Hi Hivers!...... I decided to take a little break from business/ entrepreneurial articles.
Don’t worry, Ill get back to it soonest. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this post about piercings. To get the full piercing gist, I suggest you read to the end and then we can talk about piercings or not in the comment section.
That said, lets get right to it!
Piercing is just simply the perforation of different parts of the body for the purpose of putting on a jewelry. Piercings can be done on the ear, eyes, nose, nipples, navel and some even go as far as piercing their private parts. Different people have their reasons for getting different piercings. In my own case, I have always loved nose and ear piercings because I find it really beautiful.
My opinion is totally different now though, after I got the experience of my life!
When I was a baby, I got the common ear piercing and that was it but I wanted another ear piercing or a nose piercing. However, I was a bit skeptical because I imagined it might be really painful to get one.
One holiday in 2017, my sister came back home with a nose piercing. Wow! I said when I saw it. I admired her courage and started asking her questions about how she got it and if it was painful or not.
She talked about it like it was no big deal and even told me that she can pierce mine if I wanted.
I was a bit reluctant but as she said it wasn’t going to be painful, I gave in. Guys that’s how I got a second ear piercing! Wow…. It was pretty easier than I had imagined but painful nevertheless. My sister however assured me that the pain would subside in a day or two and it did! It was time for me to rock a jewelry on my second piercing and feel like the finest girl in my area… Lol
Well, we all know the way new things always freak at the early stage but the excitement reduces eventually. That was what happened to me. The excitement lasted for several months until it got to a point where I rarely even remember or bother wearing jewelry on the piercing. Eventually, the piercing closed up. About a year down the line, the excitement came back and you know what I did? I pierced that same spot again and I went on with that feeling of self-fulfillment. I went back and forth from excitement about the piercing to caring less about it. Therefore, the piercing closed up twice and I opened it back up twice. The last time I pierced it, I got a wound which I was careless about. The result was a KELOID!
Below are pictures with the keloid visible on my right ear.
Keloid is an outgrowth that results from a wound. Based on my research I found out that keloid grows out as a result of deposition of excess cells in trying to heal a wound. This keloid keeps growing bigger and slowly and before you know it; it turns out to be something you want to hide from people. It reduces one’s self esteem and sometimes influences one’s fashion choices where you have to start making hairstyles just to cover a keloid in your ear.
I had never heard of that word until I got one. Initially, I ignored it but overtime it grew bigger in size such that when people look at me, the keloid was the first thing they noticed. This irritated me so much and made me less confident of myself.
I started looking for ways to get rid of it. I did extensive keloid research searching for solution in all corners of the internet including social media. I doubt there’s any blog online about keloid that I haven’t opened, including YouTube videos. Each offered several solutions to get rid of keloid which I kept trying one after the other.
There were medical methods via surgery or injection but they were pretty expensive and I wasn’t confident of those methods because keloids have the tendency to grow back bigger after being cut off so I sourced for other safer methods which was natural remedies. I tried using garlic. Ginger, onions, honey, shea butter, snake fat, tube creams, apple cider vinegar, salty lukewarm water, aspirin etc. I used a whole lot of things, wayyyyy more than I listed here. I combined some while I used some alone. Some bruised the keloid; others simply didn’t have any effect. However, none of those remedies worked!
Each time one fails, I resumed my research until I stumble on another remedy. This was how I went on for about a year with the keloid continuously increasing in size and my self-confidence continuously diminishing. Each time I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt soooo sad. I wondered how I was supposed to carry on with the rest of my life with that big lump on my ear. I regretted getting that piercing so bad. I realized how vain, naïve and careless I was. I needed help.
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Sometime last year (2021), I met a lady who also had keloid and wanted to get surgery for it. I told her I couldn’t afford surgery and she told me I could use thread to tie round the keloid until it shrinks and finally falls off. She said she tried it before but she couldn’t understand why the keloid came back again. Because I was desperate to get rid of it, I wanted to try it out to get rid of the keloid and have my life back. Then I can deal with preventing a second outgrowth afterwards. I tied the keloid tightly round the neck. It was pretty painful but I didn’t mind at all since it meant the keloid would shrink and fall of in a few days.
Keloid look on the second day after it was tied
The next day, I didn’t notice any dryness and the pain increased. By the third day, fluid had gathered on the keloid, it looked really messy and the pain was so unbearable. Instead of shrinking, the keloid got worse. The thread caused an open would and at that point you can imagine how miserable I felt. I contacted a doctor immediately. The doctor asked me to remove the thread and come to the hospital afterwards. Now how do I explain how I removed several layers of tied and tangled thread from an open and very painful wound. Pain, sadness, regrets was all I felt. I kept taking break cos of the pain before getting back to removing the thread.
I eventually removed it; the pain reduced but headache set in. I went to the hospital that day and the doctor said surgery was the only way out. I quickly accepted. Anything to just get my life back! Thankfully he agreed to do the surgery and let me pay after a month because he knew my uncle.
The surgery went well and I was to come back at intervals to take injections on the ear and for checkups.
The look immediately after surgery
That was how I got rid of that life tormenting keloid. It’s been over 6 months since the surgery. Today, when people express their love for piercings, I don’t even say a thing. All I feel is gratitude that I didn’t end up disfiguring myself for beauty’s sake.
So, tell me… piercing or not? Have you experienced keloid from piercings before? How did you get rid of it? What do you think about my piercing and keloid experience?
Thanks for reading my post and for your upvotes. It means more than I can say.
Bye for now
See you in the next post!