Piercing Prices: How Much Does a Piercing Cost?

The ranges below are general Los Angeles market guidance for reputable needle studios, not Apollo's flat rates — your exact price depends on the jewelry you choose and your anatomy. At most professional studios the piercing fee and the jewelry are priced separately: the lower end of each range usually reflects implant-grade titanium, and the higher end reflects solid 14k/18k gold or a gem end. Mall or kiosk "gun" prices are deliberately left off — that's a different (and riskier) service, not a cheaper version of the same one.

Apollo's piercing prices (service only)

These are our actual service fees, straight from our booking system. Jewelry is priced separately and is always your choice — an implant-grade titanium end and a solid-gold BVLA piece can differ by $100+ on the very same piercing. We quote the full number in person, before anything happens.

Ear

Service	Price
Single or double lobe	$75
Kid / teen, single or double ear	$75
Helix or forward helix	$75
Conch, tragus, rook or daith	$85
Industrial	$125
Triple ear	$175
Tandem ear (two piercers, side by side)	$125

Face & oral

Service	Price
Nose, single lip, eyebrow or bridge	$75
Septum	$85
Double lip	$125
Tongue	$100

Body

Service	Price
Navel	$75
One nipple	$75
Double nipple	$125
Single dermal	$200
Double dermal	$400

Specials

Special	Price	What you get
Two piercings	$75	Both lobes in one sitting — single-use needles, implant-grade starter jewelry priced separately.
The Curated Ear — up to four piercings	$99	Online-only reservation. Up to four ear piercings in one sitting (four is the max), placement planned to your anatomy.

Genital and intimate piercings are $200 and are booked by consultation only. Every price above is the service fee only; jewelry is quoted in person, exactly, before we start — the number you hear is the number you pay.

*General market ranges for professional needle piercing in the LA area, jewelry included at the lower grade. They are not a quote. Apollo prices each piercing exactly at consultation based on your jewelry and anatomy — book a consultation or call to confirm.

A few things move the number, and none of them are arbitrary:

• Jewelry material and quality — implant-grade titanium (ASTM F-136), solid 14k/18k gold and niobium cost more than the plated "surgical steel" sold cheaply, because they're biocompatible and won't leach nickel into a healing wound. This is the single biggest factor, and our piercing safety statistics page sets out what those standards specify and why "surgical steel" corresponds to no standard at all.
• The piercer's training — a Fakir-certified, bloodborne-pathogen-trained piercer with years behind the needle places a piercing that heals straight and lasts. Experience isn't free, and it's the thing you'll be most grateful for.
• Sterilization and single-use supplies — a hospital-grade autoclave, single-use needles, and a fresh setup for every client cost money per piercing that a gun-and-stud kiosk simply doesn't spend.
• Placement difficulty — a surface or dermal anchor, or a precise multi-piece cartilage project, takes more skill and time than a standard lobe.
• Aftercare and follow-up — a real studio builds a free downsize and check-ins into the price so your piercing settles cleanly.

At a professional studio, the price reflects everything you can't see on the way in: implant-grade or solid-gold jewelry sized long for swelling, a certified piercer who marks and checks placement with you, a fresh sterile needle and setup, an autoclave and a licensed, inspected studio, and a downsize visit built in. You're not paying for a piece of metal — you're paying for a piercing that heals correctly the first time and jewelry your body won't fight.

Here's the part most people never consider: even when a studio uses good jewelry, leading with discounts and coupons is itself a signal. A business that competes on price is telling you price is its main advantage — that it needs to undercut to win clients rather than letting the quality of the work bring them in. Great piercers stay booked because of how their work heals and looks, not because of a punch card or a flash sale. At Apollo we'd rather quote you honestly and earn the appointment with craft than train you to wait for the next deal. A fair, steady price is part of how you know the service behind it is fair and steady too.

What moves the price within each popular piercing — and where to read the full guide:

• Ear & cartilage — lobe, helix, tragus, conch, rook and daith. Driven mostly by jewelry choice; cartilage must be done with a needle, never a gun. See our ear piercing shop in LA for the full menu.
• Industrial — two cartilage points joined by one barbell, so it's effectively two piercings; it also depends on your ear having the right anatomy to support the bar.
• Nostril & septum — jewelry (titanium vs. gold, stud vs. ring) and the precision of the placement.
• Navel — the curved barbell quality decides most of it; gem ends and solid gold sit at the top of the range.
• Nipple — a correctly sized implant-grade barbell and an experienced piercer matter more here than anywhere; cheap nipple piercings reject and scar easily.
• Lip & labret — flat-back labret jewelry quality and material; solid gold runs higher than titanium.
• Dermal & surface — these need a skilled piercer and a quality anchor, and are the most likely to reject when done cheaply, so the price reflects the difficulty and the follow-up they require.

If you have sensitive skin or a nickel allergy, the metal grade matters even more — see our sensitive-skin jewelry guide. Prefer a Westside studio? We cover the whole process on our piercing in Santa Monica page. For an exact quote on any piercing, book a consultation or call us — we'll show you the jewelry options and price it on the spot.

A piercing is a small surgical procedure, and the person holding the needle is the product. A rock-bottom price almost always means one of two things: an inexperienced piercer building a portfolio, or a high-volume shop moving people through as fast as possible. Neither is what you want a needle-and-your-anatomy decision riding on. Steady hands, anatomical judgment and a clean, unhurried appointment are exactly what a fair price pays for — and exactly what gets cut to hit a bargain number. A piercing placed correctly the first time, by someone who has done it tens of thousands of times, is the cheapest one in the long run.

Half of what you pay for is the jewelry sitting in a fresh wound for months — so its quality isn't cosmetic, it's medical. Cheap body jewelry is typically mass-produced from uncertified, low-grade alloys — often "surgical steel" that still contains nickel, or plated base metal — with no mill certificate proving what it's actually made of. Those metals leach into a healing piercing and drive irritation, prolonged swelling and rejection. Quality jewelry is implant-grade titanium (ASTM F-136), solid 14k/18k gold or niobium, with documentation to back it up. The price gap between the two isn't markup — it's the difference between metal your body accepts and metal it fights. If a studio can't name the material grade or show a mill certificate, the low price is the tell.

Price-shopping a piercing is where people get hurt — literally and financially. A bargain piercing usually means low-grade jewelry, a gun instead of a needle, or an undertrained piercer, and the savings vanish the moment something goes wrong:

• Rejection and migration — poorly placed or low-quality jewelry gets pushed out by your body, leaving a scar.
• Infection — non-sterile tools and nickel-heavy jewelry are a recipe for an angry, infected piercing.
• Scarring and re-dos — a botched angle often can't be re-pierced for months, and fixing it costs more than doing it right once.

The cheapest piercing is frequently the most expensive one, because you pay twice: once for the bad piercing and again to correct it.

A mall or pharmacy "ear piercing" is cheap for one reason — it's done with a spring-loaded gun, not a needle. Guns can't be fully sterilized (the plastic housing can't go in an autoclave) and they pierce by blunt force, crushing tissue rather than passing cleanly through it. On cartilage that's especially damaging and can shatter it. A professional needle piercing costs more than a kiosk and is worth every dollar of the difference: a sterile, single-use needle makes a clean channel that heals far better.

Whatever studio you choose, these questions separate a safe piercing from a risky one:

• Do you pierce with a single-use needle (never a gun)?
• Is the starter jewelry implant-grade titanium or solid gold — and can you show the mill certificate?
• Do you sterilize with an autoclave, and are you licensed and inspected?
• Is your piercer certified and trained in bloodborne pathogens?
• Is a downsize or follow-up included?

If a price seems too good to be true, the answer to one of these is usually no.

Every piercing at our Santa Monica studio is done with a single-use sterile needle — never a piercing gun, which can't be sterilized and crushes cartilage. We install only implant-grade titanium (ASTM F-136), solid 14k/18k gold, or niobium, placed and checked by a Fakir-certified senior piercer. Your fresh jewelry is sized long for swelling, and a downsize follow-up is built into every piercing so it settles cleanly.

Why don't you list one flat price for every piercing?

Because the jewelry is half the price and it's your choice. A titanium flat-back and a solid-gold gem end can differ by $100+ on the same piercing. We quote the full number in person, before anything happens.

Is a cheap mall piercing the same thing for less money?

No. Piercing guns crush tissue rather than pierce it, can't be fully sterilized, and use lower-grade jewelry. Needle piercing at a licensed studio is a different service — the "savings" often get spent on troubled healing.

Do I pay for the follow-up?

Downsize checks are included. Healed jewelry swaps are priced as jewelry only.

Do you take walk-ins for piercings?

Yes — daily, 8am–8pm, at 2625 Main St, Santa Monica. The Curated Ear $99 sitting is the one thing that must be reserved online.