There is no fold of skin on a cheekbone. That one fact explains everything else about this piercing. A brow piercing threads through a flap you can pinch off the bone; an anti-eyebrow is a bar installed in a plane of thin skin stretched over the ridge of the zygomatic arch, held there by two small feet. The body has been given something flat to push against, and over time it often does.
So the useful thing a studio can sell you here is not enthusiasm — it's an accurate prediction. We look at how the skin lifts, how sharp the bone is under it, how much that patch moves when you smile. Then you get told which conversation this is: a cheekbone that may carry a bar for years, or one where we'd expect it to start travelling early. Some people hear that and pick a brow piercing or a dermal instead, and that's a good outcome. The surface-bar fee is confirmed at that consultation, because the bar is cut to your span rather than pulled off a shelf.
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What is actually happening under the skin, and why it behaves nothing like the piercing six inches above it
Put a finger on the outer end of your eyebrow and slide it down about an inch onto the cheek. Press. What you feel is bone almost immediately — the zygomatic arch, running back toward your ear. The skin over it is thin, tightly attached, and has no slack to speak of. That's the site.
A conventional piercing works by passing through tissue and coming out the other side, with the jewelry sitting in a channel that the body eventually lines and accepts. There's no "other side" here. A surface piercing enters, runs parallel to the skin for a centimetre or two just under the surface, and exits again — so the jewelry isn't passing through a structure, it's lodged in a layer. Every part of the body's normal response to that involves trying to resolve it, either by walking the bar toward the surface or by pushing it out entirely.
Which is why the jewelry has to be a flat surface bar rather than anything curved. A surface bar is a straight titanium span with a 90-degree rise at each end, so the buried portion sits parallel to the skin and only the two feet come up through it. Put a curved bar in the same site and the bar spends every day trying to straighten against tissue that can't win the argument — you get pressure at both openings, then thinning, then a bar sitting under a shiny strip of skin.
The people who do best with this piercing are the ones who go in understanding it as semi-permanent. Not doomed, not fragile — semi-permanent. You wear it, you enjoy it, you watch it, and at some point you may take it out on your own terms rather than the body's. Framed that way it's a good piercing. Framed as something you're installing for life, it's going to disappoint you, and no technique on earth fixes that.
Before jewelry, before price, before a marker touches your face: this is a semi-permanent piercing and you should book it knowing that. Everything else on this page follows from that sentence.
Your piercer checks how much the skin lifts, how sharp the underlying ridge is, and how much that patch moves when you smile and squint. There's no pinch test to pass here because there's nothing to pinch — the assessment is about plane and thickness.
A bar with 90-degree feet, cut to the distance between your two marks. Too long and it tents; too short and it compresses. Neither is fixable later without re-piercing, so the measurement is done before the needle.
For some cheekbones a single dermal anchor is the better answer and we'll say so, including the ways a dermal fails differently. We aren't attached to which of the two you leave with.
You'll be told what early migration looks like and told that removing it promptly leaves a smaller mark than riding it out. That's not a disclaimer, it's the plan.
Single-use sterile needle opened where you can see it, tools out of a hospital-grade autoclave, EPA-registered disinfectant, bloodborne-pathogen-certified piercers, licensed and inspected by LA County. Never a gun, on any placement.
The question everybody asks second and should ask first
Here's the honest position. We will not give you a percentage or an average, because the numbers people quote for surface piercings are invented and you deserve better than a confident guess. What exists instead is a set of factors that push in one direction or the other, and a piercer who has looked at your face can tell you roughly where you sit among them.
Things that help: skin with some substance to it rather than skin drawn tight over a sharp ridge. A bar sized correctly to the span, so it neither tents the skin nor compresses it. Low ends. A sleeping position that keeps the pillow off that side for the first several months. Leaving it alone — this piercing punishes fiddling more than almost anything else we do.
Things that shorten it: a knock, and cheekbones get knocked. A gym towel dragged across the face. Glasses whose frame corner sits on the site. Taller jewelry, because height gives things a lever, and a lever is what starts a foot moving. Sleeping face-down. And time itself, honestly — a surface piercing that has been perfectly behaved for three years can still begin to travel in year four, with nothing having changed.
What "lasting" even means is worth defining, because it isn't binary. Very few anti-eyebrows go from fine to gone. What happens is gradual: the bar span begins to show as a faint ridge, the feet sit a millimetre closer than they did, the skin over the middle takes on a shine. That can go on for a long time and then stop. Or it can continue. The decision point is yours, and it's better made early — jewelry taken out while the skin over the bar is still healthy leaves two dots and a faint line, whereas jewelry left until the body finishes leaves the split it made getting there.
We schedule nothing formal for this, but you're welcome to walk in at any point and have a piercer look at it and tell you what they see. That's a five-minute conversation and it is the whole reason to get a surface piercing at a studio that will still be here in three years. If what you actually want is something that goes in and stays, we'd rather point you at a placement that can deliver that than sell you this one twice.
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See the BVLA story →Two ways to put jewelry on a cheekbone, with different geometry, different failure modes and different removals.
Two feet showing, a flat titanium span hidden underneath, sitting on the upper cheek below the tail of the brow. It reads as a piercing rather than a floating gem. The span has to be measured to your face — the bar you get is cut for your placement, not pulled from a drawer.
One on each cheekbone, mirrored. The catch is sleep: with both healing there is no free side of your face, and pillow pressure is the main thing that walks a surface bar out. So the second one waits four to six weeks, by which point you also know how your skin handled the first.
Six inches away and a genuinely different proposition, because the brow has a fold of skin to pass through and this doesn't. If what you want is longevity more than the exact position, an <a href='/lp/eyebrow-piercing-los-angeles/'>eyebrow piercing</a> at $75 is the more durable answer, and a scar there hides under hair.
A dermal puts a small footed plate under the skin and one top on the surface, so you get a single point rather than a span. Some cheekbones take this better. It fails differently too — a knock levers the plate rather than dragging a bar. Single dermal $200, pair $400, and there's a full <a href='/lp/dermal-piercing-los-angeles/'>dermal page</a>.
On a cheekbone, height is a lever. A tall gem sitting proud of the skin gives a pillow, a towel or a pair of glasses something to push against, and every push travels down the foot into the channel. Flat discs and small low-set stones first. Taller pieces once it's settled, if it settles.
Clear next step
A look at your cheekbone and a straight prediction costs you nothing and takes about ten minutes
Recommended first step
Choose a facial or oral piercing appointment with clearer placement guidance.
Anti-brow, brow and bridge sit within inches of each other and heal on completely different terms
| Piercing Type | Location | Initial Healing | Full Healing | Pain Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anti-Eyebrow | Cheekbone surface, below outer brow | 6-8 weeks | 6-12 months | 4-5/10 |
| Eyebrow | Above the eye | 2-3 months | 6-9 months | 3-4/10 |
| Bridge | Skin across nose bridge | 2-3 months | 6-9 months | 5-6/10 |
5000+ clientsHow a surface bar appointment runs from the counter to the door
It happens before anything else and it isn't a formality. Semi-permanent, scar sits in the open on a cheekbone, removal is part of the plan. If any of that changes your mind, this is the cheapest moment to change it.
How much the skin lifts off the zygomatic ridge, how sharp that ridge is under it, how much the area moves when you smile. This is the step that produces a no often enough that we mean it when we say it.
Two marks, then the distance between them measured, then a flat bar with 90-degree feet chosen or ordered to match. A bar that doesn't fit the span is the fault you cannot correct afterwards.
Single-use and pre-sterilized, seal broken where you can see it. Tools out of a hospital-grade autoclave, surfaces wiped with EPA-registered disinfectant, piercers certified in bloodborne pathogens. Never a gun.
The needle travels the span parallel to the surface at a consistent depth, and the bar follows it. Depth that wanders along the pass is what produces one foot sitting proud and one sunk.
You leave able to recognise a bar showing through, feet drifting together, or skin going shiny — and knowing that acting on those quickly is what keeps the mark small.
The jewelry is not an accessory to this piercing — it is most of the engineering
Take a paperclip and bend both ends up at right angles. That shape, in implant-grade titanium, is a surface bar. The long flat middle is the part that lives under your skin, running parallel to the surface. The two short uprights are the feet, and only the very tops of those are visible with an end threaded onto each.
Every dimension matters and they matter independently. The span — foot to foot — has to equal the distance between your two marks. Run it long and the skin tents up over the middle, which puts a permanent lift into tissue that should be flat and gives the body an obvious thing to resolve. Run it short and the feet pull toward each other, compressing the skin between them, which does the same job faster. This is why we measure your face before choosing a bar rather than after.
The rise — the height of each upright — sets how far the ends sit off the skin. Too short and the end presses into the surface as soon as there's any swelling, which embeds it. Too tall and you've built yourself a lever: anything brushing the top of that end transmits force straight down into the channel. Rise gets set for how much you're likely to swell and then reconsidered once you haven't.
Gauge is usually 14g or 16g here. Heavier than people expect, and deliberately so. A fine bar concentrates all the tissue pressure onto a small cross-section, which is how you get a bar that cheese-wires slowly upward through the skin over a year. More metal spreads the load.
Ends stay flat and low for the healing period. Discs and small set stones, not raised gems and never spikes. Once the piercing is genuinely settled, threadless tops and solid gold ends become an option and we'll fit them here rather than have you wrestle with a surface bar at home — the feet are not designed to be gripped, and the usual result of a DIY change is a bar that gets rotated in its channel.
The daily mechanics that decide which of the two lifespans you get
Sleep is the big one and nobody wants to hear it. Eight hours a night with a pillow pressed against both feet of the bar is a longer, harder load than anything the piercing meets during the day, and it happens every single night for months. Side sleepers who go straight back to their preferred side are the ones who come back at month three wondering why the skin over the bar has gone shiny. Sleep on the other side, sleep on your back, or use a travel pillow with the opening positioned over the piercing. It's an unglamorous solution and it works.
Glasses next. It isn't the arm at the temple that causes trouble, it's the lower corner of the lens or the frame on larger styles, which on some faces lands within a few millimetres of the site. Hold your glasses up and look at where the bottom outer corner sits relative to your cheekbone before you get pierced. Sunglasses shoved up onto the head and then dragged back down are the other classic — that motion sweeps the frame right across the area.
Then the small repeated stuff. Towelling your face dry after a shower rather than patting. A gym towel over the shoulder that catches an end. Foundation applied with a sponge worked in circles over the site. Sleeping with a hand tucked under the cheek. Face-down massage tables. None of these is dramatic on its own; the point is that a surface piercing has no tolerance for the accumulation, in a way that a lobe genuinely does.
The timeline, roughly. Week one is bruising and swelling, sometimes down toward the lower lid. Weeks two to six, that settles and the piercing gets quiet, which is when people relax and go back to sleeping on it. Around week four to six we may want to adjust the rise now that the swelling is gone. Months two through six is the real healing, and it is uneventful if nothing keeps knocking it. From six to twelve months you're consolidating. After that you're simply wearing it, and watching for the ridge.
Aftercare itself is almost boring by comparison: sterile saline twice a day, pat dry with a clean paper towel, and keep skincare, sunscreen and foundation out of the two openings. No twisting, ever — there's nothing to rotate and rotating a surface bar is actively destructive. Most of the outcome here is decided by pressure, not by cleaning.
One of these has a fixed number and one genuinely doesn't
The surface-bar fee is confirmed at your consultation. That isn't evasion — a surface bar is cut to the span between your marks, and until someone has looked at your cheekbone and measured it there's no honest number to print. You'll have the figure in hand before anything is booked, and the assessment itself costs you nothing whether or not you go ahead.
Dermals do have a set price, because a dermal anchor is a standard piece rather than a made-to-span one. A single dermal is $200. A pair is $400. Jewelry is separate from the service fee in both cases, so the top you choose is your decision rather than a bundled markup. If the assessment ends with us recommending a dermal on that spot instead of a surface bar, those are the numbers.
Worth saying plainly: a brow piercing at $75 is the cheaper and considerably more durable neighbour, and for some people it's the right call once they've heard the surface-piercing conversation in full. Nobody here is going to push you up the price list.
Senior Piercer Senior Piercer
Bunny Vogt, Senior Piercer at our Los Angeles studio since 2019, takes anti-eyebrow piercings seriously — including the honest conversations about migration risk and anatomy fit that come first. She'll recommend alternatives like dermals when they'd hold up better for your face.
Founder Master Piercer
Blue Mason, our Master Piercer and studio founder since 2004, brings 20+ years of surface piercing experience to every anti-eyebrow appointment. His honest counsel and precision technique give surface piercings the best possible chance for long-term retention.
More talking than most piercings and less time under the needle than you'd guess. The order matters, because the point of the first two steps is to give you a real chance to change your mind.
The cleaning half of this is trivial and takes ten seconds twice a day: sterile saline on both feet, pat dry with a clean paper towel, walk away. Never twist it. A surface bar has nothing to rotate and turning it grinds the buried span sideways through tissue that's trying to line it.
The pressure half is where the work is. Off that side when you sleep, for months, not weeks. Skincare and sunscreen applied around the feet rather than over them, because product packed into a surface opening sits there. Foundation dabbed, not buffed in circles. Glasses checked for where the outer lens corner lands. Face patted dry rather than towelled.
And keep a periodic honest eye on it. A ridge appearing along the span, the two feet a fraction closer together, shiny pale skin over the middle: those are the signals worth acting on, and acting early is what keeps the eventual mark to two dots rather than a line. You can walk in and have a piercer look at it any time — that's not an imposition, that's the service.
Book AppointmentSwelling with nowhere to go but out and down, so bruising across the upper cheek and sometimes into the lower lid. It looks alarming and it isn't. Saline twice daily, paper towel to dry, nothing else on the skin. Sleep on the other side starting tonight, because this is the habit that has to hold for months.
The bruise clears, the soreness fades, and the piercing feels finished. It is nowhere near finished. Come by so we can reassess the rise now that the swelling has gone — an end that was sitting correctly at week one may be too tall or too close now. Stay out of pools and the ocean, and stay off that side at night.
Six to twelve months to a settled surface piercing, and then an open-ended period of simply wearing it. This is the piercing that can start moving in year three with nothing having changed, so the checking habit stays. Once it's genuinely settled, gold ends and threadless tops are on the table — fitted here, not at your bathroom mirror.
You can walk in and we'll happily look at your cheekbone between appointments. But a surface bar is the piercing where the conversation is the product, and a conversation squeezed into a gap is a worse conversation. Book it and you get an unhurried assessment, a measured span, and time to hear the lifespan discussion without a queue behind you.
Verbatim reviews from Apollo's Google Business Profile
"Stopped by Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio today because I needed a new piece of body jewelry for one of my piercings, and I'm so happy I did. The place is seriously beautiful. It's spotless, has a really relaxing atmosphere, and definitely doesn't feel like your typical tattoo shop. Their fine jewelry is incredible. I completely fell in love with a couple of white gold and diamond pieces, but after a little internal debate with my bank account, I decided to hold off for now. It wasn't an easy decision, but it gives me something to look forward to. Safe to say I'll be back... probably sooner than my bank account would like. 😂 I wish they had an exclusive credit card or some sort of financing available (like Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna, etc.) because I would have definitely walked away with the piece I wanted. How else does anyone obtain a 784 credit score living in SoCal?! A super huge shoutout to Blue for taking such excellent care of me! Super friendly, knowledgeable, and his eye and expertise in body art made the whole process quick and easy. As I said earlier, they haven't seen the last of me yet because they'll help me get to my goal with my diamond collection and tattoos! #apollotattooandpiercingstudio #tattoo #losangeles #santamonica #lexjournichles #bodyart #piercings #hiddengem #diamond #bodyjewelry"
"Needed a replacement for one of my body jewelry pieces, and Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio absolutely came through. They opened at 8 a.m. and genuinely saved the day. This has to be one of the best tattoo and piercing studios in Los Angeles. From the moment I walked in, I was struck by the elegant, relaxing, spa-like atmosphere. The studio is beautifully designed with a Greek-inspired theme, featuring a clean white-and-gold color palette, tasteful Greek statues, and great music that perfectly set the mood. More than once I had to remind myself I was in a tattoo and piercing studio! Their jewelry selection is simply stunning. While they do offer standard surgical-grade stainless steel jewelry, what truly sets them apart is their incredible collection of solid yellow and white gold pieces featuring genuine gemstones and diamonds. These are the exact kinds of beautiful, high-quality pieces I've been searching for. A few months ago, I told myself I wanted to slowly upgrade my ear piercings with delicate diamond jewelry, so discovering Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio felt like fate. What will keep me coming back, though, is the staff. Everyone was kind, welcoming, respectful, and highly professional. They truly strive for excellence. My piercer, Blue, immediately made me feel comfortable and at ease. His knowledge, experience, and confidence were evident, and he took the time to answer my questions while making the entire experience feel safe and relaxing. It was good to know that he also tattoos, as well - truly an artist. If you're looking for exceptional service, a luxurious atmosphere, and some of the most beautiful body jewelry you'll find in Los Angeles, I can't recommend Apollo Tattoo & Piercing Studio enough. This place has definitely earned a lifelong customer. With that being said, "You're my boy, Blue, you're my boy.“ #youremyboyBlue #apollo #tattoo #artist #bodyart #bodyjewelry #fineart #apollotattoo&piercingstudio #studio #santamonica #at&ps #mortimerthebear #highlyinlove #lexjournichles"
"When I walked in the shop, it was such a clean and bright space, I felt like this was the place I needed to get my first tattoo. While I didn't have a reservation scheduled, David immediately came up and asked what I was interested in getting (a panel from Watchmen on my shin) and right away he got to work on the stencil. In the mean time, I had the piercer size up my septum piercing, which went really well. Through the entire process, David had a very steady and VERY light hand. I was nervous for my first tattoo to be on my shin because I heard they are horribly painful, but his technique and his precision to achieve the best possible outcome really made the "first tattoo" experience one I'll never forget. Another thing that I really enjoyed from my experience were the absolutely STELLAR photos and video that the photographer (I can't remember her name) shot and edited. Watching that video now, along with seeing the healed and finished tattoo, 4 months out, makes me want to come back immediately and get more work done! I also want to shout out everyone else that works at Apollo because everyone was super friendly and helpful with anything I asked or needed help with. I recommend Apollo to absolutely anyone and everyone in/around/visiting (I'm from Ohio) Santa Monica, CA if they want AMAZING work done!"
Reviews from Google · Read all 623 on Google
5000+ clients2625 Main St, Santa Monica — Ocean Park end of Main, a short walk from the beach. Street parking runs along Main and the residential blocks behind it toward Neilson Way. Open 8am to 8pm every day of the week, which matters more than usual with this piercing: if a bar starts showing through and you want it looked at, there is almost always an hour that works.
Santa Monica, CA
Apollo was founded by Blue Mason in 2007. With 20+ years of body art experience, Blue brings master-level expertise to every piece. Read Blue's story →
Lifespan, candidacy, scarring, sleeping and what a surface bar is doing under there
Nobody can give you a number, and be careful with anyone who does. What we can tell you is the shape of it: an anti-eyebrow is a true surface piercing on skin stretched over the cheekbone, and surface piercings are semi-permanent by nature. Some sit happily for years. Plenty have moved noticeably inside the first two. Treat it as jewelry you are borrowing rather than something you are installing, and the whole experience makes more sense — including the decision about when to take it out.
Because there is no fold. A brow piercing goes through a pinchable flap of skin that lifts away from the bone. The cheekbone below the outer brow has no such flap — it's a thin layer of skin over the bony ridge of the zygomatic arch, so the bar has to be installed in a plane rather than threaded through a lift of tissue. That plane is what the body slowly pushes against. Same face, completely different mechanical problem.
Skin that's thin enough that you can see the bone contour clearly. A very sharp cheekbone with the skin drawn tight over it. A face that's extremely expressive in that area, since the orbicularis muscle around the eye is doing a lot of work every time you smile or squint. Existing scarring on the site. And the biggest one, which isn't anatomical: wanting something permanent. If the honest lifespan of this piercing is a dealbreaker, you are not a candidate, and it costs nothing to establish that at the counter.
A surface bar — a flat titanium bar with a 90-degree rise at each end, so the part under the skin lies parallel to the surface and only the two feet come up through it. A curved bar in a surface site is constantly trying to straighten itself against the tissue, and the tissue is what loses. The flat geometry gives the body nothing to lever against, which is the closest thing to a solution the trade has for surface piercings. Implant-grade ASTM F136 titanium, low-profile ends.
The fee for a surface bar is confirmed at the consultation rather than quoted here, because the assessment genuinely comes first and the bar has to be sized to your placement. If we end up recommending a dermal on that spot instead — which happens — a single dermal is $200 and a pair is $400, jewelry separate. You'll have the number before anything is booked.
Different rather than worse. It's a fast, sharp pass through thin skin, over in a couple of seconds. What surprises people is the first week: bruising across the upper cheek and toward the lower eyelid is common because there's nowhere for the swelling to go except out and down. It can read as a shiner for a few days. That fades and then the piercing is fairly quiet.
Typically two small dots with a short line of pale, slightly textured skin between them, roughly the length of the bar, on an area of the face that is not covered by hair. That last part is the honest difference from a brow: a brow scar hides under hair, a cheekbone scar sits in the open. It softens considerably over a year or two. Taking the jewelry out at the first sign of movement, rather than waiting to see, is the single biggest factor in how the mark ends up looking.
A surface bar has two feet and a visible bar span, so it reads as a piercing. A dermal is one anchor plate under the skin with a single top on the surface, so it reads as a gem sitting on your cheek. Neither is more permanent than the other in any meaningful sense; they fail differently. Surface bars tend to migrate along the plane. Dermals tend to get knocked and lever the plate. Removal is also different — a dermal anchor is removed by a piercer, not by you.
The bar span starting to show as a ridge under the skin rather than sitting invisibly. The two feet drifting closer together. Skin over the bar going shiny, pale, or thin enough to see the metal colour through. Soreness that had settled and has now come back and stayed. Come in when you see any of it. We'd much rather look at something that turns out to be fine than have you wait it out for two months.
Not while it's healing, and that's harder than it sounds. A pillow presses directly on both feet of the bar for hours at a stretch, which is exactly the sustained pressure a surface piercing can't tolerate. Side sleepers should plan to sleep on the other side or on their back for the first several months, and a travel pillow with the hole positioned over the piercing is a trick that works better than you'd expect.
Symmetrical pairs look good and we'll do them, but not on the same day. Two healing surface piercings and only two sides of a face to sleep on is a losing arithmetic problem. Get one placed, give it four to six weeks to prove it's settling, then decide about the second with real information about how your skin handled the first.
Apollo requires clients to be 18 or over for facial piercings including anti-eyebrows, with valid government-issued photo ID at every appointment. We follow APP guidelines and California regulations.
Apollo sits at 2625 Main St in Santa Monica, a block from the beach and easy to reach from anywhere on the Westside. Here's roughly how long it takes to get to us for tattoos and piercings:
There's metered street parking on Main Street and Ocean Park Blvd, plus a public lot on 2nd Street a short walk away. We recommend giving yourself an extra 10 minutes to park on weekends — Main Street gets busy with the farmers market and beach traffic. If you're running late, text us at the studio and we'll hold your appointment.
Blue Mason, our founder and Master Piercer, is Fakir-certified and has been in this trade since 2007; Bunny Vogt has been a senior piercer here since 2019. Surface work is where experience shows up as restraint rather than as technique. If your cheekbone can carry a bar you'll get one placed and sized properly. If it can't, you'll hear that instead — and there is no version of this where you find out afterwards. 4.9 stars across 623+ Google reviews, 2625 Main St, Santa Monica.
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