Over the 15 years  in the industry all I hear and see of is bad infections caused by Claire's accessories and other high Street outlets , the use of the piercing gun should be fully banned in the UK , many professionals will not use a gun for the same reasons I'm about to list, its already banned in many countrys due the trauma and infection it can  cause to the ear, when using a gun the stud it self does the piercing where it rips the ear pushing tissue to the back of the ear causing trauma, if you have ear piercing that's done with a gun fell on the back of the lobe with jewellery removed your feel a lump,  that's the trauma caused and what your feeling is the tissue that's pushed out the way to accommodate the new jewellery, if pierced with a needle the needle is sharp enough to Pierce  the skin  without the trauma caused  like using a gun, sterilisation of the gun is always an issue I can clarify Claire's Accessories and other outlets do not autoclave their piercing guns after each client only wiped down , an autoclave kills 100% of all harmful viruses and bacteria to hospital standards, we autoclave everything down to the clamp used to hold the lobe in place, the needle method will be the same at any studio, we have had to many customers to number who have complained to us about there horror story's mainly being from Claire's, if we all pull together we can get Claire's and other outlets to stop using the gun and start using needles by fully trained body piercers in sterile areas not in front of a shop windows next to some hair clips and bottles of nail varnish remover, so all please share sign like do what you can to get as many signs as possible, so please use a professional that uses needles, a list of all your local licenced body piercers you can find on your local council Web site so please do use it, while this runs I will be doing childs ears for £15 for everyone who signs and shares, we our a  fully licensed, insured DBS checked modern  studio in Peterborough, please google freakz or Facebook for more information