Is it safe to treat piercing pressure blisters with aspirin?

by - June 07, 2021



The post-2020 need to shake things up that led me to colour my hair and poke more holes in my ears has left with delightful pressure blisters. It's been nearly 3 months since I pierced my ears and my body's still struggling to heal. There are warnings all over the internet that applying aspirin is not safe, but the internet also tells you to talk to your piercers. And you know what? Unicorn Piercing had a pamphlet specifically for pressure blisters that instructed me to apply Aspro Clear. 

Sure, when I went to the chemist, the pharmacist raised his eyebrows and said in the years they did piercing at the chemist they had never heard of applying Aspro Clear to ear piercings but he said to give it a shot and come back if I have any issues. Turns out, Aspro Clear is a mild aspirin. Aspirin has salicylic acid in it. Salicylic acid peels skin so basically I'm burning the blisters off my piercings. I can see why people think it's unsafe. And it may well be if you use stronger aspirin or have an allergy. But so far, me and my sensitive skin have done OK taming pressure blisters with Aspro Clear. 

All in all, it's a pretty straightforward, gross process. Before bed every night, I take half a tablet and crush it in a bowl with a spoon. Then I ever so carefully put two little droplets of water into the bowl and take a cotton swab and mix it into a paste. Do not add more than two drops of water or it will evaporate the aspro clear. I apply the paste to the blisters, read a book while the paste dries and hardens, then go to sleep. 

 After 8-12 hours, I wake up and either disintegrate the paste in the shower or dip my earlobes into a small container of water. After 2-4 nights, the blister will swab right off in a pile in a little cluster of mucus, blood and flakey skin. Ew, ew, ew. I've gotten rid of 5 blisters so far but they keep appearing so while this process doesn't seem dangerous like the Internet says, it also doesn't solve the problem of my ears not healing properly. Joy! 

I'm currently trying silver earrings instead of the surgical steel ones I got during the ear piercing. Wish me luck.

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