Ear piercing instrument

Anear piercing instrument, also sometimes called anear piercing gun, is a medical instrument used to pierceearlobes by forcing a sharpenedstarterearringthrough theearlobe.Ear piercing instruments come in both disposable and reusable models, are are of primarily two different designs.

The traditional design is built around a spring that stores potential energy when theear piercing instrumentis pulled into the cocked position. Pre- sterilized starterearrings, known asstuds, are typically provided in pairs by the manufacturer in sealed plastic containers. One of the starterearrings is loaded into a receiving tube in the cocked portion of the instrument, and its matching friction back is loaded into a holder closer to the main part of the instrument. Theearlobeos inserted between these two parts of the instrument, and the [[trigger] is squeezed, releasing the spring, and causing the instrument to close with considerable pressure, forcing the sharpenedearringthrough theearlobe, and engaging its post into the friction back.

The newer design uses a similar concept, however, instead of using potential energy stored in a spring to force the starterearringthrough theearlobe, energy is provided directly by the operator through a hand grip. This provides an additional level of control.

Ear piercing instrumentsare designed to pierce using 20 or 18 gaugeearrings, normally made out of surgical steel, 24 kt. gold plated surgical steel, 14 kt. gold, or titanium.

Yhese instruments have become controversial due to the difficulty (or impossibility) or properly cleaning the reusable models, and the use ofear piercing instrumentsfor piercing body parts for which they were never designed, such as ear cartilage. For this reason, most professional body piercers avoid usingear piercing instruments.

See alsobody piercing.