An angry mum has slammed Claire's Accessories as her seven-year-old daughter was hospitalised after she had her ears pierced at the Harlow, North London branch of the high street shop.
Lily Nisbet was taken to hospital when the back of her earring became embedded in her ear, and need scooping out with a scalpel.
Her mum, Suzie Nisbet, claims that she was informed the earrings could be changed just three weeks after the piercing, providing she used the brand's cleaning solution regularly.
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Suzie said that she religiously cleaned her daughter's lobes three times a day, but the schoolgirl was left in agony in her right ear after trying to change the jewellery.
They were convinced that the butterfly back had fallen off while Lily was asleep, meaning Suzie spent three days tugging at the piercing to get it out to clean it.
A nurse family friend took a look at her ear, and suspected that the earring back could be embedded under the skin, urging Suzie to take Lily to hospital.
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Lily spent four hours in The Princess Alexandra Hospital's A&E department in Harlow, Essex, on gas and air and under local anaesthetic to get the embedded earring back out. It took two nurses to remove the back as Lily was in so much pain.
Suzie believes Claire's Accessories didn't give her enough information about what could happen when getting the piercings.
She says she was told the piercings would heal in three weeks when using the formula, which would have been by the time Lily returned back to school.
Everything was fine until they changed the earrings for the first time, but after a week it seemed like the piercing had started to get infected.
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Suzie said: "In hospital there was nothing I could do for Lily, all I could do was hold her hand and try to make her giggle. I felt so helpless, I just felt like crying.
"I felt so guilty as I was the one who'd taken her there to get them done. If I could have gone through it for her, I would have done."
She added: "We didn't think it was possible for the back to get stuck in her ear due to the size of it and searched her bed to try and find it.
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"I couldn't push the earring back or forwards, it was absolutely horrible.
"She was screaming every time I tried to remove it, at this point I didn't realise the back was still in there, I thought the lump was an infection."
Lily's mum continued: "They gave her a local anaesthetic and then she was just puffing away on gas and air. They had to get another nurse in to hold her down as Lily kept trying to swipe her away. They tried to prise it out but it wasn't coming.
"At that point they said it was too embedded and that she would need to use a scalpel. Those 20 minutes felt like four hours, it was so traumatising for us all.
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"When the needle went into her ear it obviously really hurt her as it was so sensitive and she screamed out. She was then properly crying too, it was horrendous."
Suzie has vowed to never step foot in another Claire's Accessories store ever again, urging the chain to change the advice they give to customers who get piercings in store.
She said: "This was bad advice given by a name I trusted. I don't know why they are pushing the three-week healing process guidelines. A piercing is a wound and needs at least six weeks to heal.
"I feel very disappointed in Claire's Accessories - we were such good customers but not any more."
A Claire's Accessories spokesman said: "Our piercing procedure and all of our piercing instruments, supplies and earrings are designed to promote the safest and most hygienic piercing experience.
"The rapid after care lotion is dermatologist and paediatrician tested for the effective care of the pierced ear. Three weeks of use is an appropriate and approved length of time.
"The Rapid lotion is safe and allergy tested and it's soothing formula is skin friendly.
"If undue pain / swelling / redness occurs at any time, seek medical advice immediately. Do not remove studs before the relevant medical advice."