Eyebrow Piercings: What You Should Know

An eyebrow piercing passes through the skin at the outer end of the brow, making it a surface piercing. That single fact drives everything else. It does not pass through a fold of tissue with two supported sides. It enters and exits through the same plane of skin, which means your body has an easier time pushing it back out than it would with a helix or a septum.

That is not a reason to avoid it. Plenty of eyebrow piercings settle beautifully and last for years. It is a reason to care a great deal about two things most people never think about: the angle it is placed at, and how thick the jewellery is.

The Variations

Standard eyebrow. The outer third of the brow, angled to follow the natural line of the brow ridge. This is the default and the one most people want.

Vertical eyebrow. Runs straight up and down through the brow rather than at an angle. Less common, more likely to sit under tension, and it needs specific anatomy.

Horizontal eyebrow. Runs along the brow rather than across it. A true surface piercing in the most demanding sense, and the one most likely to migrate.

Anti eyebrow. Not on the brow at all. It sits on the cheekbone below the eye, and it is a surface piercing in a high movement area with some of the poorest odds on the face. If you want that look, ask about a dermal anchor instead, which our comparison of dermal anchors and surface piercings goes through.

Multiple eyebrow piercings are possible and best done together, since spacing is a design decision that is easier to make on a live brow than to match against a healed piercing later.

The Angle

This is the section that separates an eyebrow piercing that settles from one that spends a year migrating.

Your body pushes out objects that sit under tension. A surface piercing placed across the natural line of the tissue is under tension from the moment it goes in, every time your face moves. Placed along the natural line of the brow ridge, following the direction the tissue already wants to lie, it experiences far less.

What a good piercer is doing when they take a long time marking this is working out the angle at which the jewellery will sit with the least tension on your particular brow, then checking it while you raise your eyebrows, frown and smile. A brow at rest and a brow in motion are different shapes.

What it means for you. If somebody marks an eyebrow piercing in ten seconds without watching your face move, that is worth noticing.

Deep enough matters too. Too shallow and there is not enough tissue over the bar, so it migrates quickly. Too deep and it sits uncomfortably and heals poorly. The right depth is a judgement made on your anatomy rather than a standard measurement.

The Jewellery

A curved barbell, and the curve follows the brow rather than fighting it.

Gauge matters more here than most people expect, and thinner is worse. A very fine bar in tissue that moves constantly behaves like a wire under tension, concentrating pressure on a small area of skin. A slightly thicker bar spreads that pressure. Most of the migration we see in eyebrow piercings traces back to jewellery that was too thin.

Long enough for swelling, then shortened. The starter bar is deliberately longer to allow for the swelling that follows. Once that settles you come back and it is swapped for a shorter one. On this placement that downsize matters a great deal, because a long bar catches on everything near your face.

Implant grade titanium. The standard to ask for by name is ASTM F136, which contains no nickel in its composition and forms a stable oxide layer. Our comparison of titanium, steel and gold covers what the alternatives really offer.

Rings later, if at all. A small ring in a healed eyebrow can look excellent. In a fresh one it rotates and tugs at angles the channel is still forming around, and it catches on considerably more.

Glasses are an Unfortunate Problem

If you wear glasses, this is the section that matters most to you.

The arm of a pair of glasses passes directly over the outer end of the brow, which is exactly where the piercing sits. Every time you put them on or take them off, the arm sweeps across the jewellery.

What helps. Contact lenses for the first few weeks if you can wear them. Removing glasses with two hands, lifting them straight off rather than sliding them, for as long as it takes to become a habit. Frames with a higher hinge, if you happen to have a spare pair.

What does not work is deciding to be careful and then forgetting twenty times a day. This is a real consideration and worth being honest with yourself about before booking rather than after.

Sunglasses count too, and are worse, because people push them up onto their head without thinking and drag them straight back down over the brow later.

The Other Daily Obstacles

Face washing and towels. A towel dragged across the face catches the bar. Pat dry rather than rub, for longer than feels necessary.

Makeup. Foundation, brow products and anything applied near the piercing gets into a healing channel. Keep products away from it entirely until it is settled, which is longer than the visible healing suggests.

Sleeping. Face down or on that side presses on it. Pierce the side you do not sleep on if you have a preference.

Hair. A fringe sits directly over it, and hair is not clean.

Hats and hoods catch the bar when pulled on or off, and a wool hat is worse than it sounds because the fibres snag on the ends of the jewellery rather than sliding past them.

Healing

Around 6 months for most people, and longer is common. Surface piercings heal slower than you think.

First fortnight. Tender, swollen, pink at both ends of the bar. Clear or straw coloured fluid dries into a crust, which is the piercing behaving correctly rather than a problem. Some bruising around the area is normal and looks worse than it is.

Weeks two to eight. Swelling settles. Crusting continues on and off. The downsize usually happens somewhere in here.

Two to four months. It looks finished. The channel is still maturing underneath, and this is where people change the jewellery, go back to careless glasses habits, or stop the routine.

Sterile saline twice a day and otherwise leave it alone. Do not turn it. Our article on telling irritation from infection covers what a genuine problem looks like as against ordinary healing.

Where it Fits on a Face

An eyebrow piercing changes how the whole upper face reads, more than its size suggests, and it is worth a moment before choosing a side.

It draws the eye upward and outward. That is why it sits on the outer third rather than the middle. Placed too far in toward the nose it reads as a mistake rather than a decision, because it crowds the space between the brows.

Which side. Most people have a stronger brow on one side and a preferred sleeping side, and those often conflict. The sleeping side wins during healing, since months of nightly pressure does more harm than a slightly less flattering angle. The brow you sleep away from is the one to pierce.

How it sits with the rest. An eyebrow reads well with a septum or a nostril, because they balance across the face. It can crowd against a bridge piercing, which sits just below and between the brows, so anybody considering both should plan them together rather than discovering the conflict later.

Makeup changes the calculation. Anybody who does substantial brow work daily should know that the piercing sits in the middle of that routine for months, and that brow products in a healing channel are a common cause of irritation.

If you are unsure, ask to have the mark placed and then look at it in a mirror before anything happens. That is a normal request and it is the last free moment to change your mind.

Migration, What to Watch For

Because it is a surface piercing, the failure to watch for is not infection. It is migration.

What it looks like. The amount of skin covering the bar visibly reduces. The two ends creep toward each other. The bar starts to sit closer to the surface than it did. It is not painful, which is exactly why it gets ignored.

What to do. Come in early rather than waiting. Caught soon enough, a change of jewellery gauge or a slight adjustment can sometimes settle it. Left too long, it works its way out and leaves two small scars, which on a face are visible.

What causes it. Insufficient depth, a bad angle, jewellery too thin, or repeated catching. Three of those four are decided by the piercer at placement, which is the argument for choosing carefully rather than conveniently.

Our article on why piercings reject and migrate covers the mechanism in full.

Who it Suits, and Who it Does Not

Worth being direct, because this is a placement where the wrong candidate is obvious in advance.

It suits somebody with a defined brow ridge, enough tissue at the outer third to hold a bar at depth, and a face that does not spend all day behind glasses.

It suits somebody who can be patient about jewellery. The curved bar you start with is not the piece you eventually want, and the gap between them is months.

It is a harder proposition if you wear glasses daily and cannot switch to contacts for a few weeks. Not impossible, and materially harder.

It is a harder proposition if you play contact sport. A bar catching during a game does more damage than months of ordinary wear.

It is the wrong idea if a visible scar would trouble you. Surface piercings on the face reject more than piercings elsewhere, and the marks are where people look. Somebody entirely relaxed about that is a good candidate. Somebody who would be upset is better served by a placement with better odds.

And it is worth asking about the alternatives if the answer is marginal. A forward helix gives visual weight to the front of the face with far better odds, and a dermal gives the anti eyebrow look without the surface piercing problem. A good piercer offers those rather than talking you into the harder option.

Bottom Line

An eyebrow piercing is a surface piercing, which means the odds depend more on placement than on your aftercare. Choose somebody whose healed eyebrow work you have looked at, and give them time to watch your face move while they mark it.

Take the slightly thicker bar rather than the daintiest one. Come back for the downsize. And be honest about the glasses, because if you wear them every day and cannot switch to contacts for a few weeks, that is a genuine factor rather than a detail.

If a bump appears or the skin over the bar starts thinning, come in early. Almost everything that goes wrong with this placement is fixable when it is caught in weeks and permanent when it is caught in months.

Not sure whether your brow suits it? Come in and let somebody look. It takes a minute and it is the part that decides the outcome.

FAQ 

How much does an eyebrow piercing hurt?

A brief sharp pinch, over in a second, and most people find it milder than expected because it passes through soft tissue rather than cartilage. The area can feel tender and bruised for a few days afterwards.

Will it leave a scar if I take it out?

Usually two small marks that fade over time. A piercing that healed cleanly and was simply removed leaves less than one that migrated or was repeatedly irritated.

How long does it take to heal?

6 months for most people and often longer. It looks settled well before it is finished, which is when people cause themselves problems.

Can I wear glasses with an eyebrow piercing?

Yes, and it makes healing harder. The arm passes directly over the piercing. Contacts for the first few weeks help a great deal if that is an option, and lifting glasses off with two hands rather than sliding them is the habit to build.

Why do eyebrow piercings reject so often?

Because they are surface piercings, entering and exiting through the same plane of skin rather than passing through a supported fold. The odds improve substantially with the right angle, enough depth and a thick enough bar.

Can I use a ring instead of a curved barbell?

Once healed, yes. In a fresh piercing a ring rotates and tugs at the channel while it is still forming, and it catches on far more around the face.

How do I know if it is migrating?

The skin over the bar looks thinner and the two ends move closer together. It does not hurt, which is why it goes unnoticed. Come in as soon as you suspect it.