I have been having this issue with my ears for almost a decade now. I have gone to the doctors, but they have been no help. This initially started after getting my ears pierced. They were infected within the 2 hours it took to get home and as soon as I got home I began taking care of them exactly as I had been told. That is what triggered this to begin with and I don't see any reason that it would continue if it were a normal infection from piercing ears. (I haven't wore a single earring in over 6 years because of this issue.) Not to mention I've tried everything that has been suggested for new piercing with no luck. My ears will flare up fairly often. If I can go 3 days without a flare-up I am happy. They get a scaly skin on the back of the ear and it sometimes will travel back toward, or into, the hair line and down my neck. These scales will begin to secrete some kind of liquid if the infection doesn't go away within about 2 days. Sometimes it starts to weep within a few hours of it first appearing, though. When it is really bad, the crusties will turn yellow and my ear lobes (or ear, depending on the position of the infection) will feel like they are falling off because the flesh will begin to tear and separate from the rest of the skin. One thing that has remained consistent throughout this whole issue is that water makes it worse. I have to try keeping water away from them because even the time it takes to take a shower sometimes makes it start to make the skin pus, start to separate, or create an open lesion.
I have tried cleaning it with many things over the years. I have tried peroxide, baking soda, tea tree oil, rubbing alcohol, vinegar, various lotions (such as cetaphil), and Hydrocortisone cream. None of this has worked. The hydrocortisone cream was prescribed by a doctor as my 'last chance' to figure out what is wrong. I had also been presrcribed some other type of cream that I can't remember the name of... I think it started with an I. It was also a steroid cream and didn't work.) Normally they would simply tell me to talk to someone who pierces ears and take care of it the way they say to take care of freshly pierced ears, but hello, this had been almost ten years and I already have talked to enough piercers (and had other piercings that turned out great) and tried everything they can come up with, with no results. The hydrocortisone cream did nothing at best. It did, on occasion, spread the nastiness to cover more of my skin. I have tried keeping water away from it by gently wiping it away every time my ears get wet, but that can only help so much and will not stop this from coming on. It is very difficult to remove the water when it is super irritated because of the pain and I do fear introducing bacteria.
I almost forgot to mention that the doctors suggested using dandruff shampoo, but I have always used dandruff shampoo and it does nothing for this. It took a lot to get the little advice from them that I did because they always just want to get me to leave. They care too much about getting their patients out of their hair until they can go home and I can't get to another town to see another doctor about this.
Does anybody know what I can try for this?