u/yoga_made_it_worse

I tried tattoing fake skin yesterday and had a lot of fun, but the result was horrendous. Ink splashes everywhere, wobbly lines, shallow lines, too deep lines, the whole package. I thought that's basically how it works, but so many first attempt posts here look very good, crisp and generally impressive.

Of course I'm happy for the artists who achieve such great results, but is this an exception, or the baseline? Because I tried very hard, read lots of articles, watched hours of videos, bought nice supplies, and my result wasn't even close to what I've seen here.

Bonus: my hand after trying pink ink. I was wearing gloves the whole time...

About 10 days ago I got an helix and conch piercings. The bars were too short and started pressing into my ear, causing looots of throbbing pain. The ear became swollen and bright red, the piercer inserted longer bars, but the pain and swelling only got worse, and I noticed pus and blood leaking out, so I went to the doctor.

He prescribed antibiotics, I've been taking them for two days. Nothing changed, but it's obviously too early. He told me to see him in a week. However, my husband claims that the redness behind my ear is spreading to my neck and jaw, and that I need ER. I don't see any spreading redness, maybe just a little, but definitely not life-threatening. I attached picture of the supposed redness and the ear.

What do you think? He's very nervous and is begging me to go to the ER, but I feel okay (maybe like a mild flu case) and don't want to waste their time.

(F23, 154cm, 43kg, I vape)

[first post](https://www.reddit.com/r/piercing/comments/1sw8p7p/industrial\_digging\_into\_the\_skin\_fluids\_visible/)

So I saw my piercer and she made a new hole in the helix section + put in a longer bar to relieve tension. She told me to use antiseptic wash and a heavy-duty antibiotic ointment (and wash it off after 30 minutes) as well as doing soaks and compresses. She says that if the swelling isn't gone in two weeks, we'll have to let it go (I agree).

That's all very fun and cool but my ear looks like it's rotting and hurts if I don't take 400mg ibuprofen. Do you think I should just say goodbye or follow her instructions (I'm following them now)? I really need my ear to be attached to my head :(

(I'm not asking for medical advice, just asking if saving attempts are futile. also my hairpin isn't dirty, these are water splashes, I obviously keep the piercing areas clean)