Mum blasts Claire’s after her daughter’s piercing had to be ‘dug out’ of her infected ear and left her on sepsis watch’

A MUM has hit out at Claire’s Accessories after claiming her daughter’s ear piercing became so infected it had to be ‘dug out’ and she was left on sepsis watch.

Katy Jordan treated 10-year-old Isabelle Whitaker to the £45 piercing for her birthday, but a week later she ended up screaming in pain and on antibiotics.

Katy, 36, says despite following the strict aftercare routine of cleaning Isabelle’s ears with solution every day, her right ear became inflamed and infected.

The nursery deputy manager says she found a “ball of infection” after she performed a “mini operation” to dig out the stud, which was buried in her daughter’s ear.

Katy, from Keighley, West Yorks, said: “Isabelle’s birthday treat ended up with her at the doctors on antibiotics and me on sepsis watch through the night. I didn’t sleep at all that night.

“She put her on a high dose of antibiotics and told us the warning signs for sepsis.

“The doctor said I needed to be aware that if she started struggling for breath or her temperature rocketed I needed to take her to A&E.

“Thankfully the antibiotics worked but it could have been a lot worse. If I hadn’t taken her to the doctors that day, you don’t know what could have happened.”

Katy claims the staff member at the Keighley branch was going between piercing and serving customers – keeping the same sterile gloves on.

The mum-of-two says they were waiting for 20 minutes to be served, and Isabelle’s piercing took a further 20 minutes.

Isabelle picked turquoise studs – her favourite colour – in the hope she could show them off at her dance competition.

She complained about having a sore ear which Katy thought was due to the piercing itself, but days later Isabelle’s ear was still hurting.

Katy said: “We cleaned the piercing morning and night but the right earring wouldn’t twist as it was on too tight.

“The back was pushed into the skin so when it started to heal the skin was trying to heal over the earring.

“We used salt water on it too because it started to look a bit swollen and it looked as though the back was pushing into the skin.”

“We hoped it would go down and sort itself out. Isabelle didn’t want me to take it out as she didn’t want to have just one earring in because she said it would look strange.”

Katy realised the piercing was becoming infected and needed to come out.

But she claims removing it was “horrific”, saying: “She was really upset and she obviously screamed when I pulled it out, it was absolutely horrific.

“I had to dig the earring out from under the skin using a cotton bud and some of the aftercare lotion.

“I had to scrape the skin off the front of the ear until we could see the head of the earring, it was like doing a mini operation at home.

“It took 15 minutes as I had to take out a little bit of skin at a time. She was screaming – it was so awful and upsetting.

“When I took the earring out she had a big ball under her skin of what looked like dry infection or a scab, I don’t know what it was.

“The infection had already started to spread before I took the earring out but it got worse and worse after.

“The infection was all down the back of her ear, the front of her ear and going into her ear as well.

“At some point, while she’s been asleep or her hair’s been down, and it’s obviously got caught in there – in the scab there was a bit of hair in there too.

“The skin had also grown over the front of the earring – in pictures it just looks like skin but I know under that there was an earring.

“Who knew an ear piercing could end up in such a disaster?”

She took Isabelle to the GP the next day, who gave the schoolgirl a strong dose of antibiotics.

Isabelle left the other earring in but is now wary of getting her right ear re-pierced.

She said: “It was really exciting to see the earrings in my ears afterwards but soon it felt really bad and really hurt.

“I felt a bit scared but then the antibiotics made me feel better.

“My right ear is feeling ok now but I’m feeling a little bit scared about getting it pierced again.”

Katy claims she’s been to the store three times and demanded a refund or compensation for her daughter’s trauma.

A Claire’s Accessories spokesperson said: “The safety and well-being of every Claire’s customer is our absolute priority.

“We are investigating this matter and have reached out to Ms Jordan to discuss her concerns.”

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