This year alone, i have had to cut butterfly backs out of the ears of 5 little girls, with two this week alone. Seeing as it’s only mid February, i know i’m in for another long year of removing these awful things from children’s ear lobes!

But people have been having their ears pierced with piercing guns for donkeys years! I hear you cry. They have! But continued education in piercing, and the constant stream of issues that doctors and piercers alike see on a weekly basis, mean that we know these ‘piercing guns’ are not fit for the purpose of piercing ears, nose, or any part of the body.

While they may seem quick and convenient, they cause unnecessary trauma to your skin, and lead to longer healing times, a higher risk of infection, and as i’m seeing on a worryingly increasing frequency, embedding of jewellery.

Piercing guns are more often than not performed by unskilled, untrained staff. and these ‘guns’ simply force jewellery through your skin using blunt force pressure, which can cause tissue damage and scarring. And the butterfly backs used in these contraptions can trap bacteria and restrict airflow, increasing the risk of irritation and complications.

When performing a piercing, a reputable body piercer will check your anatomy, and decide on which length of post you will need for your piercing, taking into account a rate of swelling while your body heals. Piercing guns do not allow for any swelling. The back of the earring is close to the back of the ear, meaning if that piercing decides to swell (due to the huge amount of blunt force trauma its just received!), that butterfly back or pretty jewelled front has nowhere to go other than inside of your fresh piercing.