01 February 2024 , 11:42
1062
0
A horrified mum claims her three-year-old daughter is now too 'traumatised' to ever get her ears pierced after a pair of 'clip-ons took chunks' out of her little ears.
Jessica Byrne and her husband Nathan had bought their daughter Ava a pair of kitten-shaped clip-on earrings from Claire's in Gloucester city centre last month. The tot had been obsessed with her 21-year-old mum's earrings, so as a treat the couple decided to let her try out clip-ons for a week.
The tot wore her £6 clip-on earrings during the day for a week, but things took a turn when Jessica tucked her up in bed one night and went to take them out and Ava began to cry out in pair. The mum said she saw her ears starting to drip with blood before revealing the earrings had gouged out two holes in her ear lobes.
Ava was rushed to A&E and despite her wounds having since healed, she has now been left with a scar on both ears. Her mum claims the tot is 'traumatised both cosmetically and mentally' by the experience and she's been advised not to get her ears pierced again in future due to the experience.
Jessica, from Gloucester, Gloucestershire, said: "It was horrible trying to get them off as she was screaming in agony, at first I thought it's because she didn't want them off. Then her ear started dripping blood so I had to pin her down so she wouldn't move too much as I didn't want to cause more damage. When me and my husband got the earrings off there were two large gouges in her ear lobes that were just dripping blood to the point that we had to put a towel around her whilst applying pressure.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
The kitten earrings (Kennedy News/Claire's)"We had no idea what to do as she was crying non stop, so we took her to A&E. They said that because of how small her lobes are and because of her age that there was nothing they could do except give advice and suggestions for antibiotics if it got infected. Her ears are healed now but have two small scars that look like closed piercings."
The mum and her 32-year-old husband say the protective cushion on the clip-on had moved and the metal clip was squeezing into her ear lobe, causing friction against her skin. Jessicia and Nathan, who works at the local council on their hygiene team, were shocked by what they saw and left feeling disappointed in themselves as parents.
Her damaged ears (Kennedy News and Media)
The Byrne family (Kennedy News and Media)Jessica said: "It was horrible. I'm an overthinker, so I was overthinking everything like did I put the earrings on wrong. I hated seeing her in pain. Her pain made me cry as I thought I had hurt her and I felt like such a failure of a mum and like the worst mum ever. I had to be reassured so much that it was not my fault. My husband was more concerned about helping Ava and stopping the bleeding. He said he was disgusted that this happened. He felt disappointed that something nice ended up turning out this way and in himself for buying them."
The distressing event has left little Ava incredibly sensitive about her ears, not letting her mum or dad touch them. The mum-of-one said: "They've healed better than expected but she still won't let anyone near her ears. We've been told not to get her ears pierced as she's actually traumatised not just cosmetically but mentally as well. In all honesty this has put me off clip-on earrings and I prefer stick-on earrings now. My advice is please shop around and get the best grip-on style there is. Keep an eye out on the padding and style if you decide to buy clip-on earrings and stick to stick on earrings for younger girls."
The Mirror has contacted Claire's for comment.