# How did people care for ear piercings before modern antiseptics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334 "2018-10-22T15:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/1 "2018-10-22T15:06:47Z")
So people have been wearing earrings since time immemorial. But it’s only been fairly recently that sterilized piercing studs or needles and modern antiseptics have been developed. A while back my niece stayed over when she had some fresh earlobe piercings and she had to clean them with benzalkonium chloride and rotate them three times a day. So in days gone by did people get a lot of nasty infections from non-sterile techniques, and not putting antiseptic on their ears, or is the whole "clean them three times a day overkill, cover your butt, type instructions. Or maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/2 "2018-10-22T15:34:48Z")
A needle sterilized in flame was how it used to be done. Clean once a day with alcohol. Infections were fairly common. Sometimes they could mark you for life, other times just a little swelling and then done. [One theory](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2982590.stm)is that Rembrandt had a botched piercing, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/3 "2018-10-22T16:37:14Z")
I’ve healed my 14 piercings with nothing but salt water. They were each done with a sterile, single-use needle, but sterilizing the needle in a flame would have had the same results. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/4 "2018-10-22T18:40:52Z")
The truth is somewhere in the middle; not EVERY injury resulted in horrible infection prior to the germ theory of disease and advent of antiseptic technique and topical antiseptics. It wasn’t uncommon though- people did die of infections caused by stuff we’d consider trivial- shaving cuts was something a non-trivial number of people died from back in the day. That said, ear piercing seems to be pretty prone to infections… [Complications of Body Piercing | AAFP](https://www.aafp.org/afp/2005/1115/p2029.html) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/5 "2018-10-22T20:28:20Z")
Ear piercings? Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox missed a pitching rotation i_ **n the playoffs** _ because his \*naval \*piercing got infected. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/6 "2018-10-22T21:14:37Z")
Vinegar, alcohol, salt water, witch-craft, woo, luck. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/7 "2018-10-22T22:56:10Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Ear piercings? Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox missed a pitching rotation i_ **n the playoffs** _ because his \*naval \*piercing got infected. That was a prank Sale played on the media. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/8 "2018-10-22T23:16:17Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Ear piercings? Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox missed a pitching rotation i_ **n the playoffs** _ because his \*naval \*piercing got infected. Holes do tend to sink ships. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/9 "2018-10-22T23:17:37Z")
Alcohol has been around since ancient times. A little on the piercing and some down the throat. You’re all set. 😉 Alcohol is a good antiseptic. Doesn’t always prevent infection but it certainly reduces the chances of getting one. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/10 "2018-10-23T05:06:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Alcohol has been around since ancient times. Not generally in strong enough concentrations to be an [_effective_ disinfectant](https://advancedtissue.com/2014/09/can-wine-hinder-wound-healing-process/). You don’t get up to 50% alcohol concentration by just fermenting. That needs distillation, which only became a thing in the Middle Ages. Ancient wines and beers weren’t really going to cut it. Three days to kill bacteria is helpful for wounds, but isn’t going to be of use when ear piercing. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/11 "2018-10-23T07:16:23Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not generally in strong enough concentrations to be an [_effective_ disinfectant](https://advancedtissue.com/2014/09/can-wine-hinder-wound-healing-process/). You don’t get up to 50% alcohol concentration by just fermenting. That needs distillation, which only became a thing in the Middle Ages. Ancient wines and beers weren’t really going to cut it. Three days to kill bacteria is helpful for wounds, but isn’t going to be of use when ear piercing. Not to disinfect the needle (that’s by flame), but for its upkeep it’s enough. ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/12 "2018-10-23T13:12:50Z")
I’ve read somewhere that honey has been used as a topical antiseptic for a very long time as well. If it works on cuts, I would think that it would work on piercings. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/13 "2018-10-23T13:15:21Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Holes do tend to sink ships. He found it hard to 🆒 Sale. YEEAAAAAHHHHH! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/14 "2018-10-23T19:45:41Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > So in days gone by did people get a lot of nasty infections from non-sterile techniques, and not putting antiseptic on their ears, or is the whole "clean them three times a day overkill, cover your butt, type instructions. Or maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle? The modern aftercare routine for piercings has changed wildly over the past 30 or so years. Scrubbing, rotating, using neosporin, etc. are Dark Ages overkill methods now. The current preferred treatment regimen for the past ten years (or more) is called LITHA, or _Leave It The Hell Alone_. When allowed to do its own thing, the average human body is very good at healing small wounds. When I had my septum piercing done, all I was supposed to do to it was a daily saline soak to let accumulated “crusties” dissolve away. It’s when people think they need to glob on neosporin and rotate the jewelry through the fresh wound that they have troubles as they’re both ripping out the body’s attempt to grow new skin and forcing dirt into the wound, not to mention that neosporin is bad news inside the airless environment of a puncture wound. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/15 "2018-10-23T19:49:43Z")
For my nose piercing, I was told to clean it with plain ordinary warm salt water. The only special instruction was that the salt couldn’t be iodinized. (Like regular table salt) So I just use either sea salt or kosher. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/16 "2018-10-24T00:08:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not generally in strong enough concentrations to be an [_effective_ disinfectant](https://advancedtissue.com/2014/09/can-wine-hinder-wound-healing-process/). You don’t get up to 50% alcohol concentration by just fermenting. That needs distillation, which only became a thing in the Middle Ages. Ancient wines and beers weren’t really going to cut it. Three days to kill bacteria is helpful for wounds, but isn’t going to be of use when ear piercing. I hadn’t considered distillation. I learned something today. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/17 "2018-10-24T00:39:02Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That needs distillation, which only became a thing in the Middle Ages. Can you please provide a cite for that ? I believe people have distilling stuff and making spirits since they discovered copper and tin. This site says it was done by the Greeks and documented to about 28 B.C.[http://montgomerydistillery.com/our-process/distilling/](http://montgomerydistillery.com/our-process/distilling/) ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/18 "2018-10-24T00:43:00Z")
Also - you don’t need to distill wine to make liquor (although it is a pretty good way). You can concentrate the wine with potassium carbonate. And then you can get to absolute alcohol by drying over calcium oxide (quicklime). This was how the original proof spirit was made. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/19 "2018-10-24T07:39:27Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > Can you please provide a cite for that ? I believe people have distilling stuff and making spirits since they discovered copper and tin. Distillation of sorts has been around that long. True distillation of alcohol, specifically, only since the early Middle Ages. [Cite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquor#True_distillation). And anyway, “became a thing” is not (colloquially) the same as “came into existence”, it’s more “became common” > [@](#): > > This site says it was done by the Greeks and documented to about 28 B.C.[http://montgomerydistillery.com/our-process/distilling/](http://montgomerydistillery.com/our-process/distilling/) That reference is dubious - it just _asserts_ that “boiling” is distillation, for one thing. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2018, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-people-care-for-ear-piercings-before-modern-antiseptics/823334/20 "2018-10-24T07:49:01Z")
> [@am77494](#): > > You can concentrate the wine with potassium carbonate. Sure, but I’m ignorant of the history of K2CO3 salting - does it precede Medieval Arabic distillation? There’s also freeze distillation, which isn’t true distillation but gets you a liquor.