How is piercing performed?

For baby ear piercing, it’s best to wait until after 4 months of age to make sure your baby’s ear lobes are developed and she has received her first two tetanus vaccines. Although I do pierce many baby ears, I personally prefer to wait until a girl is old enough to want her ears pierced and to care for her ear lobes and earrings on her own. Toddlers or preschoolers can be tricky, because they often won’t sit still. I prefer not to hold down a child for a solely cosmetic procedure. I’ve also had a few kindergartners who, after one side, refuse to get the other side pierced.

Nobody has perfectly symmetrical earlobes, so when placing dots, I take accurate measurements, but also look to make sure the holes are visually symmetric or look good. I tell parents that I can hit the dot exactly, so I want them to make sure they like the position of the dots before we go ahead and pierce.

Look for piercing studs without nickel; in fact, without any metal may be preferred, especially if there is a history of irritation or infection with piercings or previous piercings in same spot. I prefer to use medical grade plastic -- yep, plastic and no metal at all in earrings. This decreases the risk of irritation and infection later on in life. Titanium or nickel free stainless steel is also fine. All equipment should be sterile and everything that touches a patient is disposable. I use a piercing gun preloaded with a piercing stud cartridge and pierce one side at a time.

In general, it is not recommended that individuals attempt to pierce any part of their body at home. Piercing should only be performed by a qualified individual who is trained in the hazards of blood borne pathogens and the practice of universal precautions. Attempts to sterilize piercing materials at home may be unsuccessful and result in infection. Further, the chance for undesired scarring and nerve damage increases when the individual performing the piercing has not been properly trained.

Before having any area of the body pierced for the insertion of jewelry, an individual specifies the type and location of piercing desired. Usually, specialized jewelry must be purchased along with the piercing service. This jewelry is made of metals designed to allow for the piercing to heal and to prevent infection. The individual performing the piercing should always tell the client which jewelry pieces are appropriate for piercings that are healing.

All piercing should be done according to procedures that abide by universal precautions. Universal precautions are a series of practices that aim to minimize the likelihood of disease transmission or piercing infection.

Before jewelry is inserted, a special sharp needle held by the piercer or by a sterile instrument designed for piercing is pressed up against or pushed through the skin. Usually, the piercer holds the skin in a manner designed to prevent slippage or undesired and unnecessary penetration into the surrounding tissues.

While the piercing needle is still in the body, the piercer pushes the back end of the jewelry into the new opening. As the jewelry is pushed through the opening, the remainder of the piercing instrument is removed from the skin.

However, for ear piercing, the ear piercing guns are sometimes used to create an opening in the skin and cartilage for ear jewelry. Piercing guns do not require the insertion of needles by hand.

When the opening that was created to insert the jewelry has healed, a type of scar, known as a fistula, is permanently formed to connect the two openings of skin.

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