Ear piercing

[funnygirl422]

Okay, I used to pierce ears for a living back in medievil times.

The guns giving allergies is completely false. The earrings are stored in a separate casing from the gun. The gun never actually touches the ear. The worst possible thing you can do is pierce your ears the first time with a needle.

If you've had your ears pierced before, you can repierce them without a gun quite easily. When the holes "close up", it is not entirely closed. Only the top layer of skin on the front and back of the ear has closed. What you need to do (I did this with my teenager) is find, either your original earrings with the really sharp tips and extra long posts, or get a needle and a pair of earrings you don't mind wearing for approximately one week. You will also need to find somebody to do this for you who has a steady hand and some patience.

I highly recommend icing the ear (not only does it help with the pain, but it keeps swelling to a minimum) and having neosporin or some other antibiotic ointment on hand. I swabbed the post of the earring I was going to use with the ointment. I also gave my daughter a couple of ibuprofen about an hour before hand.

If the original hole in your ear went straight through and not at an angle, this should be relatively easy. Sometimes the skin (especially in the back of the ear) can be a little tough to poke through unless you have a sharp needle. Once you get the sharp through the front hole and can see it poking at the back hole put a small piece of potato behind the ear for stability and push hard. Voila, you have just repierced your own ears at no cost to you.

[fluff]

I had my ears pierced when I was five at a good jeweller, who used a needle.
Not a regular sewing needle or course, some bizarre pen-like device.
I've never had any problems with them.

[Feifer]

My dad pierced my ears when I was five. He and my mom are both nurses and not squeemish about needles. Since then I have had two additional earing gun piercings in each ear and I pierced my own left ear really high in the cartilage when I was in beauty school. The at home piercings were much more comfortable since we used ice to numb them first. On all of them I used alcohol and neosporin or a similar antibacterial ointment.

[eny]

I did the first set with a girlfriend ,some ice and a big darning needle
NOT recommended , but I was forbidden to do it by my parents . Yeesh , when I think of the infection possibilitites now it's mind boggling. Second hole was done much the same way . By the time I got to the third set , I wised up and had the gun do it. I tried getting one quite high up , but it never really healed properly , so I finally took it out. Since then I have heard the best place to get them done is a piercing place. Not only do they make sure everything is clean , they can put numbing on before. Yes to the polysporin or other antibiotic cream . I think that's the stuff to prevent infections.

[famita]

I remember my big sister at college and visiting her for a weekend and she really wanted to get her ears pierced. So, we had a lot to drink, borrowed someone's needle that was diabetic, iced her ears up, stuck the needle and put the earrings in. We laughed a lot. When I turned 18 (family rule), my sister paid for me to have my ears done. She has since added more holes. Mine grew back, so had them repierced and got to tell you, IT HURT!!!! I decided if they grew back again, that was it-no more holes.

[Rman]

I have gotten my ears pierced, but now after 2 weeks they have sores all around, i think its just irritation, but please help!! x0x

[ClosetNerd]

It sounds like you may be allergic to whatever the earring is made of?
My sister gets these sores all over her lobes when she wears anything other than the highest grade gold. And even that irritates her a little. If she wears danglers, she gets a rash where it brushes on her face and neck as well.. Try switching tho plastic studs for a little while, and using ointment and see if it clears up?

[11sstephanie]

Huh. Lookee that. I'm going to get my ears pierced tomorrow (1st set, 1st time), and this thread magically shows up!

So, I'm going to a little place in the mall probably (Piercing Pagoda, if you were wondering), and I'm wondering if you guys have any advice? My mom got hers done for her 22nd birthday (28 years ago), and she has no clue what to expect. So I'm just wondering. I mean, I have an extremely high pain tolerance, but she remembers a lot of pain for a few days after getting them done, should I be considering taking Motrin or something before I get them done?

[famita]

I almost think everyone is different. If you have a medium to high pain threshhold, I don't think you'll have any problems or much pain. Have fun!

[Amanda]

I actually worked at Piercing Pagoda for a year or so during college. We'd pierce each other's ears for fun during slow times. And, as far as I know, none of my co-workers were sadomasochists or anything.

I pierced hundreds, maybe thousands of people's ears. I think only one or two really freaked out, crying about pain. They also were pretty worked up before doing it, so I'm sure that didn't help.

You'll need a parent with you when you go, unless the rules have dramatically changed.