Is it true that you can have half of your face paralyzed if a piercer hits a nerve ending in your ear?

Question

I heard that can happen. I'm getting my ear pierced today on my cartilege and I was just wanting to make sure... I've had it done before but the piercer didn't pierce it quite right.

Answer 1

hahahahah NO!  

Answer 2

No but if you get it done unhygienically (ie. Claire's, piercing pagoda, guns in general) and let an inward traveling infection get out of control (and now we're talking minute chances, you would most definitely know about that infection way before it got serious) you can end up with bells palsy which is basically where an infection attacks the facial nerves and, if not treated, can totally knock them out

ETA: I hate to break it to you Cheryl but wiping down /= sterile, it barely counts as sanatization. The hygiene standards at Claire's are pretty non existent as, due to the size of the company, they get off scott free when it comes to health department regulations. Stud guns are impossible to sterilize, their employees don't even bother washing their hands and I somewhat doubt they've even heard of an autoclave, let alone had any contact with one. You might find this interesting: http://www.compunction.org/guns.txt

Answer 3

No it is not true. The piercings on the cartilaginous part of the ear are more prone to infection though. My daughter had her ears pierced at Claire's and they had excellent sterile technique.