To think piercing a child's ears with a gun should be banned?

[lovesthosebeeps]

Okay, people must insist it's done because xyz

Mine was done with a needle as a tiny baby. However, it appears most tattoo places that do piercings won't touch a baby/small child.

But I've always known guns are worse. A tattoo/piercing artist I know personally just posted this image on FB

She says the gun isn't a clean go, and can cause damage to surrounding tissue etc.

AIBU to wonder why this is still allowed, with a gun, because it can cause so many issues later on?

Obviously it would be best if people didn't bother getting small children done at all but at least abolish bloody guns?!

Piercing their ears in general should be banned. It’s unnecessary.

our piercing studio does 9+ with a needle after a chat with the kid to make sure that they've capacity including understanding of aftercare. DC2 has just had hers done aged 10, and although there may be an element of luck hers are healing miles better than those of two friends who had them done the same week with a gun.

I'm really surprised Claire's still agrees to pierce the ears of babies, toddlers and very young children. They lost my custom that day because I put down what I had planned to buy and left the shop. Not sure most people want to hear a screaming baby as they're browsing for hairbands and nail varnish.

All three of my lobe piercings were done with a gun - including one at a tattoo parlour. My cartridge all done with needles and I’d never let them do it with a gun. Lobe is squishy and can’t cauliflower so it didn’t worry me 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've had 10 gun piercings over the years, in ears and nose. (Let all holes close up since). Most recent was a gun to re-pierce my first, then needle to re-pierce my 2nd holes. I've had bruising with the needle, and they hurt more than any gun I've had.
Plus they only pierce age 14 plus, which is a long time to wait. I would have liked my 13 year old to get hers done this summer, but she'll have to wait another year. (I wouldn't take my dds to Claires though so eldest had hers done at 14).

Using a gun is definitely not recommended for cartilage piercings. I had a helix piercing when I was young & dumb at a dodgy tattoo shop with a gun, cue shattered cartilage, giant, keloid scar I had to have removed & even now I can only fit standard earrings in the hole as it’s too slim to fit standard helix gauge jewellery in.

I’m planning to have a full solar system of piercings in my ear soon (put on hold due to covid), mostly cartilage piercings (helixes, rook, tragus etc) & am using a proper piercing studio this time!

I don’t agree with children under the age of 10 having piercings (regardless of method), in my ex career as a teacher & years of youth volunteering as a first aider I’ve dealt with too many ripped lobes, tangled earrings in hair & infections, let alone lost butterflies & the screaming habdabs that some precious diamond has been lost in the depths of a tent…

When I was in high school my friend got hers done, not Claire’s but a similar place, and the gun jammed slightly. Apparently it isn’t usually an issue but she daftly panicked and yanked her head, ripping her earlobe. She had a massive bandage for ages.

Anyway I’m not fully against ear piercings when kids are young, my dd had hers at 7. Her younger sister is now that age but she doesn’t want earrings, she likes sticky on ones! But I wouldn’t encourage gun piercing. If nothing else surely a young girl at Claire’s Accessories can’t have proper piercing training?

Not that I’m saying a younger woman could have training, but every time I’ve been in Claire’s they seem to just be young customer assistants rather than trained piercers.

Sorry, my dd had hers done at 6, and her sister is nearly that age. It was a bit young looking back but she really wanted them and still wears earrings now.

@DeflatedGinDrinker

Claire's done my ears and nose with a gun and both were painless. My friend had her nose pierced with a needle and said it hurt.

I had my ears done at a tattoo place who used a gun. It didn't hurt at all. Had them done with a needle somewhere else and it stung like a bitch. It also took a bit longer as they leave the needle in whilst they are getting the ear ring.

@LifesNotEnidBlyton

Well neither is ok on a small child or baby so "the safest way" is to ban it. A needle might be "safer" than a gun but it then needs to be done one at a time and can be more painful being done. It's so wrong that it happens at all. Anyone doing this to a small child or baby should have a think about why they think that vanity or "culture" make it ok to cause a pain to someone who doesn't need it and hasn't asked for it, and to modify their childs body to suit themselves. We wouldn't let people pierce holes in their children normally. But if it's to "decorate" them with jewels it's ok is it? Oh but only if it's in their ears, because someone has agreed you have to be over 16/18 for most piercings and body modifications... so they can ban it for children if they want to.... but they haven't.

Agree with all of this

I have 3 dc who have now all got pierced ears.

Dd1 had a needle and was fine but healing took about 10-12 weeks. Currently the local piercing place that uses a needle isn’t doing under 13s as there’s no space for a parent in there room. My younger 2 wanted their ears done and we went to a recommended beauty salon and had the gun. Their ears have healed much faster and been far less scabby. I also had mine done with a gun years ago. As long as it’s well cleaned it’s a good option so I’m not sure why mn gets quite so heated about it.

I honestly think piercings babies and young children's ears before the age of maybe 10, when they can make a relatively informed decision themselves, should be considered abuse.
Any establishment that will sit a baby down and stab holes in their ears should be shut down.

@lovesthosebeeps

YABU. The gun is much better. Quicker, cleaner, easier, more direct for piercing ears. Why on earth anyone would choose a needle for it just baffles me.

That said, no child should be allowed to have pierced ears until they are 13 or older.

@RedHelenB

My kids had theirs done with a gun aged 7 and have been fine. like nearly everyone else they know. Seems like it's a real mumsnet bee in the bonnet to have to go to a ratio parlour to get them done with a needle.

This. In the real world, I don't know a single person who has an issue with piercing ears with a 'gun.' Only on mumsnet does this seem to be a bugbear for people. Use a needle for other piercings yeah maybe... but there is nothing^ wrong with using guns for earlobes.

And yeah, saying 'mumsnet has a bee in their bonnet about this' DOES make sense. No idea what @GhostCurry is on about, saying you clearly don't know what 'bee in your bonnet' means! I think ghostcurry is the one who doesn't know the meaning!

Shame the OP hadn't enable voting on here. Would have been a close call I bet, as quite a number of posters disagree with her.

Also, I agree with the attitude towards tattoo parlours. As a pp said, they are not sex dungeons! The people there are lovely, talented people!

I'm convinced there's some kind of Luddite factory-made gadget=bad but primitive human operated needle=good bias at work here.

I don’t think small children should be allowed to have ear piercing however it’s done but I can’t join in with the hysteria about guns. I had six done myself with a gun, four of them at Claire’s, and it didn’t hurt. I can feel the tissue damage around the piercings that another poster talked about but it’s an earlobe, it has zero impact on my life. Children get them infected by getting hairs around the earrings, however you put them in.

I have had my ears done several times with a gun and had no issues, as have all of my 4dds. (Not as babies, age 9 or 10), so no i don't think they should be banned. People have a choice, and that's as it should be imo.

I had my ears pierced as a new born, even before my mother left the hospital! Not UK, and it's still standard practice. I just don't get it, I would absolutely never do this to a baby / child, unless they were old enough to decide for themselves. Guess what though, when I was around 13 / 14, I desperately wanted a second whole pierced in one ear (as it was soooooo cooooool!) but somehow that was deemed inappropriate and my parents wouldn't let me??!! 🤣

YANBU. It should be banned.

@Dixiechickonhols

I’m always confused by reference to gun. I had mine pierced for first time age 45 at a jewellers. It wasn’t a gun it was a tiny stapler sort of thing that pressed the earring through. I barely felt it, - nothing like a flu injection, eyebrows threaded or nettle sting you actually feel. I didn’t have mine done as a child as my Mum thought it was common.

That is what the modern 'guns' look like. They are also single use.

This is one thing I can never get my head around, a device specifically designed to pierce ear lobes is evil but using a needle designed for medical procedures is fine.

I've had my ears done with guns and my nose done a couple of times with a needle (I had to remove the stud for work and it sealed up).

The needle was i a sterile container but the piercers did not wear sterile gloves, just ordinary latex and the jewelry certainlky wasn't sterile.

Guns are not 'blunt force trauma because they are not blunt and a piercing by definition is a piercing.

The arguments about not bein able to sterilise them, well if they are single use there is no need to sterilise them.

The older guns could not be sterilised, but all the parts that came in touch with your ear were sterile.

*hole - obviously!

I will Pierce my child's ears no matter the age. When some of these posters allow some of their children to do drive/ drink at a young age. The British culture is odd.

Piercing the ears of a baby is odd tbh

@Nivealove

Do you mean you would pierce your kids ears whenever they asked? I don’t think it’s culturally British to let your unpierced ear having children drink and drive.

@lovesthosebeeps think what you want! No one should tell you what to think.
So please don't try and tell others that ear piercing guns should be banned! My daughter is 6 and has chosen to have hers done. Single use, perfectly safe and she's had no infection. Get a real worry!!

That diagram isn't the basis for any informed discussion though, since it doesn't show the tiny sliver of flesh that's removed with a needle. Both methods cause 'damage', which is being shown selectively by someone who uses the first method.
Correlation isn't causation, and stories about children with infected ear piercings from guns are relatively more common because the vast, vast majority of lobe piercings are done with guns. Aftercare and decent jewellery is key. I've got 5 "gun" lobe piercings, and have never had a single infection or issue with them. I've had needle piercings elsewhere, which suit different areas of the body.
Inforned consent is a whole other topic, though I understand why it's been wrapped round this discussion.