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Ashley Hudzinski, at Genisys Body Arts in Sewickley, has numerous piercings both in her lobe and cartilage, which can take as long as 12 to 14 months to fully heal.
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What doctors want you to know about those trendy ear piercings

Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette

What doctors want you to know about those trendy ear piercings

Those carefully curated 'ear stacks' aren’t as simple, medically, as traditional lobe piercings.

In the center of Ross Park Mall, a brightly patterned wall announces that Rowan, an upscale piercing chain, is coming soon. In a piercing studio in Sewickley, business has grown nearly 60% in the last year, driven in part by demand from young girls and teens — and their moms. Thanks to social media, and celebrities such as Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift and Rihanna, multiple ear piercings are in vogue.

But those carefully curated “ear stacks” aren’t as simple, medically, as traditional lobe piercings. Experts urge both cleanliness and caution for people getting multiple piercings, particularly involving ear cartilage.

“The cartilage does present a little bit more of a challenge for healing, and if there is an infection it is more seriously considered,” said Leonard Weiss, an emergency medicine physician with UPMC. “It’s just a level up.”

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While it may seem like common sense, Weiss recommends that piercings be done only at licensed commercial establishments.

Recently, said Weiss, he has seen a couple patients in the emergency department who used “at-home” piercing guns, available on websites such as Amazon and Shein for just a few dollars, or even less. One patient had signs of an infection, he said, and another had regrets about the placement.

“That was a new discovery for me,” he said of the piercing guns. “This is a new practice where the home kits are becoming available. We’ve fortunately not seen too many incidents of trouble, but I anticipate more could arise.”

Usually, when Richard Sullivan, medical director of AHN Jefferson and Canonsburg Hospitals, sees infections and other complications, the patients either received their piercings in a home or from someone without proper training or equipment. He urges people who are interested in getting their ears pierced to ask about the experience and training levels of their piercers, as well as what their sanitation practices are.

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“They should have meticulous cleanliness. The standard is the same standard as it should be in a hospital,” he said. “They should wash their hands, put gloves on, and the equipment should be brand-new sterile or treated under an autoclave.”

At Genisys Body Arts in Sewickley, owner Zach Watson is a former operating room and U.S. Air Force nurse who has been a piercer for 17 years. He opened Genisys four years ago, and has already expanded the studio to include more piercing rooms. With sales up almost 60% this year, he is considering expanding further.

Clients will often come in with an idea they’ve seen on social media, and then devise a plan with the piercer. “We get a lot of requests for custom curation of ears,” he said. “Our staff will sit down and look at the anatomy and the structure of the ear to custom fit everything to what the client wants.”

Helix piercings in the upper cartilage are popular, said Watson, as are piercings clustered in groups of two or three around the ear. “We’ve also noticed that trends such as symmetry have gone to the wayside,” he said. “People are decorating each ear differently, with different color combinations, different piercings and different aesthetics.”

Clients need to be prepared that cartilage piercings are a long term project and can take as long as 12 to 14 months to fully heal. Traditional earlobe piercings take only four to six months.

Watson has four kids and prides himself on having a family-friendly studio, sponsoring various youth sports teams in the Sewickley area. Some of his youngest clients are bringing their moms with them — not just for consent, which is needed for those under age 18 in Pennsylvania, but to get matching piercings. “It’s getting attention from a generation that didn’t have all those options,” he said.

Larger companies are also trying to get a foothold in the piercing market once split almost entirely between tattoo parlors and mall chains such as Claire’s and Piercing Pagoda. Rowan, which is coming soon to Ross Mall Park, was founded in 2019 by a mom dissatisfied by the options for her daughter and uses only licensed nurses as piercers. Another new upscale piercing chain, Studs — with the slogan “Let’s Plan Your Earscape” — has 24 locations in 21 states, but has not yet expanded to Pennsylvania.

And while an earscape may be popular, AHN doctor Sullivan recommends patience in creating a look with many different piercings.

“It’s never a good idea to get multiple piercings through the cartilage at the same time,” he said. “I know it’s trendy and people come in with about five hoops in the ear at the top — I get it. But if one gets infected and you have all that open skin, they all get infected.”

Signs of an infection are a fever, or redness and swelling after the initial healing process. Infections in the cartilage can be difficult to treat, he said, because there is limited blood flow there to fight infection.

Still, said Sullivan, cartilage piercings are a fairly safe procedure.

“I wouldn’t have any trouble with anyone in my family getting that done,” he said. “As long as they were getting it done the right way.”

Anya Sostek: asostek@post-gazette.com

First Published: June 7, 2024, 10:57 a.m.
Updated: June 8, 2024, 1:58 a.m.

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Ashley Hudzinski, at Genisys Body Arts in Sewickley, has numerous piercings both in her lobe and cartilage, which can take as long as 12 to 14 months to fully heal.  (Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette)
Shelby McFarren shows off her many ear piercings at Genisys Body Arts in Sewickley on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette)  (Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette)
Owner Zachary Watson, a father to four kids, prides himself on Genisys Body Arts being a family-friendly studio, and has parent-child duos sometimes come in for matching piercings.  (Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette)
Lucy Schaly/Post-Gazette
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