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Why 'piercing guns' should never be used

Will

A situation arose recently here on the forum where supposedly a person used a piercing gun to pierce someone's ear lobes. Here I am going to outline as best I can and as simply as I can why guns and home piercing kits should never be used.

Piercing Guns: These instruments of doom are bad for so many reasons

- They cannot be put in an autoclave and cleaned because they are generally made out of cheap plastic. Therefore they are not sterile and not safe for piercing people with because bacteria may be present in/on the instrument. This is bad

- They have too many moving parts, again cannot be cleaned efficiently in an autoclave. This is bad

- Piercing guns use brute force to 'pierce' the lobe. It forces itself through the opening very roughly compared to a standard blade which glides through. The blade that they have in them is not as sharp as a standard blade (one time use) used by a professional piercer. If a gun is used on your lobe expect bruising and scar tissue at the very least, not to mention a nasty infection. This is bad

- Piercing guns come pre-loaded with poor quality jewelry generally unsuitable for lobe piercings. Unsuitable because it is not implant grade titanium or other such material. Again they come pre-loaded with default inferior quality jewelry. Everyone does not have a standard lobe, everyone's is different. If your lobe is thicker than the default jewelry being used your ear will literally 'swallow' the jewelry. This will cause discomfort and a trip to either a professional piercing studio or the local hospital along with some anti-biotics. This is bad, very bad

- Piercing & tattoo studios don't buy autoclaves for the fun of it. They are used for a reason. To eliminate potential microbes and diseases (eg. aids amongst other things) from re-usable instruments. If you use a piercing gun on someone you could potentially be infecting them.
Following is taken from the BMEzine wiki -

In terms of body modifications, it is very important that all jewelry, needles, hooks, and other tools that may penetrate the skin or tissue are sterilized and autoclaved. Always make sure when getting a desired modification that all tools used are either new (many artists will take them out of the packaging in your presence) or appropriately sterilized, and that the studio has and uses an autoclave appropriately. Taking these measures will minimize your risk of exposure to these devastating diseases.

This is bad

- Wearing a pair of latex/nitrile gloves is useless unless you have received proper training in combatting blood borne pathogens, cross contamination techniques and even first aid. If you put on a pair of gloves then lets say, touch the wall. The gloves are no longer sterile/clean. You have touched something that is not clean, if you go on to pierce someone's ear, the next thing you touch (gun/blade/needle) is now also contaminated. This is bad

- Piercing guns should never be used, lobes are barely acceptable. If you have the amazing idea of piercing through cartilage with a gun the effects will be worse. Ear collapse will most likely occur at the minimum. This is bad

- In short, getting a piercing done by a piercer in a guaranteed safe, clean and professional manner may cost a bit of money. (around €30 for both lobe piercings, not that much for peace of mind) It is a hell of a lot cheaper than a trip to your local hospital to be put on anti-biotics or worse.

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Will

Hi... how is this related to piercing guns?
Please keep on topic where possible

rannerap

....... we were demonstrating places not to use a piercing gun?:p

Moonspell

piercing guns are not supposed to be used on the nose at all... it was made for the ears alone, as well as the studs used in the gun being design to pierce the flesh of the ear, and not the nose as it has quite thick cartilage.
also, the studs in the gun are quite blunt and are forced through the wound by brute force.

had my nse done twice, never with the gun, the pain is short and sharp with the needle. unfortunately twice it rejected, not sure if i'll go for a thrid time, but do love to see a little stud there

Fantasy_Suicide

Ok. I felt I really needed to put some input into this thread, having had experience using these 'guns' on others and having been on the recieving end of this too.

First off, I do need to say that it was part of my job, and I literally had no choice in the matter. All I could really do was warn as many people as possible about the dangers of these instruments.

The way studex justified the cleanliness of the instruments is that the actual gun is not put through the ear. All the jewellery comes prepacked 'sterilised'. So studex basically saw nothing wrong, once the jewellery is sterilised.

In the store that I worked in, there were two types of instruments. The system 45 and the other crappy one no-one liked using. The system 45 was by far the better of the two. Basically, you'd load the 24ct gold earrings into the gun from a pre-packed blister. Put it over the ear, and literally use human force to get the thing in. Have to say, I never had any problems performing the 'piercing' using these instruments, and of course I did my utmost best to keep everything clean, as much as I know it'll be no where near the standard of studios etc.

The other instrument caused numerous problems to the point where I refused to use them. These worked in a more complicated way. The pair of earrings come in a pre-packed blister, but the piercing gun needed to be set up properly. It was basically a spring loaded gun thing. Leathal in my opinion. At least with the last instrument, it was human force, and not a sudden shock to the system. More than 70% of piercings performed went horribly wrong. In one case the earring and the back went through a girl's ear. Earrings would not go through properly.. there'd be blood. And countless infections.

I'd also like to add that these 'piercers' go through a half day course, if you could even call it that. Compare that to the years of work piercers had to put in to earn their right to pierce, and you'd be a fool to go with the piercing gun.

So if this post hasn't put you off getting your ears/nose/nipple/whatever pierced with a gun, you're a silly silly person. Take it from a person behind the instrument. It's not a clever idea.

rannerap

the only reason i choose to get my lobes done with the gun is because i have a fear of needles and my lobes,yes i know its odd considering my piercing history but i just cant help it

Cupcake_Crisis

piercing guns are a tool of the devil!
they are like a right of passage though, everyone i know got their lobes done with the gun at least once!!
fantasy suicide is right, i worked in a certian shop, got a 1 hour training course on piercing ears, practised on a rubber ear, and was then let loose on the unknowing public!its ridiculos, theres sooo much than can actually go wrong!!!

rannerap

its not as bad when you are actually old enough to decided to do it,i think its awful when its done to babies though,i know the shop your on about definitely does it

Cupcake_Crisis

i had to do it! ppl used to bring in 2 week old babies and ask us to pierce their ears!!! the youngest i had to pierce was 6 months and i was possibly the most evil ive ever felt!

Moonspell

I'm from Portugal and the most common there in babies is to use a needle in babies. either way is wrong to do it in babies. but never heard of an occasion where it was done with a piercing gun...

Cupcake_Crisis

they tried to justify it by doing both their ears at the same time but that almost always left the ears unsymetrical as its almost impossible to get 2 piercers to go at excatly the same time!! its ridiculous, the poor things have no idea whats goin on, they get such a fright

rannerap

the ear changes shape anyway as you grow up so the piercing is obviously gonna move once their older i dont see the point

Cupcake_Crisis

tell that to their parents!

rannerap

i dont think theyd care to be honest,people that arent really into body modification generally dont know anything about it,i seen one guy in my shop today with a labret stud in his eyebrow,when i mentioned it to someone i worked he asked how was it any different to an eyebrow stud

Cupcake_Crisis

he'll learn how different it is the hard way! but still even if you dont know a thing about body mods, u still have to know that piercing babies ears is pretty cruel!!!

Fantasy_Suicide

Hey cupcake, it seriously sounds like you worked in the same place as I worked. I mean, that kid had no choice in getting it's ears done, and if it goes wrong, and that kid does wanna go down our route of modification, it could make things difficult in the long run. I know as parents it's not something you'd consider, but hey. fools.

marti101

I know a girl got her tongue pierced in Georges aArcade with a gun.In the end she had to take it out with a scissors,

Soundman

I really hope that that isn't true marti101. :eek:

[Deleted User]

marti101 wrote: »

I know a girl got her tongue pierced in Georges aArcade with a gun.In the end she had to take it out with a scissors,

Please say you're joking, though I know you're not. I went to get my tongue pierced a few weeks back and the piercist started by getting a bottle of spray on anasthetic and a piercing gun. I told her that if she was that unprofessional I would be getting my piercing done elsewhere.

marti101

Yes its true she was that desperate to get it out.She was lucky nothing serious happened.I think she used the scissor as leverage to pull the backing off it after all it was an stud they used.Yuck.Id never go near that place,how are they still in business is beyond me.

Jabcity

my god thats terrible! Using a gun for anything else but ears is barbaric, and even using them on ears is unhygienic and unprofessional. Needlas can be sterilised, cleaned and replaced after use! why anyone would choose the gun is beyond me when there are safer more practical ways. You wouold think in this day and age people would be more careful especially when dealing with blood.

tasha1

Got my tragus done in George's Arcade with a gun a couple of weeks ago.

It seems fine but if i'd read this thread beforehand i'm rather sure i wouldn't have got it done..

Captain Ginger

Would never go there myself to get anything done, although the one good thing it has is a good selection of jewlery. (Well, different.)

Then again if you're not after standard stuff the internet is without a doubt the best option.

Gauge

Ugh, why oh why would anyone get a stud put through their tragus in a city that has Wildcat and Snakebite?

Cupcake_Crisis

as bad as they are for piercing her TONGUE with a gun, shes just as bad for letting them do it!!!

milfy_mel

how is that Georges Arcade place still open?????:eek:

tasha1

Gauge wrote: »

Ugh, why oh why would anyone get a stud put through their tragus in a city that has Wildcat and Snakebite?

I wanted it done for awhile and then it was just there.. And cheap..

It's grand though

Lollipops23

when i was 16 i got my tragus pierced in a small(surprisingly,now closed!) pierce shop in Swords village and they used a gun.6 months on.the piercing appeared to grow out, i removed it and the tragus is now all soft and i still have a big ass dent where the stud was.i've gone to metal morphasis for all my subsequent piercings!!

CianRyan

People always bash metal morphasis, but i've gotten all my recent piercings there and have never had any sort of problem, and the lads are lovely.

Got my helix done with a gun when i was about 15 in a place in The Square, Tallaght.
Never healled and got horrible infected. nasty stuff.

Elle Victorine

I hate piercing guns.....seriously. My first piercing was done with one...the noise has since put me off ever getting pierced again.

Creeping-Death

Probably not the cleverest reply here but anyway. I did my 3 piercings (earlobe) myself with a needle and have never had any infections or pain or whatever. I dont know a whole lot about piercing guns but a few friends have told me to stay well away from them, especially for cartilage piercings as apparentl the force shatters the cartilage.