Lip piercings
Over the past few years, I’ve found lip piercings have been a little less popular than they once were. That’s not to say they’re still a popular choice though! Similar to your ear, there’s plenty of space for lots of combos and different types, but unlike the ear, the large list below actually comes from the fact that the different combinations of piercings have their own special names. This is also why the above image has been split into individual lips – simply because it’s too hard to put them all on one image. The most popular lip piercings are:
- Angel bite: Two piercings; one offset to each side above your top lip.
- Ashley: Goes through the centre of the bottom lip and out the back into your mouth. This one is pretty rare as it often swells during healing to more than double the size.
- Canine bites: Four piercings; two offset to each side above your top lip and two in the same positions below your bottom lip.
- Cyber bite: Two piercings; a combination of one directly in the centre above your top lip (medusa) and in the same position directly below your bottom lip (labret).
- Dahlia (Joker bite): Two piercings; one on each side of your mouth directly beside the crease where your top and bottom lips join.
- Dolphin bite: Two piercings; two side by side horizontally below the middle of your bottom lip.
- Horizontal lip: A surface piercing that goes through the centre of your bottom lip horizontally.
- Jestrum: A piercing going through the centre of your top lip and out the top through the skin above the lip.
- Labret: In the centre just below your bottom lip.
- Lowbret: In the centre below your bottom lip, but lower down than a standard labret towards the tip of your chin.
- Medusa: A single piercing above the middle of the top lip.
- Monroe (Madonna): Above the lip offset to one side or the other, aptly named to mimic the side of the mole Madonna (on your right side) and Marylin Munroe (on your left). Having both of these is called an angel bite.
- Shark bite: Four piercings; two on each side close together offset to either side below your bottom lip.
- Snake bite: Two piercings; one offset to each side below your bottom lip to look like your snake fangs went through your bottom lips.
- Spider bite (Viper bite): Two piercings; right beside each other horizontally offset to one side only below your bottom lip. Having these on both sides of your lip would make it a shark bite.
- Triangle bite: Three piercings; Two above the top lip forming an angel bite as well as a labret below the centre of your bottom lip.
- Vertical lip (Vertical labret): A piercing that goes through the centre of the bottom lip and out through the skin underneath your bottom lip.
Read more in our comprehensive guide on lip piercings
Mouth/oral piercings
Because there are so many names and combinations for lip piercings, we decided to split mouth and oral piercings into their own category. Oral piercings refer to any piercing that’s inside your mouth, such as the web and frenulum piercings as well as the tongue. Here are some of the most popular ones:
- Frowny: Goes under the centre strip of skin between your gum and your bottom lip.
- Smiley: Goes under the centre strip of skin called your frenulum between your gum and top lip.
- Tongue: A very popular piercing that goes through your tongue in the centre, top to bottom.
- Snake eyes (Frog eyes): A tongue surface-style piercing that goes through the front tip of the tongue. You don’t see this one very often anymore as there are a few extra risks involved with joining the two muscles on either side of the tongue together.
- Venom: Two piercings; Like a regular tongue piercing from top to bottom, but there’s one offset to each side in line with each other.
- Tongue web: Goes under the centre strip of skin that joins the bottom of your tongue with the bottom of your mouth.
Learn more in our guide to mouth and oral piercings
