What should you know about a keloid after ear piercing?

An ear keloid may begin as a firm bump around the front or back of a piercing and gradually extend beyond the small hole. It can itch, feel tender, or become uncomfortable when touched or caught on clothing. The earlobe is a common site, but cartilage can also develop abnormal scarring.

Not every piercing bump is a keloid. Irritation, allergy to jewellery, infection, a trapped cyst, or a thick scar can look similar. A clinician will consider growth, firmness, colour, drainage, and whether the lump extends outside the original injury.

Avoid squeezing, piercing the lump again, or changing jewellery without advice. Keep the area clean and reduce friction; ask a clinician whether the jewellery should be removed, replaced, or left in place. Options may include steroid injection into the skin, pressure therapy, laser treatment, cryotherapy, or keloid removal surgery. Removal alone can be followed by regrowth, so discuss a plan that addresses recurrence risk.

Book a dermatology review when a piercing bump is enlarging, painful, persistently itchy, or affecting sleep, hearing devices, or glasses. Seek prompt care for spreading redness, warmth, pus, fever, severe pain, or jewellery becoming embedded. A rapidly changing lump or an uncertain diagnosis needs examination rather than home treatment.

Ask whether the bump is a keloid, whether jewellery is contributing to irritation, which treatment suits its location, and what follow-up plan could limit regrowth.