Rhiannon Ingle
I'm sure many of us have heard our fair share of ear piercing-related horror stories but the latest is definitely gorier than your average infection or keloid scar.
One mum was left absolutely horrified after claiming 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 ear.
Jessica Byrne and her husband, Nathan Byrne, had bought their daughter, Ava, a pair of kitten-shaped clip-on earrings from Claire's in Gloucester City Centre last month (29 December).
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Ava 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 every day 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.
However, when Jessica tried to do so, she said little Ava began to cry out in pain and her ears started to drip with blood before revealing the earrings had gouged out two holes in her ear lobes, almost piercing them.
The Gloucestershire mum recalled: "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.
"We had no idea what to do as she was crying non stop, so we took her to A&E."
Jessica continued: "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 said that they discovered that the protective cushion on the clip-on had moved and the metal clip was squeezing into her ear lobe, causing friction against her skin.
The pair were understandably shocked by what they saw and left feeling disappointed in themselves as parents.
"It was horrible," Jessica revealed. "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."
She carried on: "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 horrifying ordeal has since left little Ava incredibly sensitive about her ears, not letting her mum or dad touch them.
Despite this, however, Ava's wounds have fortunately healed better than expected and now Jessica hopes to warn other parent's about the potential dangers, advising kids to use stick-on earrings instead.
The mum-of-one explained: "It's been hard looking after her hair and her ears. They've healed better than expected but she still won't let anyone near her ears.
"We've struggled to clean her ears without it turning into a screaming fit. 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."
She added: "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."
Tyla has reached out to Claire's for comment.