The official stance of the British Body Piercing Association on the use of ear piercing guns is as follows:

The use of ear piercing guns on any other parts of the body, other than on earlobes, is an unsafe procedure and should only be performed with a hollow cannula needle, followed by the insertion of jewellery of the same size.

The reasons for this are generally because:

Guns cannot be properly sterilised in an autoclave

The studs are generally quite blunt. This causes extra trauma to the area being pierced.

The studs are too short. This frequently causes the ball and the butterfly to embed in the flesh if there is a lot of swelling.

Sometimes the metal can cause allergic reactions because it is not of sufficient quality for initial piercing.

The studs are too long for nostril piercings and can cause the stud to irritate and go into the inner part of the nose.

Butterflys are normally automatically attached making it difficult to remove the stud and can cause severe pinching if swelling occurs.

SPECIFIC GUIDELINES UK Government Health Department

1. The piercing guns designed for ear piercing must not be used for other areas of the body, only on ear lobes. The pins are too short, this can cause pinching of the flesh and the restriction of movement, which may lead to considerable discomfort and possible infections.

2. For all piercings, other than ear lobes, a pre-sterilised, disposable hollow piercing needle must be used followed by the same size jewellery.

Prof . Norman Noah (original guidelines in 1991)

© The British Body Piercing Association 2003