To use piercing gun for DD first earlobe piercing?

[CableCar]

Have been debating allowing my daughter to get her ears pierced after she's been asking me to get them done and am thinking of just going to a high street jewellers where they'll use the studs and a piercing gun.
Friends have all taken their DDs to high street jewellers for piercings, Claire's etc. where piercing guns were used and been fine. However, the internet seems to be full of hate against piercing guns and advocating for using needles! They say piercing guns aren't as clean of a hole, they can be unsanitary etc... does it really matter?!

YANBU - of course it is fine to go to a high street jewellers - they're only first earlobe piercings, not cartilage etc and it's all hype about not using stud guns - most people go to high street jewellers and are fine

YABU - go somewhere where they use a needle as stud guns are awful!

Not only is the hygiene non-existent in a high street piercing gun, the poor girls who do it have no training and no professional eye for symmetry or positioning. You can end up with all sorts of wonky earrings that can then get horribly infected.

Just take her to a piercing studio, their care is fantastic.

I have never had any issues with piercing guns, with myself OR my DD, but the pp is probably giving good advice. Piercing studios are usually more methodical and professional.

many piercing studios will piece kids. Why would you use a gun if it's that easy to get it done properly? it's not like that there aren't piecing studios around 🤷

Just go to a piercing/tattoo shop.

I had my first piercing done with a gun and omg, it was so wonky and awful it was a joke. One piercing then got infected and closed up so I had to redo it anyway.

I took my daughter to a tattoo shop down the road from me and it was amazing! They were very serious about how sterile the needle was and we never had any problems. Obviously that’s just my experience but a clear difference between the two methods

Where are the piercing studios please? Do you mean the likes of blue banana?

100%!

You're paying to have some metal jammed into your child's body, don't cut corners on hygiene, professionalism and training to just get it done someone on the high street.

Any decent, qualified piercer will tell you to go to places that use needles. I wouldn't want to risk my child's health by going to Claires.

Piercing guns inflict blunt force trauma to force a dull object through the ear. Needles are sharp and make a neat hole in the ear, which the jewellery is then threaded through. I would never, ever choose a gun.

This, a thousand times over.

No, go somewhere independently run.

Just to add, I stupidly got my cartilage pierced with a gun when I was about 15, it never healed and my ear now has a crease at the top where the cartilage was effectively shattered!

I’d be really wary of anywhere that pierces with butterfly back earrings. They don’t allow enough room for swelling. I remember mine having to be excavated out as a kid 🤢

Where? (Sorry to sound dense!). There aren’t piercing shops are there? Is there that much piercing to do 🤔🤣 tattoo studios? I must have missed these!

There definitely are piercing shops! A lot of them are tattoo shops with a piercing area but some are just piercing only, I have a friend who runs one.

My first ear piercings as a kid were with a gun. The swelling forced the stud into my ear on one side resulting in a nice painful trip to hospital to have it removed by a nurse. Would not recommend.

Yes there are piercing studios . I’ve had both ears, bellybutton, and eyebrow done in a piercing studio. Friend had her tongue done in one, where do you think piercing other than ear are performed? They certainly aren’t going to do a nipple, tongue or eyebrow with a gun!

I had mine done by a piercing gun a million years ago and I never had any issues. However when my daughter wanted her ears pierced we went to a tattoo shop and had a professional piercer do it with a needle. And I would never choose anything other than that now. It's easy enough to find a professional to do it why wouldn't you?

You are paying someone to do an invasive procedure on your child, why would you want to go for the cheap option?

Professional piercers are able to get good symmetry, use jewellery that is less likely to cause inflammation or irritation, use jewellery the right size to allow for swelling which reduces the risk of it getting embedded, and give better aftercare.

Don't go to a highstreet, go to a professional

I don't think its any more expensive to go to a pro piercer than to Claire's, our lovely local piercer does free after care for life which was handy when we couldn't get one of DD's first earrings unscrewed.

My dd had hers done in a proper piercing studio with a needle. They still got really bruised and swollen, then infected and then they didn't heal for over a year. I had mine done with a gun in a jewellery shop when I was a kid and they were fine.

Absolutely go independent specialist piercing studio. They do exist - Google is your friend. Late DP was a piercer of 30 years standing in a proper "clinic".

Guns crush the flesh and cause trauma, a needle is far less brutal even on a lobe. They use a bar as a rule to account for swelling or a ring. Hygiene is important - sea salt and boiled water (cooled, not boiling) is a good steriliser and less prone to cause irritation than some commercial aftercare products. Also recommend titanium jewellery as it is just about the least allergenic metal, though there are a few outliers.

Tattooists often have a piercer on site.

Reputable places will be hot on child being able to consent alongside their parents, and some have age restrictions as though it's not illegal to pierce ears at any age, piercers are very hot on ethical practise as they are monitored by environmental health etc.

Also, if school gets arsey about it, you can investigate Bioflex plastic retainers but that's once the piercing is healed which is recommended tp be at about 6 weeks. After six weeks jewellery of choice can be swapped in, and most clinics will do jewellery changes if a BCR or bar is tricky at home.

Hope some of that helps x but please, guns are a terrible blight on the industry.

It's fine. Ideally use a piercing shop with a needle as it's less likely to scar I think. But that is more expensive.
I think lobe peircings are fine with a gun, I think that's what was always used when I was a kid. This was before body piercing was really a thing.
Just make sure she cleans them well each day. If you're worried about allergies maybe go with solid gold or silver as well, just in case.
Superdrug and Accessorize do piercings too, similar method but it's a bit less hectic than Claire's I've found.

I have horrible scar tissue from gun piercings. Ones done with a needle are fine.

@BashfulClam Thank you. I don’t know 🙈a tattoo studio? would do the more sensitive areas! I thought Claire’s was the go to for ears. I had mine done in Evans DECADES ago! 🤣
No idea there were piercing studios that just did piercing.