Is my 7 month old industrial piercing infected?

-It's red and the area is slightly warm and looks like it could be slightly swollen. Both holes have been growing some yellow crusty stuff and blood. There is also a small bump on the top hole, but it's not filled with pus or any liquid. I've been using bactine on it, but I'm not exactly sure how to do a saline soak on the entire upper half of my ear. It's NOT a brand new piercing; it's over 7 months old.



I'd recently had a medical procedure that required me to remove it and replace it with a retainer. The reatiner seemed to irritate it after while so I removed it and replaced it with the original metal bar it was pierced with. It was fine for a week or so but now it's really acting up.



Is it infected? What can I do to treat it? It's irritating me to the point where I'm about to take the stupid thing out permanently :/ (Though I'd really rather not, as it cost money lol). I'm most likely going to go see my piercer later today, but any opinions/advice would be appreciated.Sounds irritated - not infected. If it was infected you'd have yellow/green pus with an odor. The warmth, swelling, crust, and blood just makes it sound irritated from changing a piercing that likely wasn't healed all the way. The bump is probably hypertrophic scarring but you'll probably want to get your piercer to check it out just to be sure. It likely isn't a keloid unless you are prone to them in which case you shouldn't even be getting piercings. Hypertrophic scarring is very common though, keloids are not.



Stop using bactine and switch to doing sea salt soaks (1/4th of a teaspoon of non-iodized sea salt to 8oz of hot water) twice a day for 5-10 minutes each soak. I'd put some in a solo cup or a small cup and emerge your ear in it and them lean your head the other way and tightly hold the cup against your head so it soaks the piercing. Plan on getting your hair wet. As a last resort, use a disposable paper towel. No q-tips, wash cloths, or cotton buds. Wash cloths harbor bacteria and q-tips and cotton buds can leave behind fibers.