Facial Piercings

The lips have been pierced, sewn together, stretched and modified for 1000s of years. Lip piercing was also adopted by the punk movement and became a piercing that was done as a rebel statement and by those who wanted to stand out from the crowd − and yes, the crowd noticed. By the late 1990s, this facial piercing was becoming increasingly popular, and it was around this time it was a common piercing for men and they began to stretch their labret piercings and experiment with both larger gauges and spikes. During the 2000s, people began to become creative with both combinations and placements, as well as names. Snake-bites, spider-bites etc. became the trend. These piercings were at first done mainly with rings, and then the labret stud took off and became the preferred choice for many. With the discreet ball at the front which could have a crystal on it, women caught on, and this piercing became popular with both men and women. As this piercing gained in popularity, so did poor placements and techniques, which lead to people having problems from the bar rubbing away the gums.

Now in 2019, this is an all-round popular piercing, with men more often to wear rings with the development of hinged rings that are easy to insert and remove for sports. There is a huge range of jewellery for this piercing, including plastic backs to help prevent damage to the gums from this piercing rubbing. This can also be prevented through careful placement and piercing techniques. At Body Pleasure Piercing, we can never guarantee that the gums will not be affected, but when considering how/where to place the piercing, it is always a consideration.

This facial piercing goes through the small amount of skin (frenum) in the centre under the top lip. Prior to the early 2000s, this piercing was known as the “scrumper”. I am guessing this name was coined during the punk movement, but as it became more popular and was often only visible when someone smiled, it was renamed the smiley piercing. This piercing can cause damage to the tooth enamel and/or the gum, so careful choice of jewellery is essential. A curved bar is often good to wear for everyday wear, changing to a circular or bead ring with jewels for occasional wear and special occasions.

This is the piercing of the upper lip in the centre below the septum. If placed well, it can look amazing. While this piercing may date back 1000s of years, its modern resurgence took place with the punk movement, with mainly men getting this in combination with other lip piercings. In the early 2000s when jewelled labrets became available, many women found this subtle touch of bling a great piercing to get. There is less variety of jewellery styles available for this facial piercing due to its placement, however in recent years with the development of internally threaded jewellery and more places specialising in fancy body jewellery, many more decorative items have come onto the market. In 2019, it is still popular among women and the piercing enthusiast male generally with multiple lip piercings. This piercing of course can also be stretched to larger gauges.

Medusa facial piercings are generally pierced with a 1.6mm (14ga) labret to begin with, as the thinner 1.2mm (16Ga) can tear the unhealed soft tissue which may cause the piercing to go crooked during the healing time. Once healed, a 1.2mm or (16ga) piece can be inserted safely.

The tongue web piercing did not really take off until the late 1990s to early 2000s in Australia. This piercing needs to be placed carefully, and while it seems to be an easy piercing to do, there are saliva ducts under the tongue that can be damaged if they’re hit. Damaged saliva ducts do not heal, and the entire duct needs to be removed with a surgical procedure. Care needs to be taken to avoid this, and so it should only be done by a professional who knows how to identify these ducts. Generally a curved bar or circular bar is put into this piercing, but a ball closure ring can be used.

Once healed, a hinged segment may also be worn.

This piercing is one of the more modern piercings. Tribes may have done it as part of their adornments with bone, wood and gold jewellery. In Australia in 2001, this piercing became hugely popular and was known as the Sara-Marie after a popular contestant on the television show Big Brother had this piercing. Since then, it has fluctuated in popularity, and as the fast trained staff in body piercing franchises popped up performing piercings with incorrectly sized jewellery and not placed well, the problems of this piercing rubbing on the gums and teeth became more common.

This piercing, like all piercings in the soft tissue of the mouth, should be done with a 1.6mm (14ga) labret of at least 10mm length to start with. This will allow for swelling and prevent the piercing from tearing during healing. Of course, placement is not something that can be learned from a blog. At Body Pleasure Piercing, we have studied the correct placement for these piercings to minimise gum damage. Placement varies for each individual and care should be taken when placing this piercing.

In 2019, this is not a hugely popular piercing, however with the new fancy labrets that are now available, I can see this piercing making a comeback in the near future.

This is a piercing generally done vertically through the pad of tissue between the labret and the bottom of the chin. It’s best done with a flexible PTFE bar and titanium balls, however spikes can be attached to the bottom for effect.
At Body Pleasure Piercing, we did our first chin piercing in roughly 1998. This was an experimental piercing that also did not take off due to the difficulty in healing it and the risk of rejection and subsequent scarring. It did heal and the client got some time with his piercing when someone tore it out in a nightclub for no apparent reason. We have done several others over the years, but I am not aware of this piercing being performed anywhere else.