Lip Piercing FAQ

A little, but it’s about the same as other piercings. Oral tissue is very soft and easy to go through (compared to, say, navels or ear cartilage) so many say their lip and/or labret piercings were some of their easiest to sit through.

This depends on how your body scars. Faces don’t tend to scar too severely, so on most people an abandoned piercing hole doesn’t look any worse than an old chicken pox or pimple scar—or an ear piercing with the jewelry removed. But again, this depends on your body.

A lip piercing can definitely make eating more delicate for the first few days, but it won’t force you to change too much of your diet during healing. Simply eat what is easiest.

Ideally, you should wait until you are healed to do anything involving fluids, even with a monogamous partner. You have an open wound in your mouth, so anything in your partner’s saliva or body fluids can more easily be passed to you, and your partner can also be exposed to your blood and more. Any oral sex during healing should be fluid-safe, and if you decide to kiss your partner anyway, at least have him or her rinse their mouth before and clean your mouth and piercing after.

If you bite the post hard enough, yes, but gum damage is more of a risk than tooth damage. With all lip piercings done with a post, the disc back can sometimes irritate sensitive gum tissue, or in some cases lead to gum damage or erosion. The best way to eliminate this risk is to shorten the post as soon as it’s comfortable to do so (about eight weeks after piercing). Check here for more information.

For most lip piercings, you will need to wait until you are no longer wearing braces before getting pierced. (Vertical lip piercings placed on the outside of the lip can still be done, depending on anatomy.) With traditional braces, jewelry can get snagged or stuck in the braces—especially with a new piercing that will need a longer post initially to accommodate swelling. Even more minimal styles like Invisalign® can cause complications due to the frequent need to take them out when eating, drinking, or brushing your teeth.

Regardless of their placement, all new lip piercings need jewelry with sufficient length for swelling, as they will swell quite substantially. Once the piercing is healed (between six and eight weeks) a post that is more snug-fitting can be put in.

Unfortunately, there is no way to hide this piercing during healing. Afterward there are several options, including clear quartz glass retainers and flat, matte finish titanium post ends anodized the color of different skin tones. If you absolutely have to hide this piercing, come in and we can go over your options.