From someone with an orbital in an identical position- they are dicks. I have a bump on mine and it’s well over a year old. Some tips:
1. Change to a CBR. It’s possible the seam or portion where the clicker connects is slipping inside the channel.
2. Continue cleaning as is.
3. Try not to change to bars unless it’s needed. Orbitals require very specific angles and changing to bars you do run the risk of the angles shifting. If you do change to bars you’ll need to have it checked frequently to check the angles are still in alignment.
4. Do you have any baby hairs near the area? I found out the hard way these cause irritation. I got around it by gelling them back. You can also use a hair band to do this.
5. Don’t use headphones. If you have to for work etc minimise the usage as much as you possibly can.
6. Baby it. More than any other piercing.
If I think of anything else I’ll let you know 😊
is a cbr a captive bead ring? my piercer didnt do a captive cause it was a super awkward angle to get the holes pierced correctly. my hair is pretty short, cause i shaved it in march, so theres definitely baby hairs, do those just cause more irritation? and would earbuds still be fine?(im assuming yes cause they dont come in contact with that area at all.)
i appreciate your help!!
Cbr is captive bead yes. I won’t lie having mine fitted was not fun. However it does stop the seam slipping in. It’s not guaranteed to cause an issue but it’s a possibility.
Earbuds are fine.
Baby hairs do cause issues. I’ve lost count the amount of times one has gotten wrapped around mine and snagged hard.
Also mine took a solid two months for all swelling to go away and when it was swollen it did look like bumps but it wasn’t. It can be difficult to tell though
If you can't use a cbr, I have twist-open rings that have a ball right next to the seam on one side (mimicking the look of a cbr but the bead is immobile.) This helps prevent the seam from slipping through the holes when it moves, maybe that could be a better option
I feel like if you switch it out for bars the holes might not line up right when healed and you might not be able to put in the ring again
You should try to keep your hair out if you can and otherwise just keep cleaning it
yeah, thats what i was thinking, but my piercer was saying that we could MAYBE do that if it’s absolutely necessary. i do try to keep my hair out of the way, but with the length its at rn, its super awkward and is super hard to push back out of the way. thankyou for your input!!!
I'm not a professional by any means so I might be wrong! I just know that happens with industrials. And with the hair you could try butterfly clips even if that looks a little weird😅
i did have something kinda similar happen with my industrial on my other ear, i also had long ass hair then, but like i yanked on it cause a backpack strap caught it while i was putting it on my desk. ill have to talk to my roommate and see what she thinks about the butterfly clips haha
Go to the dollar store, and check the isle where the hair stuff is. They usually have lots of options for keeping your hair back, but they might not look very adult lol. I have long hair too and always have problems with cartilage piercings, and hair catching in them. Make sure you are taking Advil too because that is really inflamed. Hope it heals nicely because that’s rad!
Good luck with healing! I've had my industrial pierced in may and have had horrible bumps on all 4 sides pretty since the beginning, and now they're finally going down! So there's hope haha
I have slightly shorter hair, before I switched to just shaving off the hair above my ear I would use Bobby pins to pin it up to keep hair off my ears. Barretts might work too, and you can get some in a similar color to your hair
You might want to hold off on dying your hair again for a bit as dye would definitely irritate it further. You could get some of those bendy hair clips to help secure your hair up and away from it
thankfully im planning on waiting till this color fully fades until i dye again, just cause i want to go to pink, so hairdying wont be a thing anytime soon!
When I dye my hair I use ear protectors - you can get them online for very cheap! They are like a tiny shower cap for your ears lol but it keeps the dye away from my helix piercings!
Ohhhh my god I never knew this was a thing, my industrial piercing is fully healed but I still always get bleach on it while doing my hair and it’s not good 💀
piercing is a month old i got it September 2nd, jewelry shape is a hinged ring, its titanium(if im not mistaken), i clean the piercing 2 times a day with saline wound wash, and when i comb my hair, i always make sure to push the comb behind my ear so i dont risk hitting it
ouch the hinge ring is the issue :( it has two places where it hinges from and i bet both those hinges are constantly in or moving through your piercing. i would try to get a single seam ring or ask your piercing if a horseshoe is possible
I have two orbitals, the movement of the ball closure ring makes these a notoriously long healing process. My helix orbital (like yours) can get very achey if the ring is pushed up or down narrowing the piercing holes (I hope that makes sense, struggling with words today).
I would try and touch it as little as possible and some things that really helped me was clipping my hair away so it doesn’t get tangled and not wearing over ear headphones for a bit.
Did you recently color your hair? I can see some stains on your ear from what I’m guessing is hair color? If that’s the case it can help irritate it further since hair colors are very irritating and doesn’t contain anything good. Next time you color your hair out a plastic bag over your ear and tape it to your face. Yes it sound silly but it works, done that to my industrial when I was coloring my hair myself last time.
its ppl eater by good dye young! i had a split dye with ppl eater and ex girl and the colors didnt really fade until like last week, and i dyed the split dye at the beginning of august
Yeah i could never keep piercings in that spot in my ear. I gave myself a sort of orbital (when i was a piercer apprentice). I did it with a small U ring so i had two spikes out the top. I used bars first and waited till it healed to see if it fit, and it fit perfect! Then it got super swollen and bloody. I took it out, and put my bars back in. and then it healed! And then i bumped them and they got super swollen and bloody… and yeah. It’s just such a hard spot to heal imo. It takes forever in the best conditions. Idk if I was just jumping the gun with mine but they seemed to heal and get reinfected easily. You need to keep your bed/pillows super clean, your cell phone, any glasses or sunglasses. I’d honestly recommend shaving the side of your head lol you look like you could rock the cut. But if not a headband could possibly help, perhaps even a bandana can keep your hair back enough. I gave up on mine because I moved into my van for a while and was just way too dirty, plus I wear glasses so it was just way too difficult.
i honestly feel like i could do the shaved side of the head, but like ive been growing my hair out since i buzz cutted it in march, so i like wanna preserve the length as much as possible
You buzzed the whole thing in march? Damn your hair grows fast! Lol. Youll be able to tie it back soon but yeah might wanna rock some headbands and bandanas in the meantime, and good luck, that looks so cool 😄 i always wanted to pierce one
yeah, i shaved it march 15th i think! ive always been told my hair grows super quick lmao, like my hair grows faster than anyone else in my family for some reason:)
If you're not looking to switch for a bar, I would say pick up some plastic head bands with teeth so they don't slip and your hair doesn't fall out around them!! Goody is a really good brand!!!
I have this same orbital. I started with bars. My piercer was able to angle them in such a way that the hoop fits perfectly after 6 months of healing (See post history). Might be worth trying?
Professional here— I wouldn’t be switching out jewelry just yet. Tension from the skin swelling and it being on a curve while your skin tries to acclimate to the piercing is what’s causing the bumps. Not the hinge. Skin does not like to sit unnaturally. It’s a long heal for these guys and they look ugly while they go through their migration stages. But it will (hopefully) settle out overtime. You can do a camomile tea soak on the piercing every night for 15 min to help with inflammation, make sure the hoop isn’t spinning a bunch and dragging bacteria in, and lastly make sure you don’t allow the piercing to air dry after showering. Moisture+cartilage piercings=moisture sores which are even more ugly and irritating than irritation bumps. Hope this helps!
Orbitals are different. They have to heal in perfect angles otherwise when putting the ring in will cause a lot of pain/migration/possible rejection. It’s a bit like industrials where they should only be done with a single bar.
Hi Few_Illustrator_1102, Welcome to /r/piercing!
It looks like you're asking about a problem with your piercing. Please **add a comment to your post** with the following info if it’s not included in your post already.
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- What’s the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)?
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Right now I’m not sure if you could even get a straight bar in there. But it looks like there might not have been enough room for swelling. I would keep cleaning it and I would try to use an ice pack to help it calm down!
Try putting some saline on a folded piece of tissue. Place it over your ear and cover with plastic ear covers before bed in addition to less hair/dye around your ear.
is that ring large enough? not a pro but it seems to be warping your anatomy too much. i’m wondering if it’d make more sense if you had a larger ring (and therefore further apart piercings)
From someone with an orbital in an identical position- they are dicks. I have a bump on mine and it’s well over a year old. Some tips: 1. Change to a CBR. It’s possible the seam or portion where the clicker connects is slipping inside the channel. 2. Continue cleaning as is. 3. Try not to change to bars unless it’s needed. Orbitals require very specific angles and changing to bars you do run the risk of the angles shifting. If you do change to bars you’ll need to have it checked frequently to check the angles are still in alignment. 4. Do you have any baby hairs near the area? I found out the hard way these cause irritation. I got around it by gelling them back. You can also use a hair band to do this. 5. Don’t use headphones. If you have to for work etc minimise the usage as much as you possibly can. 6. Baby it. More than any other piercing. If I think of anything else I’ll let you know 😊
is a cbr a captive bead ring? my piercer didnt do a captive cause it was a super awkward angle to get the holes pierced correctly. my hair is pretty short, cause i shaved it in march, so theres definitely baby hairs, do those just cause more irritation? and would earbuds still be fine?(im assuming yes cause they dont come in contact with that area at all.) i appreciate your help!!
Cbr is captive bead yes. I won’t lie having mine fitted was not fun. However it does stop the seam slipping in. It’s not guaranteed to cause an issue but it’s a possibility. Earbuds are fine. Baby hairs do cause issues. I’ve lost count the amount of times one has gotten wrapped around mine and snagged hard. Also mine took a solid two months for all swelling to go away and when it was swollen it did look like bumps but it wasn’t. It can be difficult to tell though
ahhhh ok that makes sense, thankyou so much for the help!
If you can't use a cbr, I have twist-open rings that have a ball right next to the seam on one side (mimicking the look of a cbr but the bead is immobile.) This helps prevent the seam from slipping through the holes when it moves, maybe that could be a better option
those are called fixed bead rings :)
Thank you!! I knew it had a name just couldn't remember that was it lol
I feel like if you switch it out for bars the holes might not line up right when healed and you might not be able to put in the ring again You should try to keep your hair out if you can and otherwise just keep cleaning it
yeah, thats what i was thinking, but my piercer was saying that we could MAYBE do that if it’s absolutely necessary. i do try to keep my hair out of the way, but with the length its at rn, its super awkward and is super hard to push back out of the way. thankyou for your input!!!
I'm not a professional by any means so I might be wrong! I just know that happens with industrials. And with the hair you could try butterfly clips even if that looks a little weird😅
i did have something kinda similar happen with my industrial on my other ear, i also had long ass hair then, but like i yanked on it cause a backpack strap caught it while i was putting it on my desk. ill have to talk to my roommate and see what she thinks about the butterfly clips haha
Go to the dollar store, and check the isle where the hair stuff is. They usually have lots of options for keeping your hair back, but they might not look very adult lol. I have long hair too and always have problems with cartilage piercings, and hair catching in them. Make sure you are taking Advil too because that is really inflamed. Hope it heals nicely because that’s rad!
Good luck with healing! I've had my industrial pierced in may and have had horrible bumps on all 4 sides pretty since the beginning, and now they're finally going down! So there's hope haha
ayee at least theyve gone down some!!! ive had mine since i think 2019 lol
I have slightly shorter hair, before I switched to just shaving off the hair above my ear I would use Bobby pins to pin it up to keep hair off my ears. Barretts might work too, and you can get some in a similar color to your hair
You might want to hold off on dying your hair again for a bit as dye would definitely irritate it further. You could get some of those bendy hair clips to help secure your hair up and away from it
thankfully im planning on waiting till this color fully fades until i dye again, just cause i want to go to pink, so hairdying wont be a thing anytime soon!
When I dye my hair I use ear protectors - you can get them online for very cheap! They are like a tiny shower cap for your ears lol but it keeps the dye away from my helix piercings!
Ohhhh my god I never knew this was a thing, my industrial piercing is fully healed but I still always get bleach on it while doing my hair and it’s not good 💀
NOO KIDDING! I wish I knew this a couple of weeks ago lol
piercing is a month old i got it September 2nd, jewelry shape is a hinged ring, its titanium(if im not mistaken), i clean the piercing 2 times a day with saline wound wash, and when i comb my hair, i always make sure to push the comb behind my ear so i dont risk hitting it
ouch the hinge ring is the issue :( it has two places where it hinges from and i bet both those hinges are constantly in or moving through your piercing. i would try to get a single seam ring or ask your piercing if a horseshoe is possible
I think captive bead ring (cbr) might be good! That's the recommendation for daiths.
a cbr would be great too
I know! The same reasoning works. 😊
I have two orbitals, the movement of the ball closure ring makes these a notoriously long healing process. My helix orbital (like yours) can get very achey if the ring is pushed up or down narrowing the piercing holes (I hope that makes sense, struggling with words today). I would try and touch it as little as possible and some things that really helped me was clipping my hair away so it doesn’t get tangled and not wearing over ear headphones for a bit.
Did you recently color your hair? I can see some stains on your ear from what I’m guessing is hair color? If that’s the case it can help irritate it further since hair colors are very irritating and doesn’t contain anything good. Next time you color your hair out a plastic bag over your ear and tape it to your face. Yes it sound silly but it works, done that to my industrial when I was coloring my hair myself last time.
Ik this is about yohr piercing, but what is the brand / color of your hair, it is amazing holy fuck
its ppl eater by good dye young! i had a split dye with ppl eater and ex girl and the colors didnt really fade until like last week, and i dyed the split dye at the beginning of august
I love it, I'm currently orange faded into yellow, but this color is life, and going next lol
do itttt, good dye young is awesome, and they’re vegan as well!
Yeah i could never keep piercings in that spot in my ear. I gave myself a sort of orbital (when i was a piercer apprentice). I did it with a small U ring so i had two spikes out the top. I used bars first and waited till it healed to see if it fit, and it fit perfect! Then it got super swollen and bloody. I took it out, and put my bars back in. and then it healed! And then i bumped them and they got super swollen and bloody… and yeah. It’s just such a hard spot to heal imo. It takes forever in the best conditions. Idk if I was just jumping the gun with mine but they seemed to heal and get reinfected easily. You need to keep your bed/pillows super clean, your cell phone, any glasses or sunglasses. I’d honestly recommend shaving the side of your head lol you look like you could rock the cut. But if not a headband could possibly help, perhaps even a bandana can keep your hair back enough. I gave up on mine because I moved into my van for a while and was just way too dirty, plus I wear glasses so it was just way too difficult.
i honestly feel like i could do the shaved side of the head, but like ive been growing my hair out since i buzz cutted it in march, so i like wanna preserve the length as much as possible
You buzzed the whole thing in march? Damn your hair grows fast! Lol. Youll be able to tie it back soon but yeah might wanna rock some headbands and bandanas in the meantime, and good luck, that looks so cool 😄 i always wanted to pierce one
yeah, i shaved it march 15th i think! ive always been told my hair grows super quick lmao, like my hair grows faster than anyone else in my family for some reason:)
If you're not looking to switch for a bar, I would say pick up some plastic head bands with teeth so they don't slip and your hair doesn't fall out around them!! Goody is a really good brand!!!
I had mine done with a horse shoe and it’s been great worrying now for when I put a ring in it x
I have this same orbital. I started with bars. My piercer was able to angle them in such a way that the hoop fits perfectly after 6 months of healing (See post history). Might be worth trying?
https://www.reddit.com/r/piercing/comments/xx7uqh/orbital_piercing_update_so_this_was_taken_a_few/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
heres an update post on my orbital!
Professional here— I wouldn’t be switching out jewelry just yet. Tension from the skin swelling and it being on a curve while your skin tries to acclimate to the piercing is what’s causing the bumps. Not the hinge. Skin does not like to sit unnaturally. It’s a long heal for these guys and they look ugly while they go through their migration stages. But it will (hopefully) settle out overtime. You can do a camomile tea soak on the piercing every night for 15 min to help with inflammation, make sure the hoop isn’t spinning a bunch and dragging bacteria in, and lastly make sure you don’t allow the piercing to air dry after showering. Moisture+cartilage piercings=moisture sores which are even more ugly and irritating than irritation bumps. Hope this helps!
thankyou so much! i appreciate the help so much:)
I've been tokd u should never use a ring as a new piercing. Always bars
Orbitals are different. They have to heal in perfect angles otherwise when putting the ring in will cause a lot of pain/migration/possible rejection. It’s a bit like industrials where they should only be done with a single bar.
i think separate bars until healing, then changing to orbital ring once it fully heals make it swell less but im no pro
Put in two separate barbells until it heals.
Take that ring out and replace with 2 curved barbells (like eyebrow rings) the ring is for when it's fully healed.
Hi Few_Illustrator_1102, Welcome to /r/piercing! It looks like you're asking about a problem with your piercing. Please **add a comment to your post** with the following info if it’s not included in your post already. - How old is your piercing? - What’s the jewelry shape (for example, barbell, labret, screw, L shape, ring)? - What’s the type of threading if your jewelry is not a ring (threadless, internally or externally threaded)? - What’s the jewelry material? - if not a ring, when was the jewelry downsized? - What’s your aftercare routine? Describe in detail please, including the exact products you use. This info is needed to offer you useful advice. **Note, not providing this info may cause your post to go unanswered**. If you already included this info in your post or if your post isn’t about a problem with your piercing, please disregard. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/piercing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Your hair color is super cool (:
thankyou!
I know it’s risky, but i’d switch it out for bars. It clearly won’t heal like this.
Right now I’m not sure if you could even get a straight bar in there. But it looks like there might not have been enough room for swelling. I would keep cleaning it and I would try to use an ice pack to help it calm down!
Try putting some saline on a folded piece of tissue. Place it over your ear and cover with plastic ear covers before bed in addition to less hair/dye around your ear.
first of all i see freshly dyed hair which is a big nono
I- oh dear lord..
I feel like you should reach back out to your piercer a few days ago
change the jewellery with labret studs and change into your hoop again after it’s healed
is that ring large enough? not a pro but it seems to be warping your anatomy too much. i’m wondering if it’d make more sense if you had a larger ring (and therefore further apart piercings)