Pierced Ears

Blythe has been wanting to get her ears pierced. Several of her friends already had their ears pierced and I decided that at almost 11 she was mature enough to take care of them. Justin's mom Kathy was in Utah for a week taking care of her mother and wanted to know what Blythe wanted for her birthday. So we asked if she wanted to take Blythe to get her ears pierced. She agreed and so on Monday, October 12th we went to Koi Body Piercing Studio.

Justin was a little unnerved by the fact that I decided to take Blythe to an actual body piercing studio. He was worried about what she would be exposed to. However, I did my research and decided that this was going to be the safest place to have her ears pierced with the least risk of infection.

I really wish I had taken my camera along because the very pleasant young woman who pierced Blythe's ears was indeed a sight to behold. Blythe told me afterwards that she was creeped out by the woman. So Justin can rest easy that Blythe's not going to want to look like her in a few years. Her earlobes were stretched out with holes in them the size of quarters. She had jeweled studs in her cheeks and throat not mention multiple earrings and nose rings. Kathy said that at first she thought the Koi employee was wearing a brightly patterned long sleeve shirt, but then realized that her arms were completely tattooed with images of Geisha. We were however, pleased with how professional she was. I had show her Blythe's birth certificate and my driver's license.

We picked out surgical implant grade titanium studs to use for the piercing. These earrings pose no risk of causing a metal allergy in Blythe's earlobes. The piercing was done much differently from how I had mine done. There was no earring gun involved. She used a long needle and held Blythe's earlobe with a pair of miniature tongs with a triangular shaped hole in the part that gripped her earlobe. This flattened the lobe to make it easier to pierce. After inserting the needle she somehow attached the earring and it was done. Blythe said the first ear didn't hurt at all, but the second one did hurt, which surprised her. Several days later I did notice some bruising on the back of the second ear. Another thing that was different from what I expected was the after care instructions. NO rubbing alcohol and NO twisting or rotating the earrings. The only thing she does is spray them with sterile saline solution twice a day. She was also told to leave the earrings in for a minimum of two months, but preferably six months. She was told that the longer she leaves her original earrings in the better her ears will tolerate any type of metal and will be less prone to infection. She's decided that she will change her earrings on her half birthday.

Here she is.

Other ear.

Close-up of her new earring.

A really nice feature of her studs is that the back side

is a smaller ball, which is much more comfortable for

sleeping on than a traditional sharp stud back.

When she went to school the next day she wore her hair down and decided not to tell her friends, but to wait and see how long it took for them to notice her earrings. Her two best friends Madison and Kaelena noticed right away, but her friends in her class didn't notice until later in the week when she wore her hair in a ponytail.