The routine is the same across all of them. Wash your hands before you touch the piercing. Rinse with saline throughout the healing, and for some placements a clean gauze soaked in saline is easier than trying to aim. If your piercer suggests an antibacterial soap, keep it gentle and unscented, nothing with fragrance or triclosan, and rinse until no trace is left. Never rotate the jewelry. Let it air dry, or pat it with clean disposable paper. Cloth towels snag and carry bacteria.
Facial Piercing Services
Facial piercings are usually noticed before any others. An eyebrow, a medusa, a dermal catching light on a cheekbone: small pieces in a highly visible place, which makes placement worth getting right. At Iris Tattoo, every facial piercing starts with a free anatomy check.
Professional Face Piercing Near You
The face is unforgiving of a piercing placed carelessly because symmetry matters more here than anywhere else on the body, brows and lips move constantly, and jewelry that sits a millimeter off looks wrong even to people who can't say why. Our piercers place these every day across both studios, and the anatomy check is where that experience does its work.
We pierce only with solid gold in 14k or 18k, or implant certified titanium. You'll choose your piece with a staff member beforehand, and we include styling with every piercing, so we help you pick the jewelry that suits your face.
Everything happens in a sterile studio. We pierce with single-use needles and never with a gun, and we follow health regulations strictly, down to biohazard disposal handled through Stericycle.
Types of Facial Piercings We Offer
We pierce the full facial range, plus the lip family that sits alongside it. Nose and septum have their own page, linked further down.
Eyebrow
A vertical or angled placement through the brow, and one of the most requested facial piercings
Bridge
We set this one horizontally through the skin between the eyebrows, at the top of the nose. It's bold and symmetrical, and it depends heavily on having the right amount of tissue to sit in, which is what the anatomy check is for.
Face Dermals
Single-point piercings we can place almost anywhere on the face, most often along the cheekbone. Ask about these in person, since the placement options are wide and your anatomy decides a great deal.
Surface Piercings
Both ends of the jewelry sit flat against the skin, following the surface. It's a subtle placement with a little extra edge, and a beautiful choice if you're looking beyond the usual spots. The most common one being a surface tragus!
Lip Piercings
The largest family of the lot. Labret, medusa, Monroe, Madonna, vertical labret, Ashley, snake bites, spider bites, and cyber bites all sit around the mouth in different ways. Lip piercings are versatile and can accentuate different parts of the lip, which makes this the category most worth talking through in person.
Nose Piercings
One of the most popular spots on the face, with more variety than most people expect. Nostril, high nostril, septum, rhino, nasallang, and Austin bar each sit in a different part of the nose, from the soft curve of the nostril to the cartilage at the center and tip. Every nose is shaped a little differently, so we’ll look at yours together to find the placement that suits it best.
Tongue Piercings
A vertical placement through the center of the tongue, and a classic that never really goes out of style. It’s hidden until you want it seen, and the exact spot depends on the veins and webbing underneath, which is why we check your anatomy before we mark it.
What a Dermal Actually Is
Dermals confuse people, and understandably so. Our piercer Martina explains it this way: unlike a traditional piercing with two ends, a dermal is a single-point piercing where an anchor is placed beneath the skin and a decorative top sits on the surface.
That single anchor is what gives a dermal its look, a gem that appears to rest directly on the skin with nothing holding it. It's also a different commitment from a standard piercing. We like to call it a permanent-ish sparkle, which is the most honest three-word summary anyone has given it.
Face dermals and surface piercings are worth a conversation before a decision, and we don't charge for that conversation at either studio.
Choosing the Right Facial Piercing
Most people arrive with a reference photo and leave having chosen something adjacent to it. That's no fault of the photo. A piercing that looks perfect on one face sits differently on the next, and your piercer's job is to find the version of the idea that works on yours.
Bring the photo anyway. Your piercer will talk through what's drawing you to it, whether it's the placement, the jewelry, or the symmetry, then look at your features and tell you where that effect actually lives on you. We include styling, so the jewelry is part of that conversation.
If you're still deciding between two placements, ask us to mark both. Seeing them on your own face settles most debates in about a minute.
What to Expect at Your Appointment
Before
You don't need to arrive with your mind made up. Your piercer designs the placement and the jewelry choice around your anatomy, your comfort, and the look you're going for, then marks it and shows you before anything else happens.
During
We welcome you into a calm, refined space. Your piercer talks you through each step, sets the placement precisely, and works with care and clarity. The piercing itself is a moment. Everything around it is what takes the time.
After
We celebrate with photos, explain the healing and the care clearly, and send you home with an aftercare kit and your name on the bag. Come back and ask us anything afterward. Our piercers give free consultations to anyone, including people we didn't pierce.
Healing and Aftercare
Facial piercings vary widely in how long they take. An eyebrow runs about six to eight months. A lip is about four to six months. A bridge piercing is about three to six months, and a dermal or surface sits at around four to six months. Your piercer will give you a realistic timeline for your placement before you leave, and will tell you if yours is likely to run long.
Bleeding, swelling, bruising, tenderness, itching, and a whitish yellow fluid that isn't pus are all normal. Tissue heals from the outside in, so a piercing feels finished well before it is. If redness or swelling is still there after a month, come in and we'll adjust the routine.
Oral piercings ask for a little extra care around eating, drinking, and dental hygiene, and your piercer will walk you through that at the appointment.
Why Choose Iris Tattoo
We run two studios, in Miami and in Nashville, to one standard. Our piercers place facial work every day, which is the only real way to develop an eye for how a millimeter looks on a brow.
Booking guarantees your spot and gives you the full unhurried appointment. We welcome walk-ins at both studios until 7:30pm, first come, first served. The anatomy check needs neither, so if you're only at the deciding stage, come in for that alone.
Book Your Facial Piercing
Come in for the free anatomy check, get the placement marked on your own face, and pick your gold. Choose Miami or Nashville below to see this week's availability and reserve your time with a piercer.
Facial Piercing Questions, Answered
Facial piercing prices start at $60 and vary with the placement and the jewelry you choose, our selection running from implant grade titanium through solid gold. Come in or contact the studio and a piercer will give you an exact figure.
While appointments are always best, we welcome walk-ins at both studios until 7:30pm on a first come, first served basis.
Solid gold in 14k or 18k, or implant certified titanium, chosen with a staff member before your piercing. We don't pierce with jewelry brought from home, which is how we can guarantee what goes in.
No. We pierce with sterile, single-use needles, never a gun. A needle makes a clean channel through the tissue, which is why every professional studio uses one.
An eyebrow runs about six to eight months. A lip is about four to six months. A bridge piercing is about three to six months, and a dermal or surface sits at around four to six months. Your piercer will give you a timeline for yours before you leave.
We recommend about 1-2 months for any necessary downsizing and about 3-4 months depending on if you're looking for a new model which we recommend having a piercer take a look to make sure it's safe for continued healing.
Not exactly, which is why we like to call them a permanent-ish sparkle. A dermal anchor sits under the skin and we can remove it for you, at $40 per dermal. We remove dermals placed at other studios too, though we'll want a piercer to look at it in a consultation first.
Serving Clients in Miami and Nashville
Iris Tattoo welcomes clients in both Miami and Nashville for custom tattoos, walk-in tattoos, fine line tattoos, ear piercings, nose piercings, body piercings, and curated piercing jewelry. Whether you are looking for a polished tattoo studio in Miami or a professional tattoo and piercing studio in Nashville, our team provides a calm, premium experience built around artistry, precision, and personal care.
Gift Card
How does it work? It is very simple: give a tattoo or piercing as a gift! The person who receives the gift only has to contact the studio to book an appointment and tell us what service they want to get. Shipping times can vary so the Digital option for last minute purchases is the best option 🙂 We recommend reading the FAQ section before purchase.
