Cleaning earring hole for mikveh

Hi, I have pierced ears, and wore earrings regularly until my babies started pulling on them. I’ve noticed the last few years that one of my earring holes is very hard to get an earring into, and I’ll often give up on wearing earrings rather than put the earring in. The last few months, it’s been almost impossible to get an earring in. While trying to clean my earring hole for mikva (with soap, water, and even when I tried with a lubricating ointment), the earring got stuck in my ear, and it was very uncomfortable and difficult to get it out. I’m scared to try again, especially as when I last tried to put an earring in, I failed, and the ear was swollen and felt bruised for several days. The Mikva attendant told me it was worth asking if I should be trying to put the earring through to clean, or if I should give up or clean another way. Thanks so much.

This internet service does not preclude, override or replace the psak of any rabbinical authority. It is the responsibility of the questioner to inform us of any previous consultation or ruling. As even slight variation in circumstances may have Halachic consequences, views expressed concerning one case may not be applied to other, seemingly similar cases. All health and health-related information contained within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is intended to be general in nature and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with your health care professional. The advice is intended to offer a basis for individuals to discuss their medical condition with their health care provider but not individual advice. Although every effort is made to ensure that the material within Nishmat's Women's Health & Halacha Web site is accurate and timely, it is provided for the convenience of the Web site user but should not be considered official. Advice for actual medical practice should be obtained from a licensed health care professional. For further questions or comments:  The Nishmat Women's Health and Halacha Site is a public service of Nishmat, The Jeanie Schottenstein Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women. This project and others like it are made possible by contributions from people like you. If you have benefited from the service, and wish to enable us to help others, click here to donate.

---

Users of Internet filtering services: This site discusses sensitive subjects that some services filter without visual indication. A page that appears 100% complete might actually be missing critical Jewish-law or medical information. To ensure that you view the pages accurately, ask the filtering service to whitelist all pages under yoatzot.org.