What should you know about keloid due to ear piercing?

The piercing channel is a skin injury. In some people, healing produces more collagen than needed, so scar tissue expands past the original hole. Earlobe keloids can be smooth, shiny, firm and gradually enlarging; the cartilage may also develop thickened scar tissue. Irritation, allergy or infection can cause a different type of bump, so a persistent lump deserves clinical assessment.

Avoid squeezing the lump, twisting jewellery unnecessarily or placing pressure on the ear while sleeping. Do not pierce through or close to an existing keloid without specialist advice. A dermatologist may consider steroid injections, pressure or silicone care, laser treatment, cryotherapy or keloid removal surgery. The plan depends on whether the skin is healed, the scar's size and whether jewellery is embedded.

Seek prompt review for spreading redness, warmth, pus, fever, worsening pain or fast swelling. Get urgent help if swelling affects breathing or swallowing, or if jewellery is deeply embedded. A lump that bleeds, ulcerates, changes quickly or limits hearing-device use should be examined.

Ask whether the bump is a keloid, how to manage the jewellery safely, which treatment suits the earlobe or cartilage, and how recurrence will be monitored.