Does your child want to have their ears pierced? To ensure the operation is carried out safely, do not make the same mistake as many parents. A drill gives his valuable advice.
It’s not uncommon for children to ask to have their ears pierced. While some parents are reluctant, at least up to a certain age, others accept and take their child to have their lobes pierced in a jewelry store. But what parents often don’t know is that a certain piercing method is strongly discouraged. However, it is still very common, due to the lack of information, explains Maïté, piercer for the jewelry brand Nébuleuse: “We are often poorly informed about this process. It would be good for this to stop, but current standards still allow it.”
This technique to be avoided is that of drilling with a gun. One of the problems with this is that it creates trauma to the tissue. It is in fact directly the jewelry which pierces the skin, which causes a tear instead of piercing it cleanly. It is also imprecise: the gun prevents you from clearly seeing the mark made where the hole should be located, so that if the person moves (and this is often the case with children), there is a risk of not drilling in the right place.
The professional recommends instead going to a piercer, who will proceed with the needle. “We use hollow, beveled needles, which are really designed to cut the skin cleanly. This will create a sort of small channel, like when you take a blood test for example”says Maïté, who has more than 8 years of experience. She also emphasizes hygiene, which is much better with needles. “They are sterile and single-use, which reduces the risk of infection. With the gun, which cannot be sterilized, only the jewelry is sterile. So as soon as the jewelry comes into contact with the gun, it does not ‘is more sterile’. Piercing is also done in better conditions, in a dedicated room where the child is lying down, and not standing or sitting in a jewelry store.
Let us also remember that piercers have specific training for piercing, and another in hygiene and safety. They also know the healing phases, which is essential to ensure follow-up. Additionally, a piercer will fit labret-shaped jewelry. This resembles the shape of stud earrings, except that there is no butterfly clasp at the back, but a plate that is soldered to the post of the jewelry and it’s head at the front which screws onto the bar: “This prevents the child from having pain when sleeping, or from the jewelry being too tight or too loose”. The initial jewelry will most often be made of ASTM-F136 titanium, a biocompatible material, ideal for healing.
Despite all these arguments in favor of this method, there may remain a fear for parents (who are often more stressed than the children, according to our driller): with the needle, it doesn’t hurt more than with the gun. ? Maïté assures us that no: “It even causes less pain because it is more precise, faster and more suitable than a gun piercing”. And, to avoid pain, it is possible to ask the child’s doctor to prescribe Emla anesthetic cream, to be applied in a thick layer 1h30 before the piercing, covering it with cellophane.