PIERCING CARTILAGE: AN ATTEMPT TO TURN THE AESTHETIC LEGACY!

According to three recent observations, body piercing located high on the ear can be dangerous! Indeed, if it touches the cartilage, it can cause infections leading to abscess formation and significant aesthetic sequelae, including the ear known as "cauliflower-like".

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While the piercing is usually done for aesthetic reasons, three observations have recently been published, highlighting the risk of infection resulting in significant sequelae when piercing the cartilage reached. This is particularly the case of piercings located on the upper third of the pinna.

Three stories of aesthetic missed

o About two days after a piercing transcartilagineux, a young man of 16 presents to the emergency for a painful swelling. The upper part of the ear with an abscess, it makes an incision and drainage under general anesthesia. Three months later, the ear is only slightly deformed. o One week after the same type of piercing, a girl of 21 years suffers from perichondritis (inflammation of the membrane surrounding the cartilage of the ear). Despite treatment with antibiotics, an abscess develops. She is hospitalized (incision, drainage, compression overshoot). Three months later, the consequences are visible and ear type "cauliflower-like", with loss of cartilage at the top of the ear. o Five months after multiple piercings transcartilagineux whose wounds have never healed, a young 23 year old woman was referred by her general practitioner for purulent lesions of the pinna. These lesions were surgically excised due to be.

Recognize signs of infection

The infection progresses rapidly cartilage, support must be early. It is important to recognize the earliest signs of perichondritis: local heat, redness and pain before the onset of swelling. The treatment of initial infection is to eradicate germs, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and S. aureus. On antibiotics, the patient must remain under observation in an ENT department, where he would not respond to treatment. Surgical intervention is required at the first sign of abscess. His initial cosmetic result is generally satisfactory, but in the longer term, appear with the healing of notches in the Pavilion, as the cartilage forming the skeleton of the ear was destroyed.