Ear Piercing: Gun vs. Needle

Whether you are planning on taking your child to have her ears pierced for the first time or you are adding another hole for yourself, you should consider your piercing options. Years ago, the only choice was a piercing gun at the local mall or salon. Now you have the choice to have a needle piercing or stick with the gun piercing.

How a Piercing Gun Works

A piercing gun is a reusable tool that uses a special type of piercing earring to pierce an earlobe. The piercing gun holds the earring on the front of the earlobe and the earring backing behind the earlobe. The lobe is placed between the two. When triggered, the gun forces the earring very quickly through the lobe and into the backing.

How a Needle Piercing is Done

Getting a needle piercing is a much less abrupt experience. The piercing professional uses an extremely sharp hollow-tip needle to pierce a hole in the earlobe. Sometimes a catheter is used to place the jewelry and other times the jewelry is pulled through with the needle.

There are a few things that you must consider before choosing between the two methods.

1) Safety and Infection

Since a piercing gun is partly made of plastic, it cannot be sterilized thoroughly. Though the gun does not actually come into contact with the pierced hole, some experts still believe that this is less safe than a fully sterilized piercing needle.

Piercing needles are never used more than once and should be removed from the sterilized package only immediately before use.

2) Pain

Some people believe that the piercing needle is less painful, but those with an aversion to needles would probably disagree. There is no such thing as a pain-free piercing, but both needle piercings and gun piercings on the earlobes cause relatively little pain.

3) Healing

Needle piercings cause less damage to the tissue surrounding the earring hole. This means that they generally heal faster and with less infection than gun piercings.

4) Accuracy

If you go to a trained professional for your ear piercing, then accuracy should not be a concern. Many professional piercing studios offer both needle and gun piercings and they do them both well. Avoid going to an accessories store or beauty salon unless you are certain that the piercer on staff has adequate training. You don’t want to end up with mismatched earring holes.

5) Cost

Piercings using a gun are generally less expensive than piercings using a needle. Gun piercings often cost only the price of the piercing jewelry used. With needle piercings, you will have to pay for the piercing plus the cost of the jewelry. For some people, this difference in cost is completely worth it.

Best Earrings for Your New Piercing

Whether you choose a gun piercing or needle piercing, the best earrings to wear in your new piercings are from Web Gems. They carry the highest-quality, hypoallergenic cubic zirconia earrings, freshwater pearl earrings and kid’s earrings at incredibly competitive prices. Their jewelry adds a beautiful sparkle and shine to any outfit. Web Gems specializes in affordable and beautiful earrings that look great with any outfit.

Click here to learn more.