Anyone know anything about ear piercing?

[emsiewill]

Dd1 had her ears pierced a year ago in a well known establishment, who, as far as I know, have a good reputation for this sort of thing.

She religously followed the recommended after care routine, but after about 2 weeks, one of her ear lobes swelled up (so much that you could no longer see the earring), and she eventually had to have the earring removed in A&E (unfortunately she was staying with grandparents at the time, so they had all the stress of dealing with it - bad mum!).

The holes are healed now of course, although there you can feel where they were.

She now wants to have them pierced again, and we have some questions:

• have we left it long enough?
• should we ask for a different precious metal to be used this time? (it was whatever they normally use - I presume gold, but can't remember)
• should we go back to the same place, as they will know how they did it last time, and therefore will be able to adjust accordingly?
• is there anything she should do differently once she's had them done - any extra after care hints or tips?

All advice will be gratefully received.

Bump

Another hopeful bump

i had my ears pierced at the doctors th4e nurse did it. i was pregnant and really didn't want to get them done but was getting married and had been given my grannies pearl earrings and necklace to wear.

Anyone else?

Was it done with a gun like in a ahirdresser or Claires, or with a needle like in a proper piercing shop?

I have a couple piercer friends who insist guns are crap and often result in what your dd had - I know nothing but suggest going to a dedicated piercer (usually doubling up as a tattooing shop) and ask them.

I'm with Notcitrus.
Having had piercings done with guns and needles, I'd recommend a good piercer with needles.
The swelling is more to do with trauma and the gun not being able to be sterilized properly.
I've had my tongue, belly and tragus done with needles and all have healed within days. My ears were with guns and took the usual 6 weeks.
Most piercers use surgical steel but can and probably have titanium and silver or gold jewllery too.

It was done with a gun, I didn't know it could be done any other way. I will have a look to see what's available round here.

Dd is not keen on having it done with a needle - does it hurt more?

I actually found a needle to be LESS painful.
Sharp, stinging yes but not as brute force or bruising and eases so much quicker than a gun.

Late in replying to this but piercing guns are really nasty things. They essentially force a fairly blunt point through the skin and can get all sorts into the hole which prevents healing. Also the training given to people who operate this is pretty basic when compared to the training a decent piercer will have.

My dd had her ears done in a piercing shop aged 11. It took me a while to find somewhere that would do an under 14 (even for ears) and they were careful to make sure that my dd understood the procedure. It takes a bit longer than with a gun as they put the needle through and then have to thread in the jewellry. The other good thing about a proper piercing is they can use a small piercing barbell for the initial jewellry. This has no back (just a little ball on each side) so there is room for any swelling without the back getting pulled into the ear. They still look nice though as what you can see is the little ball on the front and they usually have a range of colours - basic ones are titanium which is very unlikely to cause a reaction.

If she has had problems before I would definitely get them done at a piercing salon, they will be able to advise and will have a lot more experience to know whether it is ok to re-pierce the ear. I used the forums on www.bodyjewelleryshop.com/ to find someone who would do my dd's ears and the forum was very helpful.