Body piercing expert decries Alberta health standards allowing potentially harmful piercing practices

Piercing popularity is ever-growing, and it’s been estimated that 50 per cent of the international population either has or is interested in this type of body modification. But one of the most common piercing methods — piercing guns — has one expert sounding the alarm about their potential risks, despite still being permitted in Alberta. 

Originally, Alberta’s 2002 Health Standards and Guidelines recommended the use of piercing guns on “the fleshy part of the earlobe and not on other body parts.”

“What’s the difference between a lobe and the cartilage?” said Dee Hostland, a professional piercer and owner of Coven Body Arts in Inglewood. “The tissue is different and it can be a little bit of a different heal, but in the end you’re still using the same procedure.”

Conducting a piercing using a gun requires the blunt-end of a studded earring be driven through the skin. Although the procedure itself may not cause complications, the jewelry used and aftercare practiced often result in infection, according to a 2012 study in the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology.

Updating the guidelines in 2019, the Government of Alberta posted the Personal Services Standards handbook. Yet, it still allows services to be completed using a gun — the only new recommendation being that personal service workers should “follow manufacturer’s instructions” prior to performing the procedure. 

As part of an unregulated industry, piercers or body modifiers in Alberta are not legally required to attain any form of certification before offering services, so long as they complete a blood borne pathogens course and follow provincial health guidelines.  

“A hairdresser needs a license to cut hair, but anybody can jab a needle through somebody,” said Hostland. “It doesn’t really make sense.”

Piercing guns are most often used in kiosk stores located in shopping malls. Professional studios, however, “almost always pierce with a needle due to the perception that it is less traumatic,” according to a 2024 report by Public Health Ontario. 

Hostland only pierces using professional-quality needles, and advises the government to look into regulating the industry. 

She says that poor piercings are almost always done using a gun, which puts a bad rap on piercers as a whole. 

“I don’t think people look at piercing as seriously as they do any other personal service,” said Hostland. “I think they need to realize that it’s become a huge mainstream thing now.”

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