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Quite honestly, the gun isn't the preferred way for any piercing... even your ears. They jam, and sometimes they don't get cleaned properly (and that can lead to infection). If you want to get something pierced, try to opt for a needles.

Moreover, there is no such thing as a "regular" tattoo or piercing parlor. There are good places, there are mediocre places, and there are bad places. It's always best to ask around before you get a tattoo or a piercing. The place I once got pierced at (back in the day), exclusively used needles, medical grade sterilization equipment, and high end jewelry. And the place literally looked like a dentist office... only the receptionist had more piercings .

But as for the current piercing, I wouldn't really worry about it. Guns aren't the best, but I'm being fairly anal.  It will probably be puffy and red for a few days. That's normal. Swab it regularly with Bactine for a few weeks until it heals. A doctor is going to tell you the same thing. Watch it, keep it clean, and keep antibiotics on it.

Worst comes to worst, it will get infected, which shouldn't be a big deal. If it stays swollen for too long and or starts leaking puss, take the piercing out, put some antibiotic cream on it, let it heal, and try again a little later (preferably with a needle). If it gets a bad infection, snag a prescription antibiotic.

If you're REALLY concerned about the tattoo parlor, you could call them up and ask them if and how they sterilize their gun.

The thing with stud piercing is that the stud gun tends to be a plastic contraption and can't be autoclaved. Even if the stud was 100% sterile, when it is put into a stud gun, it can be contaminated by all the other body gunk that sprayed in and on the gun when it was used on other people before you. Dropping the plastic gun in an alcohol jar is NOT considered proper sterilization, especially on a relatively porous surface like plastic. Conversely, a proper needle piercing is (or should be) done with 100% sterilized equipment, from needle to clamps to jewelry to gauze and gloves.

Another thing is that the stud tends to be rather short. If your piercing happens to swell and it's thickness is more than the space given between the stud head and the clip backing, you're now putting pressure on the swollen, freshly punctured area. Aside from the obvious discomfort of getting a sore spot squished, it also means that the hole is not getting any air and you can accumulate puss and other nasty things in that now pinched area. A ring or bar you can clean around and rotate, they don't pinch the new hole and make keeping the site clean a lot easier, where the stud just begs for infection.

Yet another thing is that a stud isn't really all that sharp and it merely rips through the flesh via the spring action of the plunger in the stud gun. A surgical needle, on the other hand, has a razor-sharp edge; if you look at one, it's edge is like a scalpel or razor, it cuts cleanly. You have a better chance of scarring with the stud as well, albeit a small scar.

If your daughter wants a simple, unobtrusive little diamond stud in her nose instead of a ring, she'd be best off getting a proper needle piercing and a ring and, when the piercing is healed and no longer sensitive or swollen, then switch to a fine little stud.

If a tattoo parlor is using a stud gun, I question their ethics or knowledge. The sheer number of people who came into our shop looking for help with their infected stud piercings would have been enough to tell us that studs were a bad thing, they should know that as well. For that matter, just hanging around other piercers or body artists should have made that known. We used to keep a binder of these horrors at the counter to show people who were not sure whether to get a $5 stud piercing at the local hair salon or a $40 needle piercing.

Do all stud piercings go bad? Of course not. But their chances of infection and/or a very long healing period is certainly increased greatly.

So what did they tell you to do for aftercare of the stud piercing?

Last edited by KingFred (2005-08-14 2:01 am)

Just don't handle it like this.

When I was in high school I pierced my nose with an earring... just to see what it felt like.  The pain was exquisite. 

cocoamix wrote:

Just don't handle it like this.

Damn - that sucks

goodvibes wrote:

Jyri Erik wrote:

.... Ears, noses, eyebrows & the like are basically skin or cartilage so even a bad infection won't change your life completely.

Jyri

Cartilage doesn't grow back if it gets infected, so think carefully before you have a piercing in your ear other than in your earlobe.

I should have been clearer on that.  While losing cartilage is bad, your ear will still function without it.  Tongue loss is forever.

Jyri

I went to a tatoo shop with a friend of mine who wanted his tongue pierced.  I watched the procedure.

 

Why the hell anyone would want to do that to themselves is beyond me. It made my eyes water just to watch.  I knew there wasn't going to be anything good coming of it when step 1 was to grab the tip of his tongue with a pair of pliers and pull it out as far as it would go.

TheConfuzed1 wrote:

jkahless wrote:

TheConfuzed1 wrote:

When I was in high school I pierced my nose with an earring... just to see what it felt like.  The pain was exquisite. 

A friend did that with a safety pin.  Worked fine.    Bet it hurt more than the ear though.  Done that myself and it barely hurts at all.

I first stuck a straight pin through, but when I couldn't find the hole that I had made in the inner membrane, I just shoved the earring though.

May as well not have bothered with the pin. 

oatmeal wrote:

I went to a tatoo shop with a friend of mine who wanted his tongue pierced.  I watched the procedure.

 

Why the hell anyone would want to do that to themselves is beyond me. It made my eyes water just to watch.  I knew there wasn't going to be anything good coming of it when step 1 was to grab the tip of his tongue with a pair of pliers and pull it out as far as it would go.

oatmeal wrote:

pliers

TheConfuzed1 wrote:

jkahless wrote:

TheConfuzed1 wrote:

I first stuck a straight pin through, but when I couldn't find the hole that I had made in the inner membrane, I just shoved the earring though.

May as well not have bothered with the pin. 

The story gets worse... First it was the straight pin.  Then I couldn't find the hole in the inner membrane, so I pierced it again with the straight pin.  That was when I still couldn't find the hole, and just shoved the earring through.

By the time that I was finished I had pierced it three times!

Yeah, may as well not have bothered with the pin.  Where were you to tell me that before I did it? 

Reminds me of when i tried to pierce my ear with a dry fly.  I just couldn't get the curve of the hook around my ear because of the odd shape of it.  Damn did that hurt!

You let you 16-year-old daughter do this? Wow, when I see kids with these piercing I always wonder who the hell their parents are. Don't worry, I'm sure she could get a job at Spencers or something?