Ear lobe piercing for 10yr old DD swimmer

[Reginaphalangeeeee]

Please advise…
Do I really need her to stay out of the water for 4-6 weeks?
She is 10 and desperate to get ears pierced which I agreed for her 10th birthday.
She is a competitive swimmer so swims at least 4 times a week which is unlikely to change any time soon.

I rang a well rated tattoo and piercing place. They said 6 weeks no swimming?
Eek. What to do?
Maybe easier over summer holidays as I can get her to clean them more often?

Any advise?

Have a look around and see if any of her club mates have theirs done. I remember having to wait until after the summer holidays to get mine done.

My DD had hers pierced with a needle and was told there's no need to stay out of the water. She did for a couple of weeks though just because I'd timed it in anticipation that she would need to.

I was gonna keep mine off swimming for 2 weeks after.

But think it's best to speak to the piercing place to see what they say.

But her new High school have said no earrings at all regardless of its a PE day or not. Not even studs.

So we've decided she will just have to wait now until after high school.

We were gonna to do at the start of summer holidays so she would keep them in for 5 weeks before school in case e she needed them out for PE.

Anyway will see if her younger sister wants to get them done. Older one was too sacred until very recently. Then needed to wait for some surgery. Then were waiting for summer.

Now will wait til after high school.

I’m interested in answers too. The place I’ve booked said stay out of the water until fully healed but which could be 10 weeks. I’m also interested in if the sea is worse (blue flag beach).

The sea is better! When I had a conch piercing, the advice was the bathe in warm salt water.

I had my lobes done about 30 years ago, with a gun, in the 90s when there was zero aftercare advice however!

I would have thought if you clean peircimgt before and straight after it would be fine but im not an expert

Swimming with an unhealed wound (which is what a piercing is) risks infection so ideally she should wait as advised. I'm sure you will find plenty of people who say they swam right away and were fine. They were just lucky. Your daughter might be lucky too but there's no way to know. Only you can decide whether you are comfortable with the risk.

If she does swim I would take saline solution (something like Neilmed) to spray on her ears when she comes out of the water and make sure they are fully dried.

My ten-year-old just got her ears pierced in March, and was told that after the first couple weeks, swimming in a pool was okay because the chlorine would kill germs.

Piercings should be cleaned with sterile saline. Not sea water. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Swimming anywhere with an unhealed piercing is risky.

I'd also be concerned about a swimming hat (assuming she wears one) putting pressure on the piercing and causing irritation so be careful of that too.

I had my lobes pierced last summer and my piercer (piercist?) said I just needed to wait for 48 hrs, and make sure to clean them with the solution before and after.

However I found it quite uncomfortable to swim for some months after, as the piercing was a bit tender.

There’s a big difference between warm salt water and sea water and it’s alarming you don’t understand that!

I would have thought sea water was.worse, as you don't know how clean it is. Where's at least a swimming pool has chlorine.

Also I think there is ways of taping the piercing with waterproof tape?

But best to ask the piercing place for advice.

Obviously I can comprehend that.

i had a piercing that was giving my flare ups. Went on holiday, swam in the sea. No issues after that. That’s my anecdote.

You can get an infection off just about anything when you think about it - dog licking your ears, something in your hair, whatever. Clean after swimming. Life has risks. You can’t live in a hermetically sealed hamster ball.

I had my ears done at 3 days old second ones done at 10 years old i went in the shower that night and swimming the next day.
I think things have changed over the years but i was told that some kids use plasters to cover the ears now.

I now have 7 in each ear.

I had mine done at Claire’s a few weeks ago and they said stay out of the pool for 24hrs. I won’t in the same afternoon and was fine (not that I’d recommend you do that, especially with a child)

Thank you so much for all of your advice.

Isn't just me that think 6 weeks is a bit excessive.

Interesting that post piercing care advise changed so much from since I was a child. I did saline wash and twiddle but was swimming as much as ever.

I understand increased infection risk and good piercing places will want you to minimise risk and their reputation hense the recommendation. But if you wash straight after surely it is ok.?
I have decided Peirce with needle place rather than gun, apparently less trauma and less risk of infection. Also flat backs apparently better too and titanium, these are all things that are progress. Also have post piercing spray etc.

Oh I don't know. Feel terrible to explain to her reasons for not getting done (she is desperate and may even give up swimming for it) or to get it done & feel bad if she gets an infection that really bothers her.

Yeah, flat backs are supposed to be better, they say now. The place my daughter went to - in the US, so YMMV - wouldn’t do a needle piercing for kids under twelve, and used something called a “hand-pressured device” which they insisted was not the same as a piercing gun. I don’t know how much of a difference there is, but mine were pierced by a nurse with a piercing gun, so I figured a nurse with a hand-pressured device was probably okay for my daughter.

I used these when I had my ears done again, kept all the water out. Just be careful not to get your hair in them when putting them on, ouch. https://amzn.eu/d/87IFVsk

One of mine is getting them done tomorrow, holiday in 3 weeks so she'll be in the pool then and hopefully mostly healed!

Yes to needles, titanium and flat backs.

As you say, the advice has changed loads. I was told to use surgical spirit and twiddle. Now the advice is sterile saline and LITHA (leave it the hell alone!). Guns were the norm when I was a child but they are now frowned upon due to use of blunt force trauma and increased infection risk because they can't be sterilised between uses.

You are right that a piercer will err on the side of caution. I had a daith piercing recently and was told it was best not to swim until it's healed... but that could take 6-9 months minimum. I'm not staying out of the water for that long. My piercer said what I said upthread - that if I did decide to swim to use Neilmed and dry thoroughly.

It will more than likely be fine if she swims but I would at least wait until any swelling and redness has resolved and her ears are no longer sore.

Posted on wrong thread sorry

I went swimming the day after I had my nose done and it was fine x actually swimming everyday for the couple of weeks after

I'm a swim mum and added complications of a bleeding disorder as well. We didn't swim for about 2 weeks then cleaned carefully after. Was fine.

My competitive swimmer had hers done at 10 - we only managed to stay out the water 4 days 😅 all was fine