Professional and safe ear piercing for little girl.

[user1494283706]

My daughter is four years and four months old. She wishes to have her ear pierced. We live in SE11 London and I am looking for a safe and recommended place to have the procedure done.
I am aware needle piercing causes less damage to the earlobe than using a gun. Has any of your children have needle ear piercing done? Or is gun piercing now safe?
Can you help?
Thank you.

@CrowyMcCrowFace The problem is the NHS, Pharmacists, GPS, body piercers, etc will all give you a different way to maintain your piercings healthy. The NHS online will be over cautious, they have to.
We should really stick to the dermatologists.They are the experts.
A body piercer will give aftercare advice based on the advice given by the person who trained them.
Toilet paper, kitchen towel and cotton wool indeed have minute loose fibre.

@twattymctwatterson As previously mentioned I am not asking advice about piercing. I am asking for recommendations about a professional and safe place where to take my daughter to have her ears pierced. That is not the same thing!
I left the tattoo and piercing world 17 years ago!
The conversation has been diverted.

I got mine done at F Hinds when I was 6, they did it with a gun and it was okay. I then had multiple more piercings with a needle and the needle was the best approach!

*twatty she's anything but an expert I can assure you! Her aftercare advice is woeful.

OP if you're a trained piercer you should know where to go.

Erm no, I don't need to google thanks! I healed all mine with my piercer's advice and saline.

Advice now is to leave earrings in, don't twist or fiddle. Wash with soap in the shower and use saline and leave alone

@pinkyredrose
Why do people comment without reading the entire thread discussion surpassed me! Commenters like you are the reason why information gets distorted. I never said I am a trained body piercer! I said I worked in a tattoo and body piercing studio in Mornington Crescent in 2000. That is 17 years ago. I did some ear piercings, ear hole enlargements and navel piercings; then my boss wanted me to expand my training with genital piercings and tongue piercings. I refused and left the business. I was trained by a professional body piercer, whose body piercing lobby was based in a medical centre but it wasn't for me. Seventeen years ago the aftercare procedure was different.
My post wasn't about the ear piercing procedure, and it's aftercare, but asking if anyone could recommend a professional and safe place for my daughter to have her ears pierced. The conversation got diverted to aftercare procedure.

The aftercare advice you're spouting certainly wasn't the norm where I was trained and worked back then user.

You pierced but you weren't a trained piercer? K then. Silly me.

@pinkyredrose Just shut up! Stop reading between the lines!
@CornflakeHomunculus the training I received was via Creative Hand Tattoo Studio, Camden High Street, London. The aftercare advice I mentioned was the one I was told to give.

Now, if you don't mind. I have better things to do than explain myself to people who are only interested in commenting for the sake of commenting and stirring shit!!!!!

On the other hands, I thank everyone for their constructive comments even though the topic was diverted.

Im not reading between the lines! You say you pierced people but you don't seem to know much about piercing. I mean come on! You really think people won't pick up on that?

Just googled the place you worked at. There's not much good to be said about it, some awful reviews. Not reading between anything btw. No wonder it's closed down.

@Pinkyrerose There is no review about this tattoo parlour. It was not closed down, the landlord reclaimed the premises, and the owner of the parlour moved to Brazil!

Now, before you make unfounded comments, I suggest you contact the Association of Professional Piercers to find out the up to date suggested aftercare guidelines for body piercing. You can even request for a brochure!
www.safepiercing.org/learn.php

I am tired of your comments! People like you are the reason why, so any people stop using Mumsnet. You are not commenting to be helpful or to gain knowledge. You are just in it for a fight of words!

Jeez! That's me told! Btw I already have the brochure but thanx for the tip.

@pinkyredrose Defamation of a business by fabricating bad reviews to use for your defence is highly unprofessional. I hope that if you are in the business of tattooing or body piercing other professionals noticed your comments! Shame on you!

I wonder why this very small child wants holes in her ears?

NothernLurker- me too!🙄

😂 your child is advanced for her age? Everyone thinks their child is advanced.

She's 4, ear piercing is sticking a needle right through her ears. It's absolutely nothing like getting blood taken.

Wait till she's 10 at least and decide then. Stick on ones never did anyone any harm.

Sorry- can anyone recommend anywhere in Birmingham, for my 11yo? She wants to have them done as soon as school breaks up, so they can heal by the time she starts secondary school in September.
Please? I don't know any places. Do beauty places do them,?

kings aren't Blue Banana in Birmingham? Ive heard good things about them.

user did you actually read the aftercare brochure on that site?

Because it recommends against using antibacterial soaps (which you suggested), alcohol (which you suggested), antiseptic ointments/solutions (which you suggested) and moving the jewellery during cleaning (which you suggested).

In all honesty nowhere reputable is going to pierce a four year old, most places I know won't do it under 12 and those that do won't do it under 10.

"@Spam88 if ear piercing is carried out safely with sterilised tools and by a trained person, it is as painless as a blood test performed correctly. Pain after ear piercing is due to damage to the cartilage and infection. Any professional piercing should get aftercare advice and follow up."

OP, decades later and I can definitely remember that needle piercing HURT as a kid. I grew up in a country where every girl got her ears pierced as a baby and I was an anomaly for not having pierced ears. A qualified nurse at the doctor's did it and I still remember how much it hurt.

"Like a bee sting" my ass!

@CornflakeHomunculus Of course I have read the SUGGESTED aftercare GUIDELINES for body piercing. Those are 2017 guidelines. The comments I made were about the guidelines given in 2000.

@NorthernLurker & @3catsandcounting my daughter is in a full-time nursery in a primary school where other girls have earrings.

@lobsterface as mentioned above, my child is in a full-time nursery in a primary school, and her primary school has assessed her as being advanced and above the average academic level for her age. Of course, there are places which will do piercing to young children. It all depends on how the child behaves (crying, fidgeting, etc) and on the establishment. There is no legislation to determine at what age a child can have its ears pierced.

Don't you guys ever sleep?

For those who, like me, were looking for a safe place to have their children ears pierced, in the USA they have Medical Ear Piercing Clinics. See link below. There must be something similar in England. I will do more research and if I found something I will share it.
Read the link's content. It is interesting.

www.medicalearpiercing.com/faqs/#toggle-id-4

Those are 2017 guidelines. The comments I made were about the guidelines given in 2000.

They were the guidelines everywhere reputable I know was giving out back in the late 90s/early 2000s as well.

in the USA they have Medical Ear Piercing Clinics.

I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole, they use guns rather than needles.

For all they say they don't use "a traditional gun", the instrument they do use is exactly what's referred to as a gun and has all the same drawbacks; more trauma, less accuracy, higher infection risk, etc.

Of course, there are places which will do piercing to young children.

I've seen the aftermath of of a "piercer" who was willing to pierce the nipples of two twelve year old girls. Obviously that's hugely different to ear lobes but still, just because someone will do it doesn't mean they should do it.