Disclaimer: The Piercing Gun we mentioned in this blog is the ETO pre-sterile, disposable, and fully sealed packed piercing gun unit. Please Note: The non-sterilisable and reusable traditional piercing gun is NEVER recommended for safety reasons.
The two commonly used piercing methods used today are Needles and guns. Both of these systems have their Pros and Cons. Which method to choose depends on the piercing area on the body and the preference, age, and circumstances of the client.
At Pheenix, we ONLY provide Gun piercing services for TWO parts of the body, the Earlobe and Nostril (these body areas can also be pierced by a needle, we ONLY operate Needle piercing services on other parts of the body).
As a professional body piercing workshop, all piercing needles and gun units utilised are disposable and pre-sterilised, by ETO low temperature sterilisation process.
Using our disposable gun piercing system, every part of the gun that would come in contact with the client’s body is made from safe plastic, which is sterilised at the time of manufacture and stored in fully sealed packaging that is only opened just before use in a manner similar to how needles are used in body piercing.
Is Needle piercing, always a better option than Gun piercing?
When you are concerned about these kinds of questions, what you really need to focus on is looking for a good body piercer, rather than a good piercing method. A good piercer should do good piercings based on the client’s needs and anatomy. People may ask, can a surgeon, nurse, pharmacist, or tattoo artist do body piercings for me? The answer is NO.
Just like a dentist doesn’t do operations and a surgeon doesn’t deal with dental problems. A body piercer is a completely different occupation from medical professionals or tattoo artists. They all do work with needles, but different types of needles. Same as a nurse needs certain types of needles for a blood test or injection, a tattoo artist does tattoos with tattoo needles and a body piercing uses body piercing needles.
Hence, when you are heading to a place and thinking of getting a body piercing, you really want to know if the piercer knows what he/she is doing. Generally, a professional body piercer is able to do Needle piercings on different locations of the bodies and has enough experience on a series of piercing types.
GUN PIERCING
The only reason we do gun piercing services on lobes and nostrils is this might be the easiest way for SOME people. However, whatever piercing method is decided upon, the important factor is all hygienic systems are followed and operated by a professional piercer.
There are some aspects to define which piercing method is better than the other, such as client’s age, and anatomy. Another factor to consider is the nervousness of the client, how fast the piercing the client expects, and budget and jewellery options.
Technically, a needle piercing hurts less on the skin and has more jewellery options, like materials, styles, colours, and sizes. If you are over the age 13, super brave, not scared of needles and want to get a lobe or nostril piercing done, we recommend needle piercing for you to have a smoother healing process with a wide range of jewellery choices.
However, if a person is very scared of a needle, bleeding and wants to get pierced desperately, for this particular case, operating a needle piercing on this client might hurt more than a gun piercing. This is because gun piercing is way faster and makes the piercing procedure easy and fast.
Needles can be very scary for some people, such as the moment they see it, some people have been known to pass out. Some may push the needle away when the piercer is doing the piercing. Others might grab or hold the piercer’s arm or hand while the piercer is pushing the needle through, this is not uncommon. In these cases, people may end up having an unpleasant piercing experience, like getting stabbed or having a piercing with a bad angle.
At Pheenix we do NOT believe, ‘one method fits all’, we need to find out the easiest and most suitable way for every client to have the best piercing experience and result. That’s why our staff always take some time to have a consultation before the customer makes a decision.
For children and babies’ earlobe piercings, the lobes are not too thick, the gun method can be quick and ideal for them, since they tend to move around and pushing the needle through young children may be dangerous for both them and the piercer.
For anyone who cannot sit still, we recommend the gun method for a peace and smooth piercing process. Pheenix believes it's a right for our little customers to get a clean, safe, precise piercing, so we extend the same implant grade jewellery and safe piercing techniques to young children.
The Pros of Gun Piercing
● Affordable cost. Gun piercing is relatively cheaper compared to needle piercing, as it’s an easy piercing procedure to operate.
● Fast piercing process. Gun piercings deliver a fast result. The earlobe or nostril can be automatically pierced with a simple spring action trigger in just one step, at the same time the earring back locks into a good position. This ensures best hygiene practices.
● Kids-Friendly. Our Gun Earlobe Piercing System is a good way to pierce young children and babies. It is quick, effective and can have double piercers do it on both sides at the same time. Our Gun nostril Piercing System is suitable for people who are nervous about pain, bleeding, or needles.
● Accuracy. As long as the piercing is getting done by a professional piercer, it’s easy to find the best piercing angle using a gun piercing system, especially for people who don’t like needles or pain.
● Less Bleeding. Our gun piercing system for both lobes and nostrils do not bleed, while there are often times people feel a bit discomfort afterwards. Our piercer has tried the gun on her earlobe.
The Cons of Gun Piercing (Earlobe and Nostril ONLY)
● Longer healing. Even though our earlobe and nostril piercing studs in the gun piercing units are designed to facilitate good healing by their lightweight, putting minimal pressure on the hole as it heals. However, they are still not as sharp as piercing needles. A piercing being done by guns can traumatise more on the skin and take a longer time to heal. However, if you take good care of it by following our Aftercare Guidance, then it won’t be a problem. If you do not clean it as required and touch it with dirty hands all the time, the piercing may not heal well.
● Limited Jewellery options. Although we have a good range of jewellery options for earlobe gun piercing systems, it is not as much as what you can choose for a needle piercing. If you want to get a hoop or a piece of particular jewellery right away for the new piercing, needle piercing method is the only option. For the nostril Gun Piercing System which are newly designed Surgical Steel nose studs, cause less trauma on the nostril cartilage, but only limited colours available. Alternatively, you can always change the initial jewellery to your favourite one after the piercing is fully healed. It normally doesn't take long to heal up an earlobe and nostril piercing.
● More pain. The piercer has tried both gun and needle on herself, and she has suggested a gun is more painful than a needle. Pain factors are many, including but not limited to thickness, sharpness, speed, angle and more.
● Discomfort. An earlobe piercing finish being done with a piercing Gun, leaves an ear stud with a butterfly back locking up the end of the stud. This type of ear stud has a probability of harbouring dirt or bacteria, as they cannot be removed until the piercing is healed. In comparison to hoops or flat-back studs which are needle piercing jewellery options, these butterfly backs are sometimes not comfortable to wear or easy to be cleaned. Unexpecting matters like dead skin cells/dirt/chemicals in hair products can build up and cause piercing hygiene issues.
● Anatomy requirement. The piercing gun can apply too much pressure, so there is a need for care in applying the correct pressure Piercing an earlobe or nostril to ensure the earring/nose stud settles tightly.
● For the use of piercing thick earlobes/ nostrils, with the Gun method, there may not be enough room for the wound to swell and may cause healing difficulties. Also, for small noses, the gun piercing system is not recommended, as the nose stud might hit the inside of the nose hole and cause discomfort.
● The sound. Another downside to a piercing gun is that it makes a loud “click” sound right next to the ears, which might give the babies or young children a fright. If the child moves or gets frightened and agitated, the stud can get stuck halfway. This can increase the risk of complications.
NEEDLE PIERCING
Needle piercing is an ideal piercing method for all types of body piercing, no matter what your needs are. The needles used for body piercings are sterile piercing needles with a series of thickness (gauge) or sterile cannula needles that are prescribed for medical professionals, also known as catheter needles. The two types of piercing needles are hollow with sharp endpoints.
Therefore, the piercing hole can be created much cleaner. Piercing with a needle creates a hole by moving skin tissue away under the skin to sit the jewellery in, instead of removing tissue, so needle piercing heals faster. However, needle piercing requires an experience Piercer with very good piercing skill requires and experience.
The Pros of Needle Piercing
● Piercing Hygiene: The needles used in the piercing procedure are designed for single use only. Piercing tools and instruments are sterilised properly and efficiently by a sterilisation autoclave that is widely used in dentistry, microbiology, medicine, and prosthetics fabrication, tattooing and body piercing.
● Good piercing outcome. Only professional body piercers can operate needle piercings, as they undergo extensive training on the techniques used, infection control, and how to promote fast piercing wound healing and deal with incidents that may occur. They know how to do a good piercing. As well as understanding how the body responds to a new piercing, a professional piercer is able to help clients to deal with piercing issues, providing appropriate advice to promote a better piercing result.
● Flexibility of Jewellery choices
Unlike the limited options of gun piercing, clients can select a large range of jewellery. There are many more possibilities for all piercing fans with needle piercing. They can select different shapes, materials, thickness, lengths, sizes, colours, designs as well as their own jewellery. By needle piercing, customers will be able to have what they really desire to wear immediately after being pierced.
● Less hurt: Needle piercing is less painful. The needle used has an extremely sharp tip which slices through the skin, causing the tissues to push aside to fit the jewellery through. This may sound difficult, but the process only takes a few seconds. A professional piercer can push the needle through at the right angle and fit the selected piece of jewellery in very efficiently.
● Easy to clean: Piercing jewellery is made with high-quality titanium or surgical steel, which reduces the possibility of an infection developing during healing. Additionally, the jewellery used for needle piercings is specially designed for cleaning easily by moving dirt or dead skin cells, so bacteria won’t either sit on the piercing or gather, which can result in a smooth healing process. Additionally, with a great availability of jewellery sizes, an over-sized piece of jewellery is always inserted initially for swelling and cleaning.
The Cons of Needle Piercing
● Expensive: Needle piercing is generally more expensive than gun piercing, as it’s a more difficult procedure. This is because there are more costs involved in needle piercings, like jewellery used for needle piercing are top design, highly polished, and hand-made, training a professional piercer takes time, and is expensive. Needle piercing also requires a lot more materials for sterilisation and cleaning and the cost for bleed contaminated waste disposable. However, what you will find is It's worth it.
● Inconvenience: It’s not that easy to find a good needle piercer, sometimes people may need to travel a long distance to find a professional body piercing workshop that can do needle piercings.
No matter what piercing method you choose, there are risks related with all body piercings. Doing a piercing is creating a small open wound on your body and it needs to heal by leaving a piece of jewellery in the wound. Not everyone can heal a piercing well.
However, right piercing techniques and aftercare are the main factors on whether your piercing will heal quickly without complications. Everyone is different, what is really important is finding a good piercer and following the right aftercare guidance, then you’ll have a good piercing outcome.
We hope every piercing lover has a wonderful piercing experience.
Pheenix