Why do piercings swell?

There are quite a lot of people who are fond of body piercing.  Many of these people are not content with only piercing their ears, and so they try to pierce other body parts including their eyebrows, noses, tongues, and belly buttons, among other areas.  Piercings have been done by people since ancient times, and this has continued to these present times.  Men and women do piercings based on a variety of reasons. Others are into piercing because of peer pressure while others want to create a fashion statement.  Regardless of the reason, though, many piercings in various body parts actually cause swelling.  Despite this particular risk, many people still do multiple piercings.

Swelling in the body part being pierced is a normal reaction to the inflammatory changes taking place in that specific body part.  The fact that soft tissues in the specific body part are being pierced or punctured from a needle, it is also expected that this particular area will have some kind of inflammatory reaction.  Aside from the normal bleeding and expected pain, the area that is pierced may also swell, and this is a normal reaction in most cases.

In other cases, though, swelling of a pierced body part may be a sign of infection.  Germs may invade the pierced area, and these unwanted, foreign organisms will cause an inflammatory response and may present various symptoms like pain, pus formation, and swelling.  If infection is suspected as the cause of the swelling, people must immediately consult a doctor to help ease their suffering and avoid blood poisoning.

The swelling involved in piercing also heals depending on the body part being pierced and if there is infection or inflammation involved.  The tongue is said to heal the fastest when it comes to swelling especially if piercing instruments are sterile and if the procedure is done by an expert.  Piercings at the sides of the ears and eyebrows, meanwhile, may take weeks or months to heal.