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!

I had to be driven to a&e with a piercing gun stuck in my ear when I was younger. The spring mechanism broke off and the whole thing clamped onto my ear. Please just go to a professional piercer.

If you can get to Manchester, go to Holier Than Thou. If you can’t, go to an independent piercer who is on the APP register. Being an APP member means they have specialist training in piercing technique, hygiene, infection control etc and is a guarantee of safety. Any APP piercer is a professional who will have expertise in challenging piercings, does them all day every day and for whom a bog-standard lobe is a walk in the park. Go to Claire’s and you’ll probably get a shop assistant who had to do an online training course.

Plus the fact that needle piercings are done with a single-use medical needle, whereas a gun is used again and again and cannot be adequately sterilised. And then your studs have butterflies, whereas a needle piercing gives you flat-backs which are so much more comfortable.

This is one of these topics that is a massive deal on Mumsnet but in real life no one I know is bothered by this at all.

I took my daughter to Claire's as visited the local independent piercing studio and didn't get a good vibe from the place. They used a gun at Claire's and it's been absolutely fine. I've kept to the aftercare instructions to a T and she's not had any problems.

My (purely anecdotal) experience suggests it's the aftercare that's most important & those that end up with infections are changing the earrings too quickly/letting their kids wear cheap non surgical steel earrings.

Took DD to a piercing studio. The guy was excellent, spent a lot of time marking up and making sure the piercings were balanced. Friend took her DD to Claire's, and hers are wonky... One ear looks visibly lower than the other, and it wasn't even that much cheaper (I think she saved a fiver?!)

Definitely just do it yourself. You can get auto piercing kits on Amazon, eBay, etc. they're completely sterile, come with the earring pre-loaded and are really cheap so you can have a few practice goes on teddies/fabric/dishcloth etc

I did my own and it was painless.

I took DD to a recommended tattoo/piercing studio.

They spent ages marking and measuring her ears to make sure they were positioned correctly.

If you're in Glasgow I can recommend nirvana piercing.

Do NOT do this, this is how I wound up in hospital

Why would you make a hole in your head yourself with no training or knowledge when there are professionals who have literally made this their career and done hundreds of hours of training? It’s not as if a qualified piercer is even that expensive 😳

There is a specialist piercing shop in our town- they use a piercing gun for lobe piercings.

@CableCar my nieces had theirs done in H Samual because they use some rounded safety backs instead of butterfly backs so their school prefers them.

They haven’t had any issues.

For fucks sake. Don't do this.

@PodCastingPodCasters then they are not specialists.

Yes, I think a lot of problems come from people thinking you have to twist new piercings rather than leaving them alone except for cleaning.

On MN nobody has ever been near a gun.

In real life almost everyone gets it done with a gun and the vast majority are fine.

Dd had them done in a tattoo parlour. They were amazing. Had to take her passport to prove she was over 8. They even used a sterile pen to mark the spot and either used one use sterile or freshly sterilised equipment. You can't sterilise a plastic gun so there will always be someone else's cells on them that could be introduced into your dd's fresh wound.
They've positioned them so she can get additional ones if she wants.
We use laberets rather than traditional earrings so they come out if caught.
He was fully registered, trained and insured. Piercing was £25 for both lobes so hardly crazy money!

I mean, they are licensed and qualified and have been open for years, do all manner of extreme/advanced work. Dermal implants and what have you.

They will do lobes with a needle, but apparently that isn’t what most customers choose when given the options.

They may have a council licence, but they’re not licensed with the APP who are the regulatory body for piercers. Because the APP won’t register anyone who pierces with a gun, as they recognise it as a hallmark of poor piercing.

I had my first and second lobes done with a gun at an independent beauty studio near me when I was a teenager. Never had a problem.

My tragus and cartilage piercings have been a fucking nightmare to heal, but that’s because of where they are. Have you got a local piercer? Look for recommendations on fb etc.

I second the APP thing to ensure professionalism x

Imagine driving a drawing pin through a piece of meat. That's what a gun does effectively.

With a needle at a tattoo place or piercing shop, a very sharp, one use hollow needle is put through, removing a tiny slither of flesh inside the needle, which is then filled with the jewellery.

Go to a proper piercer

No they aren’t- but then hardly anywhere is because it’s a voluntary sign up thing.

None of the ‘proper piercers/tattoo studios that use needles only’ etc are round here.

Only one is a member of UKAPP/APP within 40 miles of my house, and I don’t live in the arse end of nowhere.

I have three in each lobe all done with a gun and all fine. I also have several other piercings done with needles which have also all been fine. It's an unpopular opinion but I think the most important thing is good aftercare (not touching, cleaning etc.)

Also many tattoo studios and piercing studios offer a gun option, I've never been in one that doesn't. Definitely don't go to a jewellers though, make sure you see a specialist.

Where are you based (ISH) my local piercing shop is amazing.

I had 2 sets of lobe piercings done with a gun, many more ear piercings with a needle. No infections, no complications with any. However, knowing what I do know re. hygiene and potential for complications, there is no way I'd go near a gun to get pierced now. Absolutely, a thousands times, no.

Cleaner, more experience, and training. There is nothing necessarily wrong with a high street gun piercing, but I wanted it done by a professional, and not some wee lassie with minimal training in the middle of a shop

All 3 of mine were Claire's and absolutely fine