Category: Opinions on Piercing

Childrens piercings are one of the most rewarding things that we offer here at Rogue. We think almost every person in the UK has had a negative experience with piercings they received as kids, so to be able to change that narrative and provide safe, hygienic piercings to under-16s is incredibly gratifying.

Our age policies allow us to perform childrens piercings pierce earlobes from the age of 8. We feel this is a great age to begin to pierce from as older kids are more aware of the process, more easily educated on proper care, and are often genuinely excited about the process! You can read our full age policies here. We require photographic ID for both the parent and child to prove legal guardianship. This is not a policy we will bend, so please arrive prepared to your appointment!

We do not, and never will use, a piercing gun. We use sterile, single-use blade needles for each and every piercing. Piercing guns are unhygienic and cause excessive trauma to the lobe. You often also end up with wonky piercings that are incredibly difficult to heal! You can read more about piercing guns here.

Is your child ready?

Childrens piercing poses a few technical challenges. Firstly we want to make sure your child is absolutely ready for the responsibility involved with getting piercings. This is a permanent change to your child and so we do like for the parent to pop in and allow their child to ask any questions they might have in order to make them more confident and comfortable in the process! Parents are always welcome to send us emails, or book consultations with us if they feel they need to.

It is worth asking your child a few questions to gauge if they are ready.

1. Do you want your ears pierced? – This may be an obvious question, but a child who is not 100% sure they want the piercing is less likely to invest the care and attention required to heal them.
2. Do you know this process might hurt? – This is often the bit that is tricky to talk about. No piercing is totally pain free, so it is worth talking to your child about how it might feel a little pinchy.
3. Do you know that piercings require daily cleaning? – You will need to talk to your child about the commitment of twice daily cleaning. Depending on the age of your child, you may also need to commit to helping your child clean their piercings!
4. Do you know that it takes about 6 months to heal? – Older children over the age of 8 are often a lot more prepared to take care of their piercings and invest the time and effort into healing them. Patience is required, and your child needs to know that these piercings will not heal overnight!

It’s so important for us to introduce children to the concept of bodily autonomy and consent at a really early age. Even if you are sure your child is ready for a piercing, the final decision is up to your child. If at any point they say no, or express that they don’t want to continue, we will stop. If this means that at your childrens piercings appointment they decide not to go ahead, we will 100% respect their choice.

Jewellery

We stock a huge range of jewellery, however our Titanium ranges are incredibly popular with younger people for childrens piercing! Our most popular items are the Neometal Prong-Set Swarovskis and synthetic Opal Cabochons. These items are high-quality, implant-grade ASTM F-136 Titanium pieces set with genuine Swarovski stones that come in a myriad of different colours and sizes- Something for everyone! They can also be anodised, where we change the colour of the Titanium to make something totally unique! We do offer jewellery to every budget.

Often metal sensitivities are a common issue brought to us – Both ASTM F-136 Titanium and solid 14k/18k Gold are totally safe to wear permanently. You can read more about implant standards here, and how to spot quality jewellery here.

Healing Times

4 Weeks: 4 weeks after getting the piercings, we recommend you book a free 10 minute checkup so that we can evaluate how your child is healing, and potentially downsize the length of the jewellery once any swelling has diminished. You need to book this online through our website, and can select any time that suits you!

3 Months: After 3 months/12 weeks, the piercings are considered half-way healed. At this point you have the option to gently begin changing the jewellery out at home. This is not considered a full heal as the inside of the piercing channel can still be quite fragile at this point. Any piercer who promises fully healed piercings after 6 weeks is simply not being accurate – Read more on that here.

6 Months: Lobe piercings are fully healed after 6 months – This allows plenty of time for the inside of the piercing channel to heal and strengthen into normal tissue.

So there you have it – An introduction to childrens piercings! If you would like to know more, or see more of our jewellery in action, then head to our instagram. We aim for this to be a relaxed and comfortable experience for your child, and do everything in our power to make sure your child has the best possible experience. Good piercings last a lifetime.

The piercing gun. They are unanimously reviled within the professional piercing industry, and are an area of hot debate. It is quite an emotional subject for a lot of us. But why are piercing guns so bad, and why are there petitions by piercers to get them banned in the UK?

I want to preface this by saying that there will be no mention of piercing gun brands, or shops that use them in this post. This is not a callout post, or an emotionally-driven piece of slander. I will be talking specifically about the gun itself and the mechanism by which it pierces, and about the general standard of hygiene and training that surrounds the piercing gun. This is an educational article above all else. 

Pros of Piercing Guns

If piercing guns are so unanimously hated, there must be a good reason why they are still used in a lot of places. 

The obvious pro of a piercing gun is the speed at which the piercing is performed. The piercing gun forces the jewellery through, and the butterfly backing is pushed on in the same motion. The whole thing may take less than a second. For some people, this might be seen as a major bonus.

The other obvious pro for any business owner is that the piercing gun can be used with minimal training. You don’t need to train your staff on how to reprocess tools or how to use clamps, cannulas or blade needles, or anything surrounding bevel theory. This means that the worker using the piercing gun is a much more affordable option than hiring a fully trained piercer and either installing a sterilisation room or going fully disposable with blade needle piercings. Piercing guns and their associated cartridges are incredibly cheap, and so the profit margin of that business can be substantially increased.

Cons of Piercing Guns

Training

Piercing guns do often come with instructions, so the piercing itself can be performed using the gun. These instructions are just for how to discharge the gun cartridge though, and nothing else. Aside from this, there seems to be huge discrepancies between stores of the same company in regards to training. Some employees describe a week’s worth of training and lots of practice, and others say that the piercing gun was thrust into their hands on their first shift. Either way, there are simply not enough hours in the day to learn everything there is to know about piercing safety and hygiene within one week. This training often excludes bloodborne pathogen training completely, which should be cause for concern for anyone. As piercers, we are exposed to bloodborne contamination on a daily basis, and the amount of training we do in order to safely work in that environment is extreme. We recertify this training every single year. Bloodborne pathogens have been known to have been spread by untrained staff using piercing guns, (W.E Keene, 2004). In this incident, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was spread between at least 18 clients. This is down to a lack of training in regards to simple cross-contamination – Something you learn on your first day at any quality studio. It was lucky that this incident involved only a bacterial strain. If one of those clients had HIV or another bloodborne illness, then the story could have been much more tragic. This is one of many reasons we work using ‘Universal Precautions,’ where we assume every single client has a bloodborne pathogen.

Aside from the healthcare side of training, the physical skill of piercing cannot be taught with a piercing gun. Rule number one of piercing is to get that piercing straight, and perpendicular to the tissue. With a piercing gun you may as well close your eyes while piercing – The angle at which the piercing comes out is down to luck more than anything. A badly angled piercing has little chance of ever healing. Why leave that to chance? 

Hygiene

The piercing gun is often made from a hard plastic casing, with the spring-loaded system tucked inside. This plastic case is not autoclave safe, which means that if an attempt was made to sterilise it, the gun would melt. This shows that the piercing gun is not being sterilised or cleaned between clients. The fact that any item is reused between clients without proper reprocessing is a cause for intense concern. The guns are normally wiped down with an alcohol-based disinfectant which is ineffective at killing pathogens such as Pseudomonas spp. and Staphylococcus spp. This contamination is easily spread from person to person, and this is especially concerning given the increasing resistance of these bacterial species to antibiotics, (Begeurie & Petersen, 2017.) This recent paper discusses a case in which a scaffold piercing was performed using a piercing gun, and a Pseudomona aeruginosa infection was confirmed by the hospital after 48 hours. This infection was strongly resistant to frontline antibiotics. Not only this, but the transmission of bloodborne infections such as Hepatitis have been noted as a risk when reusing piercing guns, (Tweeten et al, 1998.) 

Trauma

Piercing guns use blunt force to tear a hole in the tissue with the end of the jewellery. This causes excessive swelling which the jewellery cannot allow for, vastly increasing the risk of embedding.

As Rogue is a science-led studio, we need to use scientific papers in order to form opinions. Everyone has seen those videos of needles vs piercing gun studs, but unless there is data to compare the two then the exercise is meaningless. There is only one paper to read when discussing piercing gun trauma, which is that written by van Wijk et all in 2008. In the past this paper has been used to prove that gun piercings and needle piercings are equally as traumatic. However, on in-depth reading, this becomes hard to believe. The study actually proves the opposite.

This paper is the only one to perform actual, real-world experiments testing the hypothesis that ear piercing guns cause excessive trauma. The summary is interesting, to say the least. There is a lot to unpick.

Firstly, it’s important to know that the gauge of a piercing gun earring is 24g or 0.8mm. The average cannula needle is 16g or 1.2mm. It is interesting that even with this size difference, the trauma caused was the same. To quote the original paper, “A comparison between the different piercing methods did not show any significant difference in perichondrial damage, total chondral tears or chondral shattering, despite the fact that the design and diameter of the tip of the piercing instrument varied greatly, as well as the force applied to pierce the ear.” This means that the cannula needle was FAR LESS traumatic than a piercing gun earring. In other words, if the cannula needle was the same gauge as the earring, it would be vastly less traumatic when compared to the earring. This brings me on to the kicker of this argument…

The paper goes on to note that a much better method of piercing might involve a highly sharp needle that was the same diameter as the jewellery that is inserted thereafter. “…The fact that the needle, having a much larger diameter than the other studs, showed the same amount of damage suggests that the best results can be expected from a sharp piercing instrument with a relatively small diameter. Maybe results of the needle piercings can be improved by removing the (relatively blunt) i.v. catheter, to introduce the stud in the needle instead.” The blade needle fits this exact description! This paper was written in 2008, and the scientists involved had no concept or knowledge of blade needles, tapers, needle blanks, or unaided transfer. Although this paper compared guns and cannula needles, it still proves that blade needles are the best in terms of reducing trauma to the tissue.

In addition to all of this, there is one more important thing to note. These experiments were performed on cadavers. This was noted in the discussion section of the original paper, and means that a lot of the arguments both for and against piercing guns cannot use this paper as evidence. The study is unable to follow through with any wound healing, jewellery sensitivities, or infections caused by each method. 

To conclude this section, piercing guns do cause excessive trauma which causes excessive swelling. Blade needles are the least traumatic piercing method, and I hope you can all appreciate that extra smoothness when being pierced at Rogue!

Jewellery

The jewellery used in piercing guns is low quality. There is no way around this. The design itself is poor. These items are designed to be manufactured as cheaply as possible, with little regard for the safety of the person who has to wear them.

The standard piercing gun earring is 24g or 0.8mm thick, which is way too thin to produce a stable fistula. If you have issues with gun piercings constantly trying to close up, then this may be the reason why. 

Aside from those guidelines setup by the UKAPP, there are almost no laws covering the metals used in piercing gun earrings. Often these are some alloy of ‘stainless steel’ or ‘Gold plated.’ These metals are not safe to wear in piercings and, when exposed to fluids such as blood and lymph and the heat of the human body, will quickly degrade. The butterfly-back clasp at the back of the earring is a magnet for filth. These clasps quickly get encrusted with dried blood, lymphatic fluid, sweat, and shed skin cells. This will quickly begin to decay at body temperature and is a hub for infection. 

The surface finish of gun jewellery is incredibly poor. This rough texture allows debris and bacteria to build up quickly and increases risks of infection, (Tweeten et al, 1998.) The roughness also means that the healing fistula can grow into the jewellery, meaning that the jewellery is physically stuck to your skin. This is why you are advised to twist gun jewellery- To tear the fistula off the jewellery itself. This is obviously extremely traumatic to a fragile piercing and significantly extends your healing time. The body jewellery used at Rogue and other high-end studios is verified implant-grade and is designed to be easily cleaned, with a mirror-finish. This is jewellery that can last a lifetime of wear.

Finally, and most importantly, gun jewellery is ‘One size fits none.’ What we mean by this is that the jewellery has no room for swelling, which means that the chances of the tissue swelling over the jewellery and embedding within it is all too high, (Muntz et al, 1990. Wang et al, 2017. Macgregor, 2001.) Here at Rogue we have lost count of the number of butterfly backs we have had to remove from inside people’s ears. I have had personal experience of this with my first ever lobe piercings which were done many years ago with a gun – It is not fun. At all. 

Aftercare

More important than all of the above is the aftercare advice often distributed by shops that use piercing guns. You may be familiar with this. Twist the jewellery twice a day, clean with aggressive chemicals such as surgical spirits, TCP, and/or tea tree oil. The aftercare advice is incredibly harsh and outdated. It causes more harm than good. Good aftercare should be gentle and not disturb the natural healing process. This can be read up on here, and a more in depth discussion is found here.

So there you have it. All the pros and cons of piercing guns. You will note that the single pro of a piercing gun to the client, its speed, can be matched by a skilled piercer. You’ll know this if you have ever been pierced by Aiden! The other benefits of a piercing gun are only felt by the owner of the establishment, who can increase their profit margins by using untrained staff and cheap guns to make money. The cons, well. They speak for themselves. 

If you have more questions, message us on instagram or contact us via email.

Citations:

Beguerie, J.R. and Petersen, A., 2017. Pseudomona Chondritis and Ear Piercing Pseudomona and Piercing.

Keene, W.E. (2004). Outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infections Caused by Commercial Piercing of Upper Ear Cartilage. JAMA, [online] 291(8), p.981. Available at: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/198238 [Accessed 26 May 2021].

Macgregor, D.M., 2001. The risks of ear piercing in children. Scottish medical journal, 46(1), pp.9-10.

Muntz, H.R., Cui PA-C, D.J. and Asher, B.F. (1990). Embedded earrings: a complication of the ear-piercing gun. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, [online] 19(1), pp.73–76. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/016558769090197Y [Accessed 26 May 2021].

Tweeten, S.S.M. and Rickman, L.S., 1998. Infectious complications of body piercing. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 26(3), pp.735-740.

**van Wijk, M.P., Kummer, J.A. and Kon, M. (2008). Ear piercing techniques and their effect on cartilage, a histologic study. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, [online] 61, pp.S104–S109. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1748681507003348 [Accessed 26 May 2021].

Wang, T.C. and Chan, K.C., 2017. An embedded earring backing in the tragus. Ear, Nose & Throat Journal, 96(7), pp.236-239.

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Cheek piercings are one of those things that you rarely see in person, but are one of the most eye-catching sets of piercings a person can own. Cheeks are often considered a “piercer’s piercing” due to their complexity and difficult nature. Here at Rogue we love cheek piercings, with two sets already living in the studio and more on the way! However, they are not a beginner piercing. Heck, they aren’t even a tricky piercing. They are one of the most difficult piercings to have, heal and maintain. Here’s a deep dive into what makes them so tantalising, beautiful, and laborious.

Cheek Piercings – Placement

The first thing to consider with cheek piercings is their placement. There is a lot going on within the cheeks themselves, not to mention taking into account the dental deliberation on top of that. There are four main things to think about when choosing the placement of cheek piercings.

The Vascular System

All the blood vessels that feed the lower part of the face originate from the External Carotid Artery (ECA), which sweeps up from the neck across the point where the jawbone meets the skull just underneath and forwards of the ear. The ECA then splits into the Maxillary artery, and also into the Transverse Facial artery and the Buccal artery. These are the main blood vessels that pass through the cheeks. Clearly, we cannot pierce through these! Your piercer will use a strong torch and inspect your cheeks to find where these arteries lie and work around them.

The Muscular Map

In terms of muscles, there is a lot going on in the cheeks! Cheeks contain a number of different muscles, but the main ones to consider are the Buccinator (Fantastic name!) and the Risorious. These are major muscles, and placement has to be very precise in order to work well with them. Muscles are made of long fibres, and when you pierce through a muscle, the whole fibre that you pass through will atrophy. This may change the shape of your face slightly after you have your cheeks pierced. Most cheek piercees will experience some thinning of the face and a slight ‘sunken’ effect, even once the piercings are removed.

These muscles are constantly flexing and moving when you talk and eat, which is why cheek dermals or anchors are not a suitable alternative to proper cheek piercings. Surface piercings must be placed in an area of low movement if they are to have any chance of healing, and cheeks are simply not that place. Cheek dermals may seem like an attractive option especially if you are concerned about dental damage, but the chances of them lasting more than 2-4 months are slim.

The Nervous System

The nerves involved with cheek piercings start at the Trigeminal Nerve which sits at the temple, and split out into the Opthalmic, Maxillary and Mandibular nerves. The ophthalmic and maxillary are not super relevant and are sensory nerves only. However the V3 Mandibular nerve runs directly through the cheeks and is both a sensory and motor nerve so your piercer must be very careful when selecting placement. The Mandibular nerve is the one that controls the muscles that allow you to chew food. We always recommend heading to a highly experienced piercer for cheek piercings.

Cheek Piercings – The Good

Cheek piercings have an irreplaceable look. There is simply nothing like them. They are almost universally flattering on both men and women, and the jewellery choices for them are almost endless as you can go as big and bold as you like! There is no such thing as a ‘dainty’ cheek piercing because they are so naturally bold. Cheek piercings are the perfect statement piercing and they send an instant message to the people who meet you that you aren’t the standard. Cheeks can also host some of the most gorgeous Gold ends and look incredible with large gemstones. Cheeks will also always have that punk side to them, no matter how fancy their jewellery. We love them so much!

Cheek Piercings -The Bad

Cheek piercings are a lifestyle piercing, meaning you will probably have to change aspects of your life in order to manage them properly. This means no makeup for up to a year amongst other things. Because they are such a commitment, we require a full consultation beforehand and an at least 24-48 hour cooling off period. 

Cheek piercings are a huge financial investment. We charge what we charge in order to filter out those who are getting cheek piercings on a whim, and on top of that you have to consider the cost of multiple downsizes and upsizes over the lifetime of your piercing. When we say multiple downsizes, we mean between 3 and 6 pairs of shortening bars to allow you to heal properly without causing dental damage. When each pair is £70 for our basic minimum, you are looking at a cost of about £210-£420 minimum on basic jewellery alone! We often will take payment for these downsizes in advance to make sure the client is willing to outlay the cost of proper care. 

Cheek Piercings – The Ugly

Cheek piercings are not something that we will perform on everyone that enquires about them. They are notoriously hard to heal, can get stuck in seemingly endless cycles of swelling, and leave large scars directly on the face. Cheeks are problematic because they do sit in the middle of a large muscle group and are a wet-dry piercing that has one side in a moist mucous membrane and another faces out from normal skin. 

Swelling is very extensive, and takes many months to fully dissipate. You will look like a chipmunk for a good month at least! Cheeks are what we would consider a piercing for only the most experienced people and this usually means almost exclusively other piercers and intense piercing enthusiasts. You need to be incredibly confident in your ability to care for and heal these piercings, and need to be able to be adept at diagnosing issues and correcting them at any time of day or night. If your cheeks suddenly swell at 2am and risk embedding, you need to be able to get in there and sort them out yourself. This swelling and irritation can come back at any time, for seemingly no reason! Great care and attention must be taken in order to heal cheek piercings properly. They can take upwards of 18 months to settle somewhat.

Conclusion

The piercing industry would not be the same without cheek piercings. They are a status symbol, a sign of dedication, and a statement that you aren’t part of the crowd. We love them very much and would hate to see them slowly die out. Our head piercer Aiden has over 10 years of high level experience, and has pierced many sets of cheeks over the years. We can’t think of anyone better to place your trust in. These are definitely piercings worth travelling for! If you aren’t within travelling radius, we can also direct you to your nearest studio that we know and trust. 

If you are a piercer who has no experience with piercing cheeks, we strongly recommend finding an experienced piercer, who has pierced multiple sets of cheeks, to shadow so you can learn to perform them safely. These are not something you can learn without a lot of education and practice first! This post is merely scratching the surface, and is not aimed to be training material of any kind.

We hope this hasn’t discouraged anyone from getting cheek piercings, but education is incredibly important and we need to be both honest and realistic. We love them and hope to pierce many more in the future!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get cheek piercings at Rogue?

There are two stages! Firstly, you must book in for an in-person piercing consultation with Aiden – This is non-negotiable. Once we have assessed your anatomy, discussed placement, and talked you through all of the issues that may arise, there is a minimum 24hr cooling off period. This means that if you book in for your consult on Tuesday at 10.30am, then the earliest we will be able to perform your cheek piercings is Wednesday morning.

Once you are ready, you can book in for your piercings at any stage after this cooling off period.

You require an in-person consultation – I live really far away. Can we do it online, or can I skip the consultation and just book in directly for the piercings?

Unfortunately not. The consultation is a vital stage in the process for both ourselves as a responsible piercing studio, and you as a client. The consultation gives us the opportunitely to perform a fully in-depth anatomy check, where we can ensure you are suitable for the piercings and give you an idea on the ideal placement for yourself. This may vary from where you imagine your cheek piercings to go – Knowing this in advance will help you to decide on wether you want to go ahead with them or not.

The consultation also allows us to meet you, assess your committment, and discuss all of the trials and tribulations that you will experience with your cheek piercings. It is not a question of if you will have issues, but when. Giving you all the information about what to expect in advance, and answering any questions you have, is key to ensuring that only people who are truly committed to the cheek piercing journey are going to go ahead and get them pierced.

The 24 hour cooling off period is also key, as it gives you the time to go away and truly digest all of the information we will give you and allow you to make an informed decision on what works best for you.

I want cheek piercings so that I can get dimples – Is this ok?

Nooooo! This is such a common question, but its something that we cannot professionally recommend. As stated in the body of this blog, the scarring from cheek piercings is unpredictable at best, and fairly gnarly at worst. There is a high chance that one of your cheek piercings will dimple and scar more heavily than the other, leaving you fairly lopsided once you remove the jewellery. There are so many better ways to get natural looking and symmetrical dimples that aren’t the expensive and taxing process of cheek piercings.

Can’t I just get dermals instead?

Nope. The cheeks are soft, 3-dimensional planes of tissue that experience high motion and have a 100% risk of full rejection. There is also the risk of damaging the soft tissue on the inside of the mouth with the dermals that can increase risks of abcess. We do not offer, nor do we recommend finding a piercer who will offer, cheek dermals.

Why Can’t I wear plastic jewellery to minimise risk of dental damage?

Plastic jewellery is not body safe. It is soft, easily chewed up, and is a magnet for bacteria. This scratchy, contaminated surface is going to be immensely damaging to your piercings! We recommend wearing snug-fitting Titanium jewellery, usually with an M&M shaped disc/ball on the inside to minimise the contact that your jewellery has with your teeth. Although soft plastic sounds like an attractive alternative, it is a death knell for happy cheek piercings. Don’t risk it.

Finding a Piercer

We have had many messages asking us for recommendations for piercers! Unfortunately we cannot possibly respond to all of these, so please use the below resources to help you. It is vital to contact the studio in advance, have a consultation, and ensure you are happy and confident in their ability. Please make sure you do your due diligence and find a highly experienced piercer.

UK – Midlands. Central. Wales. Rogue Piercing (Us!)

UK – The North – Holier Than Thou (Manchester)

UK – London and the South – The Circle (Soho)

USA and Worldwide – Please use the APP Find a Piercer map.