Most people who book a monroe piercing have decided they want one and have not thought about which side of their face it goes on. That's the actual decision here, and it's worth five minutes rather than a shrug in the chair. Your camera roll knows which way you turn for photos. Your pillow knows which cheek you sleep on. Both of those matter more than which side is historically "correct".
Then there's height. A monroe wants to sit a few millimetres above your lip line, roughly under the peak of your cupid's bow on that side — high enough to read as a beauty mark, not so far out toward the corner that it looks like it wandered. We'll mark two or three candidates, hand you a mirror, and let you compare them properly before anything is opened.
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Five tie-breakers, in the order they usually settle it
People arrive having decided they want a monroe and not having thought about which half of their face it goes on. Then they sit down, we ask, and there's a long pause. So here's the shortcut we talk through at the counter.
The traditional naming says left is a Monroe and right is a Madonna, after two different beauty marks. Useful trivia, no bearing on anything. Nobody is going to correct you, and the side that's right for you is a practical question rather than a historical one.
Almost everyone turns the same way for a photo without realising it. Scroll back through a few dozen pictures of yourself and you'll spot your default. Putting the piercing on the side you actually show people is not a small thing.
Whichever it is, pierce the other one. Four to six months of pressing a fresh piercing into a pillow every night is a genuinely miserable way to heal, and it's the easiest variable on this list to control.
A heavy side part that sweeps across one cheek will hide a monroe on that side most of the time. Fine if that's the point. Less fine if you're paying for something you wanted people to see.
A nostril stud on the left and a monroe on the left can end up crowding each other. We'll hold a marker dot up against your existing work and look at the whole face rather than the one spot.
Upper lips are rarely even. The fuller side gives the post a bit more to sit in and tends to hold a beauty-mark look better. Marginal, but it's the tie-breaker when the first four come out level.
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Handmade in Los Angeles since 1996. Lifetime guarantee. Implant-grade gold, platinum, and titanium. Over 3,000 original designs in our case — ask your piercer for a tour.
See the BVLA story →What goes in on day one, and what you can move to once it's settled. If you'd rather sit on the midline than off to one side, the medusa page covers that; lower-lip work is on the labret page.
Implant-grade titanium, flat disc behind, cut longer than your lip currently needs because the swelling is coming. Plain end or a small stone. It'll sit slightly proud for the first couple of months and that is exactly right.
The most-chosen monroe upgrade, and the reason is scale rather than sparkle. A small stone at that spot reads as a beauty mark from across a room; anything much bigger reads as jewelry. If subtlety is the point, go smaller than you think.
Solid 14k or 18k, not plated. Plating wears through where a disc meets a gum, and then you have base metal against soft tissue. Yellow, rose and white. Worth waiting the few months and buying it once.
Hand-finished BVLA clusters and opals, for people who've decided the understated version isn't what they were after. Come and hold them against your face in the shop. Scale is genuinely deceptive on a screen.
Clear next step
We'll mark both sides and let you look. The assessment is free and you're not committed to anything by having it.
Recommended first step
Choose a facial or oral piercing appointment with clearer placement guidance.
Every piercing heals differently — here's what to expect
| Piercing Type | Location | Initial Healing | Full Healing | Pain Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Lip / Labret | Below lower lip | 6-8 weeks | 3-6 months | 3-4/10 |
5000+ clientsIn order, so you know what you're watching
If you haven't decided, we dot the left and the right and hand you a mirror. Looking beats describing, every time.
Alcohol-free antiseptic. The back of this piercing finishes inside your mouth, so we'd rather it met a freshly rinsed one.
Thickness sets the starter post length. This happens before anything is loaded, not after, and it's why your jewelry looks long at first.
Single-use needle, seal broken where you can see it. Reusable tools have already been through a hospital-grade autoclave; surfaces get an EPA-registered disinfectant between clients.
Before you stand up. Licensed and inspected by LA County, every piercer bloodborne-pathogen certified, and nobody leaves without a date in the diary for the post to be shortened.
The question we're asked more than any other on this piercing
If you wear lip colour daily, the first six to eight weeks are going to irritate you, and it's better to hear that now than to find out on week two. Product ends up in a healing channel. Lip colour migrates, balm is greasy and traps whatever it picks up, and none of it is sterile once it's been in a handbag.
So: nothing at all for the first stretch. After that, work around the piercing rather than over it. A pencil or a stiff matte formula stays where you put it; a gloss or a balm travels within minutes of being applied, which is exactly what you don't want next to a fresh hole. Clean the front end of the jewelry with saline after you take colour off at night.
There's a knock-on effect worth naming. Removing makeup means touching your face near the piercing, and hands are how most irritation actually arrives. Wash them first. That one habit does more good than any product choice on this page.
Because an off-centre piercing puts all its wear on one patch of gum
Senior Piercer Senior Piercer
Bunny Vogt, a Senior Piercer at our Los Angeles studio since 2019, specializes in facial piercings including monroe, madonna, and other lip placements. Her thoughtful anatomical mapping ensures every monroe sits naturally on your upper lip.
Founder Master Piercer
Blue Mason, our Master Piercer and studio founder, has performed thousands of facial piercings including monroes, madonnas, and medusas over 20+ years. His precision ensures every monroe lands in the right spot for your face.
There's a narrow band on each side of your upper lip where a monroe reads as intentional. Above it and the piercing looks stranded halfway to your nose; below it and it stops looking like a beauty mark and starts looking like a lip stud that slipped. Here's what we're looking at when we find that band on you.
This catches people out. A centred piercing swells symmetrically and your face just looks puffy; a monroe swells on one side only, and for two or three days you look distinctly lopsided in photographs. It's not a complication. It's one hole on one side of a face.
Care itself is unglamorous and constant. Saline outside twice a day, hands off otherwise. Alcohol-free mouthwash or saline inside after anything you eat or drink that isn't water. Soft, room-temperature food for a fortnight, no kissing or shared drinks for four to six weeks, no lip colour for six to eight. Sleep on the un-pierced side — that's the whole reason we asked which side you sleep on before choosing. And come back at 8 to 12 weeks so we can shorten the post.
Book AppointmentThree to seven days of swelling on one side only, which looks stranger in photos than it feels. Saline outside twice a day, rinse inside after anything you eat. Soft food, no lip colour, no kissing, and sleep on the other cheek. Everybody wants to poke it. Don't.
Swelling gone, soreness gone, and the piercing now feels done. It isn't, and this is where monroes go wrong: people stop rinsing after meals and start clicking the disc against a canine out of habit. Your downsize falls in this window — come and get the post shortened before that habit has anything loose to work with.
Healed for most people by now, so makeup goes back to normal and solid gold or BVLA ends are worth looking at. Threadless means the post stays and only the front changes. Come to us for the first swap; there's a knack to seating the pin and everyone drops one over a sink the first time.
We're open 8am to 8pm every day and we do take walk-ins. For a monroe specifically, the thing worth planning for isn't availability, it's the fact that you may arrive without having picked a side.
Verbatim reviews from Apollo's Google Business Profile
"Went to go change out my lip piercing and they were all very informative about the process/ care that comes with it. They also have very nice jewelry which is super important! Clean open space good vibes everyone nice & knowledgeable"
"Best piercing experience ever… super professional, clean, and comfortable from start to finish. Highly recommend requesting Bunny as your piercer… she seriously knows what she’s doing and I trust her with my life now 🫶🏼❤️🔥"
Reviews from Google · Read all 623 on Google
5000+ clients2625 Main Street, open 8am to 8pm every day of the week. If you're coming for the marking rather than the piercing, there's no need to allow much time — it's a short visit.
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 →
Starting with the one that comes up before anything else.
Four things usually settle it. Which side you photograph yourself from — check your camera roll, almost everyone has a default. Which side you sleep on, because the other one heals more comfortably. Where your hair parts and falls. And whether you already have metal on one side of your face, since a nostril stud on the left plus a monroe on the left can crowd. Traditionally the left is the Monroe and the right is called a Madonna, but nobody at the counter is checking.
There's a zone, not a point. It wants to sit above the vermilion border by a few millimetres and roughly under the peak of your cupid's bow on that side — high enough that it reads as a beauty mark rather than as a lip stud that slipped. Too far out toward the corner and it starts to look like a stray. We mark two or three candidates and let you compare them in a mirror.
Yes, that's usually called angel bites, and we'd generally do them in one sitting so they're symmetrical to each other. Worth knowing that you're then healing two oral piercings at once, with two discs against your gums and double the rinsing. Plenty of people do it. Just go in with your eyes open rather than deciding on the day.
Because only one side has a hole in it. This surprises people more than it should — a monroe puffs up asymmetrically for the first few days and your face looks lopsided in a way a centred piercing never does. It peaks around day two or three and settles. If it's still worsening after day five, or you've got thick discoloured discharge or a fever, call us.
This is the question we get most on monroes, and the honest answer is that the first six to eight weeks are annoying. Product in a healing channel is an irritant, and lip colour migrates. Leave it off entirely at first, then work around the piercing rather than over it. A matte pencil is easier to control near the site than a gloss, which travels.
It can, and because a monroe is off-centre the wear lands on a specific patch of gum above your canine or lateral incisor rather than being spread across the front. That's the argument for downsizing on schedule at 8 to 12 weeks: a post with slack rocks, and a rocking disc always hits the same spot. Tell your dentist which side it's on so they know where to look.
Different problem entirely. A medusa is about finding true centre on a face that isn't symmetrical, and getting it wrong by a millimetre shows. A monroe is about choosing a side and a height that suit the rest of your face — there's no single right answer to miss, which makes it the more forgiving of the two to place.
People generally describe it as a quick, sharp pinch that's over before they've finished bracing. The upper lip off to one side is not the most nerve-dense spot on your face. What catches people out isn't the pain, it's the swelling on days two and three.
Two to three months to feel settled, four to six for the channel to be genuinely done. The middle stretch is the risky one — it feels healed long before it is, and that's when people stop rinsing after meals and start twisting the jewelry.
With a threadless post, yes, and that's most of why they're worth the money. The post stays put and only the front end changes. Come to us for the first swap or two and we'll show you the trick of it, because the first time you try it over a sink you will drop the end.
18, with government-issued photo ID at the appointment. No parental consent route for facial piercings.
Eat properly first and drink water. No alcohol or blood thinners for 24 hours. Brush and rinse before you arrive, come with a bare lip — no colour, no balm — and bring ID. Have soft food at home for that evening, and pick your pillow side in advance.
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.
Pick your side with someone who does this daily, rather than by scrolling. It takes minutes and it costs nothing.
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