Child ear piercing gone wrong - help me with what to say

Can't see what the issue is. It's unfortunate that the back came off. But it's happened now. Either put a new one in or take it out and let it heal.

@formula3 I'd leave the piercing that has the earring still in place alone, and keep it clean.
Could Claire's not give you a new {presumably gold} stud to replace the missing one? a new hole will want to heal fast, though.

£15 sounds a lot for cleaning stuff- I pierced my son's ears myself with sterile piercing ''green'' needles and antiseptic {at 16yrs} as he refused to go to a ''girl's shop'', and a piercing studio wouldn't pierce someone under 18.

I put a 9 carat gold studs in {cheaper than rings}- and there was no infection or any pain - he used Hibiscrub to keep them clean and still has {silver} earrings in them now, they healed fine.

Good luck!

Sorry, but this sounds so blown out of proportion to me

A hole was made in the lobe
The earring fell out

Just put the earring back in after disinfecting it and the ear (iodine, alochol, whatever). If she's worked up or it's sore, ice it first.

I can't believe it's healed over within hours. There may be dried blood or a scab, but not a fully healed lobe.

“Dd ended up with an infection 4 months after we thought her ears had healed”

You can get infections in them once they have healed at any stage. I have three piercings in each ear, and have had my nose and lip done. I haven’t worn anything in any of them for years. The lip and nose have closed but the ears are still open. They all get sore from time to time and have occasionally become infected. Even when they close over they leave a partial hole or indentation which can potentially become blocked by sebum/ dead skin etc.
I remember the pain of trying to force jewellery through half healed piercings, it was horrible. Piercings are just not worth it ime.

Freeze it with ice cubes , put another gold or silver earring in.

Mumsnet isn't just one entity (see all the different responses) and it's not particularly weird to not want to mutilate a child.

8 is too young!

Maybe the back of the earring is in her clothing. Regardless she sounds a brave little soul and seems to have been through so much. I hope you get a full refund.

I’d say take the other out and write for full refund. Wait a few more years to get them pierced again. She sounds a bit too anxious about it to me as this point so id wait.

Mum/dad can do it night before but dc aged 6 + can easily manage to take them out. Some schools let them use tape over them too.

People don’t like to admit this but Claire’s is a reputable piercer. They pierce 1000s of ears every year with no issues. You only hear about the ones that go wrong because we’ve all heard of Claire’s. I wouldn’t personally want my adult ears pierced with a gun now, but it fires through children’s lobes like a hot knife through butter. Act as you would if this had happened at a tattoo place - you would accept the solution they offered. Don’t think that if you escalate to HO you’ll somehow be able to get a payout.

Your poor daughter! Ignore nasty posters. Of course she was excited, and for it to go wrong like this must be really upsetting for her.

Maybe keep the one in you have and then go to a tattoo/piercing place to get the second hole done - with a needle.

Sorry I misread that bit

I had mine done at Clare's when I was little and they've always been painful, one stud was too tight and sucked into the hole 🤢 Please use proper piercing places who use needles, I gave up wearing earrings eventually because that one ear never healed.

How’s she going to manage taking her earrings out at school for PE?

It's very common over here in Ireland for little girls to get their ears pierced either before or just after their First Holy Communion so that's around 7 or 8 years of age

Your poor daughter how awful for you both but yeah Claire's is really not the place, the staff aren't trained & as you now know they use those awful guns. which are just barbaric. Take everyones advice & get a full refund, that's a shocking amount of money to spend for sub par service & if & when your daughter wants to retry go to a professional piercer, they're so gentle in comparison

What does that have to do with anything? Kids do things that their parents havent done all the time. Maybe OP just never wanted hers done, her daughter did. Not really a big mystery.

Kids of that age fiddle. They jump about. They knock their heads regularly. They run around and roll about with their friends. They’re rough taking their clothes on and off.

How you can expect a child of 8 to not do anything like that for 6 weeks (or however long Claire’s recommended keeping them in for) to ensure the earring is 100% protected at all times is madness. Completely unrealistic and impractical.

This type of thing so often happens when young children get their ears pierced.

Im sorry your DD is distressed but you need to have a plan for these situations if you want her ears pierced at this age.

Eight is fine to get ears pierced. Mumsnet is just weird about it.

My cartilage piercing took years to heal. It was done at a proper piercing studio with a titanium post and a gold stud. It kept getting crusty and sore and the piercer couldn’t work out why. It only healed when I changed the stud from gold to titanium. It makes no sense as it still has the same post and I wear gold earrings in my lobe piercings but it’s now healed. I’m not sure I’d trust it not to heal over if I took it out but I’ve no plans to do that.

How does an 8 year old play with earrings ? Arnt you frightened they will get caught and ripped ?

Claire’s is awful. Piercings should only ever be done with a needle. I’d leave it for now, try and get a refund from Claire’s and then go to a UKAPP piercer when she’s ready. I promise needles hurt way less than those devices that Claire’s use.

I would tell them you want a full refund and then go to a proper piercing place that uses a needle and not a gun (a decent tattoo place normally have good body piercers).