Types of Body Piercings

Welcome to Types of Body Piercings 101, where we’ll be schooling you on all the different types of piercings people get. If you want to get a body piercing but don’t know exactly where to start, check out our list of piercing types below for ideas and details about each piercing (except where it’s really self-explanatory!).

There are so many different types of body piercings you can get, so we’ve broken them down by body area. We’ve been fairly thorough, but please note that this isn’t necessarily an all-inclusive list of types of piercings. If you’d like to see pictures of a certain type of body piercing, just click on a link below to go to that section of our Body Piercing Pictures Gallery.

Ear Piercings Types

If you’re wondering where some of the ear piercings below are placed, check out the ear piercing diagram below. Click on the names of any types of ear piercings you want to see, and you’ll go to that subsection of our ear piercing photo gallery.

Antitragus Piercings – This is a piercing of cartilage directly across from the Tragus.
Cartilage Piercings/Helix Piercings – Any piercing of the cartilage towards the top of your ear.
Conch Piercings – This is a piercing of the lower cartilage just inside the ear, where it scoops inward.
Daith Piercings – A Daith Piercing is done right above the Tragus, where the ear curves in from where it attaches to your head and towards the Conch area.
Earlobe Piercings – 1 or more piercings that go through the earlobe, typically starting towards the bottom-center of the lobe.
Industrial Piercings – An Industrial Piercing goes through 2 points of cartilage at the top of your ear, as shown in the diagram. Typically a straight barbell is inserted initially, but you may heal better with 2 captive bead rings. You can always insert a straight barbell in 7-12 months, once your piercing is well healed.
Orbital Piercings – An orbital piercing is actually 2 earlobe piercings, done along the edge of the lobe, that are connected with a single piece of jewelry.
Rook Piercings – This is a piercing of the cartilage that juts out between the upper half of the Conch and the top of the ear.
Snug Piercings/Anti-helix Piercings – A Snug (A.K.A. Anti-helix Piercing) goes through the cartilage along the inner edge of the central outer ear, just above where the lobe ends.
Tragus Piercings – This is a piercing of the lower flap of cartilage where your ear connects to your face.
Triple Helix Piercings – A Triple Helix is 3 Helix Piercings in a row, often connected with a single piece of spiral jewelry.

Oral & Facial Piercings

Anti-Eyebrow Piercings – This piercing typically appears at a slight angle below the outer corner of the eye instead of on the eyebrow.
Bridge Piercings – This is a type of surface piercing where the bridge of the nose is pierced, in between the eyes.
Cheek Piercings – These can be done to create dimples, placed where you have natural dimples, or put in any area of the cheek that won’t negatively impact the parotid duct. If that’s nicked, saliva can exit the fistula (i.e. hole where you were pierced) onto the outside of your cheek, which can only be corrected with cauterization.
Eyebrow Piercings – These can be placed horizontally across the eyebrow, but they’re usually placed vertically. This is a surface piercing, which means it will be more prone to rejection than some other piercings. Your piercer needs to pinch enough skin and use jewelry in a slightly heavier gauge to minimize your chances of having your jewelry migrate out.
Eyelid Piercings
Lip Piercings (See section #3 below for a breakdown of lip piercing types.)
Nostril Piercings
Septum Piercings – These go through the septum, at the center base of the nose.
Tongue Piercings – Typically these are just done as single piercings towards the center of the tongue, but some people choose to have multiples done. You can see someone with 5 in our gallery!
Web Piercings – These include Smileys, which is a piercing of the flap of skin between the upper lip and gums, and Tongue Frenulum Piercings, which is when the flap of skin below the tongue is pierced.

Lip Piercings

Angel Bites – Angel Bite Piercings appear on either side of the philtrum (i.e. the groove between you upper lip and nose).
Vertical Lip Piercings – These are single or multiple lip piercings that go through the lip from top-to-bottom instead of side-to-side.
Canine Bites/Shark Bites – Snake Bites + Angel Bites = Canine Bites (A.K.A. Shark Bites).
Cyber Bites – A Labret Piercing + a Medusa Piercing = Cyber Bites.
Dahlia Piercings/Joker Bites – Dahlia Piercings (A.K.A. Joker Bites) are done at the corners of the mouth. The name comes from the way the victim in the Black Dahlia Murder was cut at the corners of her mouth. The alternate name originated with the Joker from the Batman comics, who has a painted clown-like mouth that’s exaggerated at the corners.
Dolphin Bites – These are 2 piercings, side-by-side centered on the lower lip, with just a little space in between them.
Horizontal Lip Piercings – This is when the lip is pierced from side-to-side instead of top-to-bottom.
Labret Piercings – Labret Piercings are typically centered below the lower lip, with the jewelry placed horizontal to the ground.
Lowbret Piercings – This is a type of Labret Piercing that’s placed as low as possible in the lower lip area.
Medusa Piercings – A Medusa Piercing is centered between the middle of the upper lip and the bottom of the nose.
Monroe Piercings/Madonna Piercings – Monroe/Madonna/Crawford Piercings are placed like these stars’ upper lip moles.
Snake Bites – Snake Bites appear on the left and right sides of the lower lip.
Spider Bites/Viper Bites – Spider Bites (A.K.A. Viper Bites) are done close together at a slight angle on one side of the lower lip.
Vertical Labret Piercings – With a Vertical Labret, the bottom lip is pierced from top-center to bottom-center, but inset slightly.

Surface Piercings & Dermal/Microdermal Piercings

Chest Piercings – This is a type of surface piercing where a bar with 2 protruding ends is placed under the skin of the chest.
Corset Piercings – These are typically temporary piercings done in 2 columns so a ribbon can be run through them to create a corset.
Dermal/Micro Dermal Piercings – A base is implanted below the skin nearly anywhere on the body; the bottom of the decorative top should sit flush with the skin.
Neck & Nape Piercings – These may be done with surface bars or dermals anywhere on the neck/nape area.

Navel Piercings

While these are often called “belly button piercings”, the belly button isn’t actually pierced; the jewelry just sits over it. The piercing typically goes from above the top rim of the belly button down and out into the belly button cavity. The same can be done at any point around the belly button rim.

Female Genital Piercings & Nipple Piercings*

Note that you must be a registered Gallery member over the age of 18 to view the mature content that the following links point to. Anyone else who clicks through will just see placeholder images.

Christina Piercings/Venus Piercings – A surface piercing that’s above and vertical to the top of the clitoral hood.
Clitoral Piercings – It’s very rare for the actual clitoris to be pierced. Some people mistakenly call VCH and HCH piercings clitoris piercings.
Female Nipple Piercings – Nipples are typically pierced horizontally, but they may also be pierced vertically or even at an angle. Straight barbells make the best starter jewelry for most people, although your piercer may recommend a curved barbell based on your anatomy. It’s better to wait the 9-12 months until your nipples are fully healed to change to CBRs, which can put too much downward pressure on the healing fistulas.
Fourchette Piercings – This type of piercing is done at the back edge of the vulva. Compares to a male Guiche Piercing.
Horizontal Clitoral Hood/HCH Piercings – With an HCH piercing, the clitoral hood is pierced from side-to-side.
Inner Labia Piercings – This is a piercing of the inner labia, from inside to outside. A woman may have a single ring or a row of rings through each side of the inner labia.
Outer Labia Piercings – This is a piercing of the inner labia, from inside to outside. A woman may have a single ring or a row of rings through each side of the inner labia.
Outer Labia Piercings – This is a piercing through the outer labia. A woman may have a single ring or a row of rings through each side of the inner labia. Some women stretch the holes slowly and insert tunnels in these piercings.
Triangle Piercings – This piercing passes through the base of the clitoral hood from side-to-side, under the clitoris.
Vertical Clitoral Hood/VCH Piercings – With a VCH piercing, the clitoral hood is pierced from top-to-bottom.

Male Genital Piercings & Nipple Piercings*

Note that you must be a registered Gallery member aged 18+ to view the mature content you’ll find by clicking the links below. You’ll just see placeholder images otherwise.

Ampallang Piercings – A male genital piercing that pierces the head of the penis from side-to-side.
Anal Piercings – Piercings of the anal rim.
Apadravya Piercings – This piercing goes through the top-center of the head of the penis and out the bottom side.
Dorsal Frenum Piercings – This is a surface piercing typically done side-to-side along the top of the penile shaft.
Dydoe Piercings – A Dydoe is a horizontal piercing that goes through the top edge of the head of the penis.
Frenum Piercings – This is a surface piercing done side-to-side along the bottom side of the penile shaft.
Guiche Piercings – A piercing of the male perineum, which is the area in between the testicles and the anus.
Jacob’s Ladder – When a man has a row of frenum or dorsal frenum piercings on his penile shaft, it’s called a Jacob’s Ladder.
Kuno Piercings – When an uncircumcised man has his foreskin pierced.
Lorum Piercings – This is just a low frenum piercing, done towards the top or bottom side of the base of the penile shaft.
Nipple Piercings – Nipples are usually pierced horizontally, but they can also be pierced vertically or at an angle. Straight barbells make the best starter jewelry for most, but your piercer may recommend a curved barbell based on your anatomy. It’s better to wait the 9-12 months until your nipples are fully healed to change to CBRs, which can put too much downward pressure on the healing fistulas.
Prince Albert (PA) Piercings – A PA goes through the underside of the penile shaft, into the urethra, and out through the head.
Pubic Piercings
Reverse Prince Albert Piercings – A Reverse PA goes through the top of the head instead of the underside of the penile shaft.
Scrotal Ladder Piercings – A row of piercings along the scrotum is considered a Scrotal Ladder.
Scrotum/Hafada Piercings – A piercing anywhere on the scrotum.

*These piercings are for adults age 18 and over. You must be over the age of 18 to view the photos each piercing name links to in the Male and Female Genital Piercing sections.