Maybe you’re researching getting your very first ear piercing, or perhaps you're looking to add more to your collection. Whether you’re in the mood to get your first piece of ear jewellery or your fifth, Metal Morphosis wants to ensure you have the information and resources to make the very best decision regarding your upcoming piercing adventure. Successful healing, and in turn, a comfortable, well managed piercing that fulfils your expectations are of the utmost importance. Let’s take a look at needle piercing vs. gun piercing, and the most important factors regarding these two piercing methods.
The Problem with Guns
Piercing guns were designed in the mid 20th century to be used on earlobes, although in some instances,piercing guns are used for piercings on the cartilage of the upper ear and nose piercings as well. This is unfortunate, as they were never a hygienic or tissue friendly way of piercing ears, their aim was only to get jewellery into the ear as quickly as possible.
A piercing gun, or piercing cartridge, essentially uses a spring function to fire an earring through the earlobe, and as a result can cause the following problems.
Bacteria build up
The jewellery and firing mechanism of a piercing gun may be pre-sterilised but the machine it is loaded into is not. When skin is punctured, a micro spray of body fluids from the site is released and will end up on the surrounding area including the machine used- which cannot be sterilised in an autoclave as is the case with reusable equipment in dental surgeries, veterinary clinics, hospitals and piercing studios. This means that a contaminated piece of equipment is being used over and over again. Additionally, the earring jewellery used in gun piercings has butterfly backing and groves on the earring itself, these are places in which piercing discharge, soap, hair, and bacteria can build up and breed- leading to infection risks, and difficulty cleaning around the piercing during aftercare.
Tissue Trauma
Piercing guns are spring loaded tools, and use the force of the tensioned spring to push the earring through skin. This method causes large amounts of pressure around the piercing site which can lead to increased inflammation of the area and problematic healing. Piercing gun jewellery is often too short to allow for the initial swelling that accompanies a new piercing and so jewellery can become embedded in the piercing, causing pain and discomfort to remove, infection and loss of the piercing.
Jewellery Issues
As gun jewellery is mass produced and preloaded into the spring mechanism the metal quality and its polish can be compromised, with plated jewellery causing contact dermatitis to those with metal sensitivity, and even prolonged healing and issues in those without metal allergies.
Hollow Needles
Sterile disposable needle piercing is deemed the safest, and healthiest method of body piercing. When weighing the advantages of gun piercing vs needle piercing, the set up for your needle piercing appointment may be a bit longer, but the actual piercing itself takes the same amount of time.
Hollow needle piercing uses a hollow, sterile single use sharp needle that penetrates the piercing site leaving a clean and open location for the jewellery to be inserted into. Hollow needle piercing is a sharper, cleaner method that typically leads to a smoother and less painful piercing experience.
A clean piercing is imperative to healthy healing time, when looking at a needle piercing set up you will see a sterile field has been created around the pre sterilised needle, jewellery and any equipment the piercer is using to perform the piercing. Nothing used to make the piercing is reused, everything is disposed of in a clinical waste bin.
Healing Times
Thehealing time for piercings performed with needles, versus those performed with piercing guns are shorter. Piercing guns are unable to create a safe piercing, and the aftercare and healing time for gun piercings, as opposed to needle piercings, varies a great deal, with the additional problems that can occur from gun piercing.
Due to theblunt force trauma inflicted by piercing guns, swelling, and potential infection at the piercing location can lead to additionalmonths of healing. Piercing guns don’t have the benefit of single use operation, so their use leads to further healing obstacles. Single use, sharp, hollow needle piercings provide the safest, cleanest option for new piercings!
If you’re ready for a piercing appointment,please reach out to us! We can’t wait to walk you through a consultation to help you get your next piece of body jewellery!
