also the peak period for infection.

04. Advice on ear piercing

So for ear piercing, on the one hand, you can actually choose some formal ear piercing strategies, such as the plastic surgery department of many hospitals. They have many more strategies, not just the mechanical ear piercing method mentioned above, but also more advanced strategies such as laser drilling and electroporation.

Hospitals are naturally familiar with infection prevention, so ear piercing and subsequent infection risks can be avoided.

On the other hand, if you pierce your ears on the roadside for convenience, you must pay attention to the disinfection of the other party's instruments, and pay attention to the condition of the ear holes after piercing. If there is a long-term infection or pus discharge, it is better to seek medical attention in time.