Boys ear piercing...

redrach

Hi, my 9 year old son got his ear pierced for the first time on friday, as he wanted the diamante earing it turned out it was stainless steel not silver and now it is turning green :eek:

I have now bought a white gold earing and my question is, if I sterilise it with baby bottle sterilising fluid and swap it really quickly with the dirty one, will that be ok?

I dont want to cause an infection but I think that will happen if I dont take the dirty earing out ayway (he doesnt want to just take it out and let it close up).

Thanks in advance

Rachael

iamana1ias

redrach wrote: »

Hi, my 9 year old son got his ear pierced for the first time on friday, as he wanted the diamante earing it turned out it was stainless steel not silver and now it is turning green :eek:

I have now bought a white gold earing and my question is, if I sterilise it with baby bottle sterilising fluid and swap it really quickly with the dirty one, will that be ok?

I dont want to cause an infection but I think that will happen if I dont take the dirty earing out ayway (he doesnt want to just take it out and let it close up).

Thanks in advance

Rachael

i wouldn't put white gold in as it's not a pure metal like silver and your son could have a nasty allergy to it. can you get a sterling silver one?

Alikay

Most ear piercing is done with surgical grade stainless steel these days because it is hard, easy to clean and doesn't leach chemicals into the wound (like copper would, for example). Silver studs wouldn't be hard enough to use in a piercing gun. I'd suggest you go back to the place who pierced them and see if there is a problem with the stud itself if it's gone a funny colour. Oh, and you're meant to use the solution you can buy from the piercing studio NOT sterilising fluid which may not be safe on an open wound and could cause a reaction with the metal! Didn't they tell you about aftercare when your son had it done? I'm very surprised if not....I thought they had to stick to proper regulations to ensure safety!

iamana1ias

Alikay wrote: »

Most ear piercing is done with surgical grade stainless steel these days because it is hard, easy to clean and doesn't leach chemicals into the wound (like copper would, for example). Silver studs wouldn't be hard enough to use in a piercing gun. I'd suggest you go back to the place who pierced them and see if there is a problem with the stud itself if it's gone a funny colour. Oh, and you're meant to use the solution you can buy from the piercing studio NOT sterilising fluid which may not be safe on an open wound and could cause a reaction with the metal! Didn't they tell you about aftercare when your son had it done? I'm very surprised if not....I thought they had to stick to proper regulations to ensure safety!

i can't believe they're allowed to pierce a 9 year old!

floss2

iamana1ias wrote: »

i can't believe they're allowed to pierce a 9 year old!

I didn't think they were......unless a parent has signed the consent form & is present.

PolishBigSpender

floss2 wrote: »

I didn't think they were......unless a parent has signed the consent form & is present.

I can't believe the parent signed the consent form
Why does a 9 year old boy (or any boy, for that matter) need an earring?

galvanizersbaby

floss2 wrote: »

I didn't think they were......unless a parent has signed the consent form & is present.

I believe a parent would have to sign the consent form and then it would be ok - there are 2 boys in my son's class who have pierced ears (6 years old) and I'm assuming it was with parental request/consent!

OP - I think it's worth going back to the piercer - as another poster says most piercing is done with stainless steel and you should have been given some advice about aftercare.

When I had mine done (many years ago now!) you had to dip the ear in surgical spirit and twiddle the stud around for the 1st 2 weeks to prevent infection - not sure what the guidelines are now.

galvanizersbaby

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

I can't believe the parent signed the consent form
Why does a 9 year old boy (or any boy, for that matter) need an earring?

In the case of the 2 boys in my son's class (they are both 6) I think it would have been engineered by the parents as their daddies appear to have an earring - or perhaps they wanted to be just like daddy?

I think with a 9 year old maybe some of his friends have had it done and it is a passing fad probably.

Personally I wouldn't allow my DS (not that it's something I could see him asking for but you never know)

Same sort of thing with the girls - DD has been asking to have her ears pierced because her 5 year old classmate has hers done - her father told her she could when she was 16

However their was a playground incident recently with DD's friend and her ear was damaged with blood shed so this has put DD off somewhat!

redrach

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

I can't believe the parent signed the consent form
Why does a 9 year old boy (or any boy, for that matter) need an earring?

I did sign a consent form, and even though I didnt actually want him to have it done, he really wanted it. I'd say 9 was a reasonable age and I dont think anyone would think twice if I said 9 year old girl!

MrsTinks

I don't think the "should a child aged x be allowed an earpiercing" is what this thread is about so maybe we could try and get back on track?

OP you say green... now is that the metal or the discharge? I remember having mine pierced (had to have them done a couple of times as I let them heal up - and later had my belly button pierced too... and the aftercare advice was the same...) and a slight discharge is normal - if it's bright green ofcourse it needs to be checked by your GP in case it's seriously infected... what you don't want to happen is for the infection to get into the blood.
The stuff you need to clean it with will be a special antibacterial soap - don't use anything other than what has been recommended - it could react with the metal OR your sons ear...
If you do want to remove the piercing then get an 18+ carat yellow gold ear ring and clean it in the solution stuff you were given when he was pierced. This should ensure no new bacteria are introduced.
Make sure he is fastidious about keeping it clean and washing his hands after doing anything and especially before touching his ear... It is so easy to get an infection if you're not careful... I had it in a couple of my piercings (the ear ones that were allowed eventually to heal up) and it's not pleasant in the least!

MrsTinks

BTW it won't have been stainless steel - it will have been surgical steel one suitable for piercings... Although now I think they're saying that they should be using something else (heard it 3rd hand so not 100% sure what it was...)