home body piercing kits leading to deformities, expert says

Key Points:

• Professional piercers report a rise in severe ear injuries and deformities caused by at-home piercing kits and piercing guns bought online, with some cases resulting in "completely shattered" ears that cannot be repaired.
• Piercing guns use blunt jewelry that causes more trauma and scarring compared to needles, which create a cleaner piercing canal; this has led to calls from the UK Association of Professional Piercers (UKAPP) to ban at-home kits and piercing guns.
• There are currently no legal age restrictions on purchasing at-home piercing kits in the UK, allowing young teens easy access, which has raised safety concerns among experts and affected individuals.
• Social media platforms like TikTok have influenced young people to self-pierce, prompting calls for warnings about the risks of at-home piercing in related content.
• Retailers such as Amazon and eBay state they comply with existing UK laws, which do not restrict the sale of these kits, while health professionals warn that infections and complications from unsterile self-piercing often go unreported or untreated.