If you’re considering taking your child to the mall for some cheap piercings you should really re-consider. If anything, please read this in its entirety before you make a decision.
It’s very common that most of you reading this have been or know someone who has been pierced in the mall. It’s not uncommon. So why do we say it’s a terrible idea? Fact is most people just simply aren’t educated in the process and all the things that can go wrong.
Is it safe?
Quite frankly, no. The risk far outweighs the reward.
Piercing guns cannot be sterilized properly. The plastic would simply melt. Even if they use a brand-new gun on every client, which let’s face it, they don’t. It’s still not sterile by any standard.
Wiping the gun itself down with an antiseptic isn’t sufficient. The hepatitis virus can live on and in inanimate objects for WEEKS. Staph is also a big concern and to be honest a public health issue.
Anatomy is very important for the longevity of a piercing. We are all built differently. The jewelry they pierce with comes in one size. So, if you naturally have super chunky ear lobes there will be little to no room for your piercing to swell and drain properly. This can cause irritation, infection, abscesses and a slew of issues.
Ever hear of the gun jamming? This happens more often than you can imagine. So, what’s the answer? Reload it and pierce it again! Causing all kinds of unnecessary damage and trauma not only to the ear, but your child too.
Hypertrophic scarring and keloids are very common as well.
You get what you pay for
We all want to save money, but when it comes to your body it’s worth spending the couple extra bucks on quality. Piercing guns are made of extraordinarily cheap materials as is the jewelry that comes with it. We like to call these mystery metals. We can’t be certain what they are made out of but it’s never quality. It’s never implant grade materials. Typically, it’s high nickel content mix of the bottom of the barrel metals on the market. Low quality jewelry can also cause a variety of issues again leading to irritation, infection and improper healing.
Infections!
Aside from the risks above from low quality jewelry and unsanitary conditions the risk of infection is incredibly high.
We don’t recommend piercing infants for this reason, especially new Borns. Children have under developed immune systems so they are more susceptible to infection.
New piercings can be irritating and itchy. The simplest way for infection to occur is when the child touches their fresh piercing with dirty hands. We recommend your child be old enough to understand the process and that they shouldn’t be played with.
Lack of knowledge.
We spend years learning about sterility and anatomy. An employee at Claire’s or a sister company are retail workers. They have no formal training. They have no understanding of the industry. They have no understanding of anatomy. The training they go through is kind of like getting a job at Mcdonalds. They watch a training video and then get released out into the world to perform these procedures.
How do they work?
Blunt force trauma. They load the jewelry into the gun and just cram it through the ear. This again leaves little to no room for swelling or proper drainage. It often tears the tissue and causes more damage than necessary.
This can be exceptionally worse when they are used in cartilage piercings or nostrils. This is EXTREMELY dangerous and the odds of the piercing being happy and healthy long term are basically zero.
When we use a tri bevel needle for a piercing, we are creating a hole for jewelry and creating a space for the jewelry to sit. The gun does not allow for this.
Why are they bad for cartilage?
When piercing guns are used on structural tissue such as cartilage, there are severe complications that can arise. Auricular chondritis, shattered cartilage and excessive scarring on top of keloids and hypertrophic scarring are just a few.
Piercing guns can separate the subcutaneous fascia from cartilage tissue. This can lead to both temporary swelling and permanent lumps of scar tissue. We are certain at some point you’ve seen someone with a big unsightly bump on the back or front of their piercing.
These can be mildly annoying or flat-out disfiguring. Typically these will need to be treated surgically to correct.
The blood flow to cartilage is less than that of a lobe. This leads to a longer healing period because the amount of fresh blood and oxygen isn’t as frequent.
We understand that plenty of people over the years have been pierced using this method and are perfectly happy and healthy. That doesn’t mean something can’t go terribly wrong. So, is it really worth the risk? Do you want to be in that percentile where something happens and you or your child get sick or disfigured? It’s not worth the risk. Seek out a professional for all your piercing needs and most importantly DO YOUR RESEARCH!