Labret Piercing FAQ
Labret piercings, more commonly known as simply a lip piercing, is a popular piercing just below the bottom lip. You could say it isn’t a true lip piercing at all in comparison with lip piercings like the vertical labret that's pierced through the lip itself, while a regular labret sits below the lip and above the chin.
Labret Piercing Preparation and Aftercare
Leading up to an oral piercing it can be super handy to gargle with baking soda. This is an easy practice that will kill harmful bacteria that may be hanging around in your mouth. And don’t forget your oral hygiene! It’s just as important to brush your teeth before a labret piercing, as well as afterwards.
2-3 months for basic healing time. 1 - 2 weeks for swelling time.
While the labret is a very common facial piercings, it’s also an oral piercing, which means you need to take extra special care of it! This means salt water soaks regularly after each meal. See our video on body piercing sea salt soaks.
The lip swells a lot during healing – this is when most of the pain occurs. Be careful what you eat during this time as overdoing it might upset the piercing. Focus on cold, soft foods and soups.
Placement is Super Important!
The placement of a labret piercing is essential to its health and your sanity. The labret sits below the lip and essentially done on an angle to avoid rubbing against the teeth.
Avoid Issues with Correctly Sized Jewelry
As we’ve been through before, wearing too-small jewelry in a healing piercing – or any piercing – can mean that the jewelry can be “eaten” or sink into the piercing area itself.
Types of Labret / Lip Piercings
We’ve hinted to this already, but there are several different types of labret piercings. The Medusa piercing sits in the middle above the upper lip. Two labret piercings on each side underneath the bottom lip are called snake bites as they resemble the placement of snake fangs.
There is also the vertical labret pierced as mentioned above that goes directly through the lip at an angle so that the section inside of the mouth looks similar to a conventional labret piercing.
There are endless possibilities for labret piercing placement, each with their own name. And having one doesn’t mean you can’t have another. Many pierced people have multiple variations or all of them at once.
The Piercing Procedure
Piercing a labret is just like piercing any other facial piercing. Always make sure your piercer is using sterilized equipment straight from an airtight package and fresh gloves.
The lip will be stenciled, so that you can see whether the placement is right for you. Make sure you let them know if it isn’t! Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.
Next it will be clamped with sterilized metal tongs in order to hold your mouth in place. This is so important for the lip area because even the best of us tend to unconsciously move our mouths.
Then it will be pierced!
After it's pierced, the piercer will insert the jewelry and do some cleanup.
Voila! You’re done. Now with good aftercare you’ll leave your piercer with a brand new, beautiful labret piercing. Do you have a labret or lip piercing? Did you go through a similar experience? Let us know all about it!
Warning: If you suspect there is any issue with your piercing make sure to go immediately to a reputable piercer in your area for assistance.