Medical Ear Piercing

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, all non-essential services have been temporarily suspended which includes Ear Piercing Services!
These services will be re-instated as soon as possible!

Medical Ear Piercing is now available at Pediatric Care Unlimited!!

Our providers at PCU are excited to be able to offer Medical Ear Piercing to our patients. We have selected the Blomdahl Medical Ear Piercing System which is available ONLY to physicians.

Medical ear piercing in our office means that your child will receive professional care from a pediatric provider who has been trained in sterile technique and wound management.

The Blomdahl Medical Ear Piercing System uses single-use cassettes which minimizes the chance for infection at the piercing site. It also utilizes medical grade plastic and medical grade titanium studs which eliminates the risk of nickel allergy. Using this system also eliminates the possibility of patient-to-patient cross-contamination because the single-use part of the equipment never comes into contact with the skin of the patient at the piercing site.

We also offer, as an option, pre-procedure numbing cream for the ear lobes in order to minimize pain during the procedure.

Why should I use Pediatric Care Unlimited for ear piercing?

We believe that using the Blomdahl Medical Ear Piercing System, available only to physicians, provides your child with a safer and more sanitary alternative to the mall or jewelry stores. While malls and jewelers do mor piercings as a whole, their employees tend to be short-term, often with significant turnover, and they may or may not be experienced. Blomdahl is a sterile system where a disposable cartridge is replaced with every piercing and it uses medical grade plastic or titanium studs to reduce the chance of allergic reactions.

In a medical office, you have professional care from Providers trained in sterile technique and wound care management. You also have access to medical professionals for any questions, problems or concerns before, during and after the procedure. We also offer pre-procedure topical anesthesia which is not available in non-medical settings.

Age Restrictions

PCU will do ear piercing for infants age 3 months to 10 months and for children 5 years of age and older.

This ensures that infants have received their first set of vaccines, including th DTaP, and allows the ear to grow big enough for more accurate placement of the earring. After 10 months of age, children are more active making the actual piercing experience more difficult and less safe. After this age, they are also more prone to picking at the earrings making them more susceptible to infection. Infants are held in their parent's arms during the procedure and the worst part for them is when their head must be held still, and most babies cry only briefly.

For children over 5 years of age, it is important that the child has requested to have their ears pierced and the Parent/Guardian has agreed. The child needs to be able to sit still during the procedure and has to allow or participate in responsible after-care to ensure a good outcome. The child will sit beside the parent and will lean against the parent's shoulder. Teens will simply sit quietly on their own.

We will not hold an older child down for this procedure as it is an elective cosmetic procedure. The staff reserves the right to cancel a procedure if they feel for any reason, the situation may become unsafe due to the child's inability to cooperate.

Where do we pierce?

We only pierce earlobes and will only do one piercing per earlobe. We do not pierce cartilage or other body parts.

How much does it cost?

The cost is $60.00 to pierce both ears ($40.00 for one ear only). There is an additional charge of $25.00 if numbing cream is used in the office. (As an alternative, a prescription may be sent to your pharmacy for the numbing cream and you may apply it at home 30 minutes prior to arriving at the office.)

Payment is due in full when you check in for your ear piercing appointment. Since this ios a cosmetic procedure, it is not covered by your insurance and it will not be billed to your insurance.

The payment includeds the ear piercing stud made of medical grade plastic or titanium, and the cost of the ear piercing procedure by the Provider.

Ear Piercing Appointments

You may schedule an Ear Piercing Visit with our providers which would be to solely perform the medical ear piercing procedure. If you would like to use numbing cream in the office, you MUST notify us in advance so we may schedule our child for some additional time to allow the anesthesia to be effective.

You may wish to have the medical ear piercing procedure done in conjunction with a Routine Well Child Care Visit. If you desire to have your child's ears pierced at one of these visits, you MUST notify us in advance so that we may schedule your child for some additional time to have this procedure performed.

Ear piercing will not be performed during any other Sick or Problem Visits.

What are the risks of ear piercing?

Before we begin the procedure, the Parent/Guardian will be asked to sign an Informed Consent Form which reviews the risks listed below.

  • Infection --There is a risk of infection anytime the skin is broken. We reduce this risk significantly by using sterile technique. The Blomdahl Medical Ear Piercing System utilizes sterile, single-use piercing cassettes. This also eliminates any cross-contamination because only the sterile, single-use part of the equipment ever comes in contact with the skin at the piercing site. We also provide specific After-Care Instructions to keep the piercing clean and healthy during the healing process.
  • Pain --Even without numbing cream the pain is brief and similar to a vaccine injection using the Blomdahl system. Some patients may complain of a warm, flushed feeling on their earlobes after the procedure. Numbing cream is available to further reduce the pain if so desired.
  • Bleeding --There is a risk of bleeding anytime the skin is broken. However, the earlobes do not contain significant blood vessels so that this risk is minimal.
  • Nickel Allergy --Allergic Contact Dermatitis is an itchy rash that occurs when your skin comes in contact with a typically harmless substance. Nickel is one of the most common causes, and once you develop a nickel allergy, you will always be sensitive to it. Nickel is commonly used as a metal hardener and most metals used for ear piercing contain or "leak" enough nickel to trigger a potential allergic reaction. Fresh piercings allow direct and constant contact between a minor open wound and the metal which contains the nickel. However, the Blomdahl Ear Piercing studs utilize only medical grade plastic or medical grade titanium, the most superior non-allergenic metal, thereby eliminating this risk.
  • Keloids --Keloids are shiny, smooth and rounded skin elevations, which are a type of scar tissue, which can form at the piercing site in some patients after the earlobe piercing because of altered wound healing. Keloids tend to run in some families, are more likely to occur in patients with darker skin pigmentation, and generally occur in people 10 to 30 years of age.

Please inform us if your child has any health conditions that could cause excessive bleeding, difficulty fighting infections or keloid scar formation.