Count the options on a lower lip and you get further than you would expect. Dead centre. Either side of centre, anywhere along the lip line. Two mirrored across the middle, or two stacked on one side. Or straight up through the lip so both ends stay outside your mouth. No other stretch of face gives you that much room to move, which means a lip piercing is a decision about placement long before it is a decision about jewelry.
Here is the part that gets skipped at the counter. With the exception of a vertical, every one of these finishes with a flat disc resting against your gum. That disc is fine on a post cut to your settled lip and much less fine on one that still has swelling room in it. So this page keeps returning to two things: which spot suits your face, and getting you back in around week four to shorten the post before gum recession turns into a slow decade-long story rather than a sentence on a website.
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Five ways to pierce one lip, and they do not suit the same faces
Most facial piercings have one correct spot. A nostril has a crease. A septum has a sweet spot. Your lower lip has a whole line to work along, which is why people arrive here having seen four photos they like and no idea which is which.
Start with the obvious axis: how far out from the middle. Dead centre is the classic labret and it flatters almost everyone, which is a polite way of saying it is the safe answer. Move outward and things get more particular. A side labret set a centimetre off centre reads as deliberate. The same piercing set near the corner of the mouth reads as an accident on some faces and as the best thing on the page on others. What decides it is how full your lower lip is, where the crease under it runs, and where your lower canines happen to sit, because that is what the disc on the back will be living next to for the next several years.
Then there is the vertical axis, which people forget exists. Sitting the jewelry a millimetre or two lower drops it into the shadow beneath the lip and makes it quieter. Sitting it higher pushes it up onto the lip roll where it catches light, and catches food. We look at both axes with your face relaxed rather than held in a mirror smile, because the resting face is the one other people actually see.
And then the count. One piercing, or two. Two mirrored across the centre gives you snakebites; two stacked on one side gives you spider bites. A pair is not simply twice the work. It is a matching problem, and the thing being matched keeps changing shape for the first month.
The classic labret. One post below the middle of your lower lip with a flat disc resting inside. It suits nearly every face, which is a polite way of saying it is the safe answer rather than the interesting one.
A side labret can sit anywhere from just off centre to nearly the corner of your mouth. Where it looks right depends on how full your lip is, where the crease beneath it runs, and where your lower canines sit. This is the one we mark and re-mark.
Two side labrets set the same distance out on each side. The difficulty is not the piercing. It is matching them on a face that is not symmetrical, and having them still match once the swelling has gone.
Two piercings close together on one half of the lower lip. Tighter spacing than snakebites and far more dependent on you having real room between the lip line and the crease under it.
In under the lip, out through the front of it. Both ends stay outside your mouth, so nothing rests against a tooth. Different jewelry, different heal, and the placement we point people toward when dental worry is the sticking point.
A centre labret and a side labret can coexist. So can snakebites plus a vertical. What they cannot do is all happen on one afternoon. We will sketch the finished arrangement, then tell you which piercing goes first.
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See the BVLA story →A pair is not double the piercing. It is double the heal, with a matching problem on top. For upper-lip placements see the medusa or monroe pages instead.
The single-piercing answer. One channel to heal, one post to shorten, and the easiest of the lot to hide behind a clear retainer when you need to.
Still a single piercing, but now placement is a real decision. Too far out and it strands itself near the corner; too far in and it reads as a wonky centre labret rather than a deliberate one.
Two heals at once, two posts to shorten, and one hard problem: the pair has to still look level in six months, not just on the day it is done.
A pair that stays on one half of the lip. Spacing is tight, so we need to see whether you have room between your lip line and the crease beneath it before this is on the table at all.
Counts as one piercing but shows two beads, both outside. A curved barbell rather than a flat-back post, and no disc against your gum at all. The answer to the dental question.
Clear next step
Come and have a dot drawn on your lip line. Deciding after you have seen it costs nothing.
Recommended first step
Choose a facial or oral piercing appointment with clearer placement guidance.
Lower-lip placements against their upper-lip neighbours
| Piercing Type | Location | Initial Healing | Full Healing | Pain Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lip / Labret | Below lower lip | 6-8 weeks | 3-6 months | 3-4/10 |
| Monroe / Madonna | Upper lip (left or right) | 6-8 weeks | 3-6 months | 4/10 |
| Medusa (Philtrum) | Center upper lip | 6-8 weeks | 3-6 months | 4-5/10 |
| Smiley | Upper lip frenulum | 4-8 weeks | 2-3 months | 3-4/10 |
5000+ clientsThe same sterile kit as any piercing, run in a different order, because one end of this one finishes inside your mouth
An alcohol-free antiseptic rinse first. One end of this piercing finishes inside your mouth, and we would rather it met a freshly rinsed one.
A dot goes on, you look at it head-on and in profile, and it moves if you want it moved. For a pair, both dots get checked against each other before either is final.
Not to the lip you walked in with. The starter is deliberately long, and how long depends on how thick your lower lip actually is.
Single-use, pre-sterilised, and the seal gets broken where you can see it. Clamps and forceps come out of a hospital-grade autoclave; surfaces get an EPA-registered disinfectant between clients.
Booked before you are out the door, somewhere around week four to six. That appointment is what stops a disc rocking against your teeth for the next decade.
The lip you get pierced is not the lip you will be wearing the jewelry on
Here is the bit nobody explains at the counter. A lower lip does not simply swell and then un-swell back to its starting shape. As the channel matures, the lip rolls very slightly outward around the post, the way a hem settles. That happens across the second and third weeks and it is quiet enough that most people never notice it happening. What they notice is the effect: jewelry that was obviously too long in week one is somehow still a little long in week four, and by week six it rattles.
Slack is the enemy. A post with room to move lets the disc on the back rock, and a disc that rocks spends its day tapping the gum behind your lower front teeth and taking a fraction of enamel at a time. Nothing hurts while that is going on, which is precisely why it runs for years before anyone does anything about it.
So we shorten it. Usually somewhere between week four and week six on a lower lip, later if you are still puffy. We measure the settled lip, swap in a post cut to it, and the whole appointment takes about two minutes. If you chose a vertical labret the same principle applies to the curve of the barbell rather than the length of a post.
It gets booked while you are still in the chair on day one. Turn up, get it changed, go. And if you were pierced somewhere else and nobody ever mentioned any of this to you, come in anyway. We will measure you and fit a proper post regardless of where the original piercing happened.
A hoop on day one is the request we field most, and the answer is still no
A ring is a curve passing through a straight wound. Every time you talk, drink or chew, that curve drags the channel sideways instead of letting it heal along one clean line. Worse, a ring cannot be sized for swelling the way a straight post can. Fit it to the lip in front of you and it is tight within twelve hours. Fit it large enough to survive the swelling and it swings, snags and catches on everything for two months.
So you start on a flat-back labret post, deliberately long, with a plain end on the front. You wear that through the interesting part. Once you are healed and downsized, come back and we will fit a ring with the right diameter for your lip, and it will sit the way rings are meant to sit rather than standing off at an angle.
The fee covers the piercing and the downsize. Jewelry is the part that varies.
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
Jewelry sold separately
What the fee covers: the marking, the piercing, a plain titanium starter post cut long for swelling, and the visit around week four where we shorten it. Snakebites and spider bites are the two-piercing fee whether you do them in one sitting or come back for the second. Anything beyond a plain titanium end — gems, opals, solid gold, BVLA — is priced on the piece you choose, and you can start plain and change the front later without touching the post.
Senior Piercer Senior Piercer
Bunny Vogt, a dedicated Senior Piercer at our studio since 2019, is known for her artistic eye and expertise in facial piercings. She excels at lip piercing placement and helps clients choose the perfect style for their facial features.
Founder Master Piercer
Blue Mason, our Master Piercer and studio founder since 2004, brings over two decades of facial piercing expertise. His precision ensures every lip piercing is placed perfectly for your unique facial anatomy and lifestyle needs.
Dentists are right to be wary of lip piercings, and the honest version is worth having in full rather than in one reassuring sentence. This is the risk on the page that never announces itself. It takes years, it does not hurt, and by the time you can see it in the mirror it has been going on for a while.
Cartilage asks you to leave it alone. This one asks for something more tedious. Outside is easy: sterile saline twice a day, then hands off. Inside is the part people underestimate, because a rinse is owed after everything that is not water. Coffee counts. The crisps at your desk count.
Alcohol-free mouthwash or saline after eating, after drinking anything but water, and after smoking if you smoke. Soft and room-temperature food for the first fortnight, mostly because hot, spicy, acidic and crunchy things sting rather than because they are dangerous. No kissing or shared drinks for about a month. Do not twist the post. Do not run your tongue around the disc, and above all do not click it against your teeth when you are bored, because that habit does more quiet damage than anything else on this list. Change your pillowcase more often than usual, and come back around week four to have the post shortened.
Book AppointmentYour lip swells more than you expect and peaks around day two or three. Talking feels odd. Ice in a clean cloth helps, as does an anti-inflammatory if your doctor is happy with you taking one. Soft food, cut small. If you had a pair done, the two sides will swell at slightly different rates. That is normal and not worth panicking about.
Soreness fades and the piercing starts to feel finished, which it is not. This is when the lip settles outward around the post and the jewelry develops slack. It is also when people quietly stop rinsing after meals. Your downsize falls in this window, and it matters more than anything else you will do.
The channel finishes from the inside out, so the outside looks done long before it is. Somewhere past three months for most people. That is when a ring becomes reasonable, when solid gold ends make sense, and when you should mention the piercing at your next dental cleaning so somebody starts watching that gum margin properly.
We are open 8am to 8pm every day and you can turn up. Whether that is a good idea depends entirely on which of these you are after.
Verbatim reviews from Apollo's Google Business Profile
"Amazing service and attention to detail. Bunny is so helpful and patient, she made sure I got exactly what I was looking for! Every piercing she’s done for me has healed properly - I’ve had issues with every piercing from any other I’ve hit in the past. I’ll never go anywhere else except Apollo!"
"I received great service. Upon walking in I was greeted by the owner who was well informed about the piercing I wanted. Showed me all the jewelry options that were available. Piercing was painless and quick. I will return for future services and will recommend this shop to others."
Reviews from Google · Read all 623 on Google
5000+ clients2625 Main Street, open 8am to 8pm every day. There is metered parking along Main and on the side streets running off it, so give yourself an extra ten minutes at weekends. If you are coming back for a downsize rather than a piercing, it is a two-minute visit and you do not need to set aside an afternoon for it.
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 →
Roughly the order they come up in, from the counter through to week six
More than most people realise, which is why this page exists. Dead centre under the lip is a classic labret. Move out to either side of that and you have a side labret, which can sit anywhere along the lip line as long as the tissue and your gum will take it. Two side labrets in mirrored positions are snakebites. Two on the same side are spider bites. A vertical labret runs up through the lip itself so both ends are on the outside. That is five distinct looks before you get to combinations, and no other part of the face offers that much room to move.
Not automatically, and not quickly. What causes it is a disc parked in one spot against your gum, all day, for years, on a post that is longer than your lip needs. Recession is slow and painless while it is happening, which is exactly why people do not catch it. The controllable parts: a flat disc rather than a ball, a post shortened once your swelling has settled, and mentioning the piercing to your dentist so somebody with a mirror and a light is watching that margin twice a year.
Because your lip changes shape as it heals. It swells hard in the first few days, holds some of that for two or three weeks, then settles, and the lip rolls slightly outward as the channel matures. The post you left with was sized for the swollen version of you. By week four it has slack in it, and slack is what lets a disc rock against your teeth. Come in and we will measure the settled lip and cut a post to it.
No, and it is the request we turn down most often. A ring cannot be sized for swelling, it moves in the channel every time you talk or eat, and the curve drags a fresh wound sideways instead of letting it heal straight. Start on a flat-back labret post. Once you are properly healed, which for a lower lip is usually somewhere past the three-month mark, come back and we will fit a ring with a diameter that actually matches your lip.
Both work. It depends on your tolerance for a rough fortnight. Two at once means one recovery period and both sides swelling together, which some people prefer because they settle in step. One at a time means an easier first week and a chance to see how your body handles the first before committing to the second. What we would avoid is spacing them months apart and then trying to match a fresh piercing to a fully settled one.
Very much so. Where your lip line runs, how full the lower lip is, and where your lower canines sit all move the sensible spot. On a fuller lip a side labret usually reads better set slightly further out; on a thin lip that same distance can look stranded. We mark it, hand you the mirror, and you look at it head-on and in profile before anything gets opened.
A standard labret goes in under the lip and comes out inside your mouth, so a disc lives against your gum. A vertical enters under the lip and exits through the front of the lip itself, so both ends stay outside and nothing touches a tooth. That makes verticals kinder to your dental health and harder to hide, and it changes the jewelry entirely: a curved barbell rather than a flat-back post.
Anything soft and room-temperature, cut smaller than usual so you are not opening wide onto a sore lip. Soup that is not scalding, eggs, yoghurt, pasta. What stings rather than harms: spicy, acidic, very hot, and anything crunchy enough to catch the disc. Rinse with alcohol-free mouthwash after everything except water, including coffee and including the handful of crisps you eat standing at the fridge.
A centre or side labret, mostly yes. A clear retainer sits flush and reads as almost nothing at conversational distance, and the metal goes back in on the way home. Verticals and pairs are harder to disguise because there is more of them on the outside. If concealability matters, say so at the marking stage and it will change what we recommend. For upper-lip placements, the monroe and medusa pages cover their own trade-offs.
18, with government-issued photo ID at the appointment. There is no parental consent route for lip piercings.
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.
Get the dot drawn, look at it properly, then decide. And come back at week four so we can shorten the post.
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