Bought a cheap piercing gun off Amazon to save $40 and now my ear looks like a war zone

Figured a $15 kit would do the same job as a $55 professional needle setup but that gun jammed halfway through the cartilage and I had to yank it out. Ended up paying $80 at a real piercing shop for antibiotics and a proper repierce. Anyone else learn this lesson the hard way?

4 comments

4 Comments

bennett.patricia25d ago

Did the kit even come with decent aftercare instructions?

tarag2818d ago

My cousin actually bought one of those kits years ago and the aftercare instructions were barely there. It was just a little scrap of paper that said "keep clean" with no details about what solution to use or how often. I ended up having to walk her through it myself because I had learned the right way from my own professional piercings. The thing that really bothered me was the kit included alcohol wipes which can actually irritate a fresh piercing. If you're going to do it at all, at least use sterile saline like you'd get for contact lenses.

terry_wood5125d ago

Oh man, that brings back a memory. My cousin did the same thing with a cheap kit from some online store, but she tried to pierce her own belly button instead of an ear. The gun literally snapped in half and she had to go to urgent care with a piece of plastic stuck in her skin. The doctor told her those kits are basically toys for kids and not meant for real piercings. And forget about aftercare instructions, most of them just say "clean with alcohol" which is wrong anyway because you're supposed to use saline. Now she's got a scar that looks like a little smiley face and she jokes it's her "cheap tax" for trying to save a few bucks. I think people just don't realize how much damage these things can do to your tissue until it's too late.

the_xena18d ago

Cheap tax" is the PERFECT term for it. DIY kits are literally just asking for trouble.