For almost 4 years, we have had pretty much no trouble with Elisa's earring piercings. Up until February, that is. Out of the blue Elisa complained that her left ear was hurting her. So I simply took the earring out. And then I heard it--I blood-curdling scream. And then I SAW it--a hideous, scary CRATER
in my daughter's ear!!! I didn't take a picture because it was super hideous and scary. Not that my iPod would have taken a decent picture anyway. Take my word for it, it was awful. It looked as though the earring had eroded a hole in her ear lobe. The entire lobe was red and there was blood in the piercing hole and what had used to be skin had turned a white-ish color on the crater itself. The only thing I could think of to help it was to douse her ear with hydrogen peroxide. That evening, my anxiety really kicked in--I wondered such things as: Will she need her ear lobe amputated? Will she wear one earring only for the rest of her life, like a pirate? I am SUCH a horrible mother, letting something happen like that! And, will the infection spread to her brain and she'll need hospitalization? I didn't sleep too well that night, needless to say.
The next morning I put a band-aid over her bad ear-lobe and sent her to preschool. I picked her up a little early, in hopes I could get her in the walk-in clinic since I couldn't get an appointment that day. The walk-in clinic had filled it's quota by the time we got there (I can't stand this pediatric clinic, its so dang busy all the time). I was however, able to make an appointment at a clinic in Galveston that same day.
Elisa FREAKED out when the nurse tried to take of the band-aid over the affected ear. I mean, she just lost it--she was a screaming, red-faced, angry mess, poor girl. She reluctantly let me slowly take the band-aid off. The ear did not look any better than the day before. The doctor looked at it for a few minutes. He told me a specific name for the sore but I can't remember what its called. He prescribed some anti-biotic cream and told us to come back in a week so he could check up on its progress. He also said we would definitely have to get it re-pierced.
We never did go back, I didn't want to spend $35 for the doc to tell me her ear is healing fine. Besides, we already have a doc in the house that can tell us the same thing for free! For the next 6 weeks, Elisa was a pirate. A gold hoop in just one ear. We used the anti-biotic cream for the first few weeks until I felt confidant it no longer needed it. I did finally figure out what happened that made the earring ruin her ear. It was a base metal earring that was too tight. And so I've been told, it is possible that only one ear can be allergic to
base metals like nickel--makes sense now to me since that hole has
always been more irritated that the other. Also the earring didn't actually erode her earlobe, even if it certainly looked as if it did. It was just that the skin around the affected area was swollen so it just looked like a crater. Still, what a mess. I wish I never put that stupid earring in her ear (and it would have helped if she would have cooperated and let me put the CZ 10K gold ones in her ears instead of insisting on those particular earrings).
I had told Elisa several times during this 6 week period that we would need to get her ear re-pierced and to be a big girl. And just out of the blue, she insisted on going to the mall to get her ear pierced. I figured we'd better go and get it over with while she was willing. I picked Gabe up from school and we all went to the mall. I choose Piercing Pagoda to get her ear pierced because that is where we went when she was a baby. Elisa picked out some cute 10K gold crown earrings. She was such a good girl during the whole ordeal. The girl that pierced her ear was nice but I wish she would have just gotten it over with instead of drawing it out. Elisa was calm all the way up to when the piercing gun went off...and then the earring only went in her ear halfway! Ugh!! Then Elisa starting crying and crying. Poor little girl. We stepped away from the Kiosk while she calmed down. I managed to get her to get back on the stool again by telling her she could hold Ian! She did really well the second time around. And it worked, thank goodness. She finally had two earrings again! She was rewarded with a yummy Wendy's frosty.
But wait, this earring fiasco isn't quite over yet, despite Elisa behaving well for the piercing and the new piercing not getting infected. I LOST the 14K gold hoop Elisa was wearing before she got her ear pierced. Lost it in the mall, like an idiot. They are $75 to replace! I hoped someone would have turned the earring into the lost and found (it was in a little plastic baggie), but no such luck. I'm sure it got thrown away. And then, a few weeks later, the earring in her new piercing fell out in church!! I found the back in her classroom, but I never found the earring itself! And of course the warranty doesn't cover lost earrings, even though it is their fault for making faulty backs!! And the other earring fell out sometime later (in her bed I think?! IDK!). What a waste of $50!! To heck with Piercing Pagoda. We will never, ever go back there again. I will try Claire's or even Walmart, but never Piercing Pagoda. Elisa is now (and has been for the last 2 months) wearing her 10K gold CZ's I bought her for Christmas at Walmart for $5. No problems with these falling out or irritating her ears whatsoever. We are keeping these earrings in for a long, long time!
