Daughter wants ears pierced

Sweet_Pea_2

I took my dd to a local hairdressers which also had a piercing "studio" upstairs. She had to be 8 as they dont pierce any child under this age, and a parent had to be with her to consent to it. The owner did it for her and he was careful to discuss it with her first. It was a gun that was used, I have had mine done a couple of times with a gun and had no problems.
DD was fine too, the only thing I would say is to be careful to keep the area really clean and apply the lotion regularly. We did it morning and night, it only takes seconds and infections can be really painful.
I was shocked soon after to discover what a friend had paid at Claires to have her daughters ears done. She was a bit lax with cleanliness too and her daughter had really sore ears, she ended up taking out the earrings, and taking her back to Claires, (obviously this was not the fault of the staff at Claires) She had to let them heal up and then get them redone. I wouldnt want to put my daughter through all that for the sake of a few minutes a day.
Another friends daughter had a Saturday job at Claires and did piercings with only minimal training, also is there a reason why they do it in the window in full view?

juno

pulliptears wrote:

Juno, the cartlidge in the ear doesnt shatter when pierced, so gun piercing will do no harm there whatsoever.

Well, no, because there's no cartilege in your ear lobes. But it would shatter your ear cartilage if you were stupid enough to get a cartilage piercing there. Here's some nice pretty pictures. Wouldn't you just love this to happen to your ear?

Gun piercings are a no no for other areas of the body i.e. Nose, Belly Button, Lip, Eyebrow because of the sensitive nature of the tissue in those parts. For example, gun piercing a nose destroys the cartlidge in it and more often than not leads to infection and poor healing.

Gun piercing anywhere is bad.

newer piercing guns are designed with sterilized, encapsulated stud cartridges to reduce the risk of contamination of the gun. These are the type that Claire's accessories use.

They're better, but still not good. As soon as the studs come out of their sterile pack and touch the icky gun they're not sterile any more. Then you've got the person who, if they wear gloves, don't change them anywere near enough to do anything. They're still forcing a blunt stud through and causing all the associated trauma too.

At the end of the day I speak from the experience of having lots of different types of piercings. As long as you follow the aftercare well and keep the wounds bathed and clean you should be fine

So do I. In fact, I'm getting a piercing apprenticeship in the new year.
It's fair enough if you've read up on all the risks and decide to do it to yourself. But if you're doing it to your daughter who is too young to know any better and is more at risk because of their young age/small size then that's not fair.

scoobydo_2

I have my ears pierced once and wanted them done a second time , had these done at claires . BIG MISTAKE !!!!!!!!! My ears burned as soon as it was done and i thought it was just the stinking senation of when its first done but they were cleaned regularly and looked after but wept terribly and resulted in an infection and having to remove the earings as the ear was swelling over the earing not pretty !!!
Thinking this was just me a few years later my dd had hers done at claires as her friends were all having theirs done and again hers got infected and had to be removed . This was very painful for her and i strongly reget hurting her . She had then done a year later at a proper jewellers with no problem .

chmmy

I took DD, then age 9, to Claires last year. She had the first one fine, but the gun jammed for the second one. The lady tried again, but then said they would have to leave it, until it had healed and then come back and do it again:eek: I said you cant leave her like that!!!!! (she'd have been so embarrased to walk around with 1 earring for a few months), and as DD wasnt distressed they agreed to try again (different lady this time). They didnt charge us.

We looked after them and they were fine for 9 months, then out of the blue one day DD woke up and her ear was swollen (different ear to the one that had originally jammed) and the earring was inside her ear lobe.:o

I took her to A&E and she had to have a small cut at the back of her ear to have it pulled out the back as it wouldnt come out the front. It was really traumatic, she had gas and air and lots of screaming. We took the other one out, and they both healed fine and you cant see the scar at the back.

I know this is very rare, and not what you want to hear, but IMO it's important to know the risks. DD2 age 4 is asking to get hers done, but she'll have to wait until she's 18 (or she goes and gets it done anyway like i did lol)

stumpjumper

In addition to what's been said about the perils of gun piercing, I'd also say go for a hoop earring as it's easier to keep the area clean and it can breathe more.

I've had both gun and needle ear piercings and found the needle method was more comfortable and healed a lot faster. Personally I'd much rather have a fully qualified piercer in a proper licenced salon than a Saturday shop assisstant who's been on a basic course.

LondonDiva

I fyou have any asian jewellry shops near by pop in and have a chat.

sonee2405

Asian shops are not normally trained and always use a gun even on the nose, some don't even use the numbing lotion.i know because im asian- i have 7 piercings in 1 ear & 6 in the other including cartilage and inner lobes, i prefer proper tattoo shops even if i have to pay 4 times as much as an asian shop would charge. i had a nose pierceing done at an asian shop once which healed up inside so i could get a stud halfway in and then had to push it in till it bled-not a pretty sight.Go to a proper jeweeler or tattoo piercing place

~Loz~

I wouldn't reccommend going to claire's to anybody especially not a young child!!

My neice ended up in hospital with a swollen ear and had to have her earrings removed by cutting her ear due to an infection that had made her ear swell and grow over the back of the earring..

Some people may have been lucky but i wouldn't risk it, pay the extra and get it done in a clean piercing place where they have spent longer than a day training. The fact it is done in the window of a busy place with people walking around watching should be a warning sign in itself!

When i had my tongue done it was done in a room that smelt of hospitals, everything came out of a sealed sterile packet and was thrown afterwards, the guy took his time and that is how it should be done .

Penny-Pincher!!

I have 7 ear piercings. 3 in each year and 1 at top. 2 sets I did myself with a needle when younger:eek: :eek: :eek: ...they healed well. The others were done by an asian pharmacist I know in Bromley. The piercing at the top of my ear was the most painful and took 6 months to heal properly:rolleyes:

Had my nose done with a gun and got infected. Took out after 3 weeks and I have a high pain threshold. Never had it done again!

PP
xx