Piercing Minors

Legal and Ethical Concerns with Piercing Minors

I am completely confident in making the statement that every piercing shop gets requests, often on a daily basis, to do various body piercing procedures on minors. Most shops have policies in place which determine how they handle such requests and what conditions need to be met before they will do any body piercing on a minor. These policies vary to a huge degree and can be influenced by both local laws as well as the ethical concerns of the owners and practitioners at the studio.

Legal questions should of course be the first concern when determining the policy of a particular shop and since the law varies considerably in different locaities throughout the country each shop will need to find out what laws apply in their area and strictly comply with all statutory and regulatory requirements.

Legal issues aside, shops should also take into consideration various ethical concerns which can affect not only their own business, but the industry as a whole. A good place to start when making ethical decisions related to the piercing of minors is the fact that in addition to being “under age”, young bodies are still growing and even a properly done piercing which heals with no trouble and appears perfect now can, with time, become crooked or otherwise less than desireable as the young person’s body grows.

Of course, there are other concerns when deciding when to pierce and when not to pierce a person who is considered a minor. Please post your thoughts and your shops policy on this question.