How Gun Piercings Cause Shattered Cartilage
Piercing guns are extremely dangerous and are famous for causing shattered cartilage. Many people do not really think twice when they decide to get their ears pierced by someone using a stud gun. In fact, almost all mothers take young children, even infants to get their ears pierced using this method because for whatever reason they do not think to go to a professional piercer. Most people know someone, or themselves who have had a piercing done and it turned out fine however, there are an astonishing number of people that end up with shattered cartilage.
Tissue Damage
Aside from shattered cartilage, piercing guns will often cause unwanted scar tissue. The reason is due to the method. Unlike the artistic act of needle piercing, the guns that are used essentially puncture your skin with an extreme blunt force. When a needle is used, it is a sharp object that precisely cuts into your skin. When studs are used, they are incredibly dull and put an intense amount of pressure on outside tissues to force a hole to be created. This impact causes shattered cartilage.
Additionally, this blunt force is far more painful, results in more infection and can create excess scar tissue to form. Also, piercing guns were originally only used to tag dairy cows on their earlobes. Experts that design and sell piercing guns even admit that they are extremely dangerous to use anywhere else. Even with this warning, many people still use a gun to pierce ears and other body parts which often results in shattered cartilage and deformities.
Disease Risks
Piercing guns can cause diseases like HIV and hepatitis. Proper piercing studios are careful to create a sterile environment but places that use these guns do not. Most of these “piercers” use rubbing alcohol to sterilize. This is not 100 percent effective. Rubbing alcohol will kill some bacteria but not all of it.
When using a gun for piercing, often the only sterile things are the studs and sometimes those are not even sterile. A sterile object is only as clean as its surroundings so using a dirty gun or a piercer not wearing gloves is a breeding ground for disease. Today, many piercing guns are disposable but that does not guarantee that the factory worker that packaged it had clean hands. Even a small infection can cause a life threatening disease and deformities. Needle piercing decreases these disease risks because everything is sterile and the piercer wears gloves.
Amateur Gun Piercers
Piercers that use needles are not only trained in piercing but also proper hygiene. You can be certain that teenagers at the costume jewelry shop in the mall are not thoroughly trained. Chances are high that they do not even know what shattered cartilage is. Most “professional” gun piercers took a one day piercing seminar which pretty much teaches them about placement and how to aim. It is not economically beneficial for employers to also spend the money to educate these gun piercers on methods of sterilization, microorganisms and avoidance of cross-contamination.
Because these amateur trainers practice a few times at these seminars by simply using cardboard, piercings are often created off-center, crooked and uneven. These problems are very difficult to heal and also cause problems later if you decide you want an additional piercing in the same area.
To avoid disease, infection and shattered cartilage, always get your piercing done by a professional with a needle. If you are looking to get your child's ears pierced and you think that an actual piercing venue is a bit too intimidating or the piercers are just too artistic in their appearance, think about the health of your child. These piercers are the actual professionals and the only people you should trust with your child or yourself.