Medically speaking, there is not a perfect age leaving the decision solely to the discrestion of the parents. There are many opinions and no right or wrong answer. Some think piercing an infant is easiest since an infant will not touch the earrings and learn to accept their presense if not completely grow immune to it. Some want to wait until the child is old enough to make the decision on her own. Still some believe it is a female rite of passage and wait until their daugher is 12 or 13 years old.
I got my ears pierced when I was 12 years old after quite a bit of begging. My mother thought I should be 13. She never had her ears peirced. When I had my first daughter, I allowed her to have her ears pierced as soon as she asked. She was five years old.
Yesterday, I allowed my seven and four year old daughters to have their ears periced. My seven year old had been asking and once my little one saw her get it done, she decided it was time for her also. I figured it would be easy to have both girls done at once since they could share the same routine.
I had all of them done at the mall. I had mine done at a mall. In fact, I used to have a job where I periced ears. I still remember my first time I periced ears. She was a little brown haired girl named Gloria. She was six years old. I hardly had any training other than being told to wear the glove, clean the ears, mark the ears, and how to use the ear piercing gun. I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself. I centered the earrings perfectly on all my customers. I would say a mall is an okay place to have it done. With all the pericing places cropping up, you may want to consider that instead. I have heard of people suggesting a pediatrician but I never knew one who did that.
In the end, it is your decision. I prefer to wait until four or five since I feel the child is old enough to keep hands off and help care for the cleaning. To me it is not a moral issue or a rite of passage. But, if it is significant for you then do not let anyone talk you out of it. The time is right when you say it is, momma.