For years the piercing gun has been the standard for most people who want their ears, cartilage, or nose pierced. Why? Because every mall in the world has at least three or four different places that you can pay a minimal amount of money to an inexpierienced sales person, to load up a stud and shoot it through your skin. Why is this bad?
The piercing guns used are not clean. These guns are never sterilized, therefore harbor bacteria. Some places will wipe the guns down with alcohol, but this is an ineffective disinfectant. Chairs and stools used for these piercings are also not washed down between clients. All these factors put you at a higher risk for infection. There are documented cases of disease transmission, such as hepatitis B, in many medical journals. Look them up for yourselves.
Another problem with these guns is that they damage tissues upon entry into the skin. Instead of a clean piercing with smooth edges, you get a jagged tear so to speak, which gives bacteria a good hiding place. The tip of the stud is nowhere near sharp enough to accomplish a clean, smooth piercing. This is why most people leave these places in pain, rather than comfort.
And finally....the jewlery. These so-called starter studs are usually not pure surgical steel, and most people choose the fancy studs which are gold-plated. Most of these gold plated studs are underplated with nickel or copper. These are not acceptible metals for body piercing, and may cause your body to reject the jewlery resulting in a bad infection and/or swelling. These studs are also too short, and do not allow room for swelling, therefore the stud usually gets imbedded into the skin, making it very painful, and difficult to remove. We all know or have known someone that this has happened to.
So there you have it. Ear piercing guns are simply a means by which these stores can make a few dollars off of the uninformed public. So next time you're cruising the mall and decide that it would be "cool" to have another hole put in your ear, or your cartilage pierced, think twice about walking into one of these places. Buy one get one free is no trade for your health and safety.
-Wiz
