Monroe Piercings: What You Should Know

Monroe Piercings: Where It Sits, and the Conversation About Your Teeth

A Monroe is a single small stud above the upper lip, off to the left, placed where Marilyn Monroe's beauty mark was. On the right it is called a Madonna. Some people have both, which is sometimes called angel bites.

It is one of the most flattering facial piercings there is, and it is also the one where the honest article has to spend real time on what the jewellery does inside your mouth. So this one does.

Where It Has To Sit

Placement decides everything about how a Monroe looks, and there is less freedom than people expect.

It sits above the upper lip line, in the soft tissue between the lip and the base of the nose, offset to the left. Too low and it catches the lip line and looks like a mistake. Too high and it stops reading as a beauty mark and starts reading as a stray piercing. Too far towards the centre and it fights with the philtrum, the natural groove running down from the nose.

Where exactly that lands is different on every face, because it depends on the width of your philtrum, the height between lip and nose, and the natural shape of your upper lip.

A piercer will mark it, hand you a mirror, and let you look while your face is relaxed and while you are smiling. Take that seriously. A Monroe moves noticeably when you smile, and a placement that looks perfect on a still face can sit oddly on an animated one. Ask to see both.

The Part About Your Teeth, Honestly

A Monroe is fitted with a labret stud, which means a post with a flat disc on the inside resting against your gum, above the upper teeth. That disc is in your mouth all day, every day, for as long as you wear the piercing.

Jewellery in constant contact with a gum line is associated over years with the gum receding at that point, and contact against enamel can wear it. This is well recognized, dentists ask about it, and pretending otherwise would not be doing you a favour.

It is also manageable, and the things that manage it are specific.

A flat disc, never a ball. A ball concentrates pressure on one small point of gum and against a single spot of enamel. A flat disc spreads it. This is not a preference, it is the difference between the two versions of this piercing.

Correct post length. A post that is too long lets the disc move around and press in different places. Downsizing after the swelling settles is the appointment that fixes this, and it matters more on a Monroe than almost anywhere else.

Placement high enough that the disc sits against gum rather than directly on the tooth line.

Titanium rather than steel, because it is lighter, and weight against gum tissue over years is the mechanism.

Tell your dentist you have it, and let them look at that spot at each check up. If recession begins, it is visible long before it is a problem, and the answer at that stage is usually to change the jewellery or retire the piercing rather than anything dramatic.

Plenty of people wear a Monroe for many years with no trouble at all. The people who run into difficulty are overwhelmingly the ones wearing a ball backed stud, or a bar that was never downsized, or both.

Whether It Suits Your Anatomy

There has to be enough space between the top of the lip and the base of the nose for the piercing to sit where it should. On some faces that gap is short, and a Monroe placed in it will always look crowded.

The thickness of the tissue matters too, since the post has to pass through and sit at a right angle rather than at a slant.

And the position of your gum line matters, which is the part nobody thinks of. A piercer will ask you to lift your lip and look, because where the gum sits determines where the disc will rest.

If the answer is that your anatomy does not suit it, a philtrum in the centre or a labret below the lower lip may give you something similar that sits better. Our guide to facial and oral piercings covers the alternatives.

What It Takes and How It Heals

The piercing is quick, one pass, and most people describe it as a sharp pinch rather than anything worse. The area is well supplied with nerves and it is over fast.

Healing usually runs eight to twelve weeks, longer than a vertical labret, because the tissue is thinner and the piercing has an inside and an outside that both have to settle.

Swelling arrives within hours and peaks around day two or three. You will be fitted with a longer post to allow for it, and you should expect your lip to feel odd and look fuller than usual for the first few days. Cold helps, and sleeping propped up for a night or two helps more than people expect.

The First Fortnight

Eating is manageable but awkward. Small bites and care with hot food while it is swollen.

Talking feels strange for a few days.

Kissing and anything mouth to mouth waits until it is healed.

Smoking slows healing for any piercing that has an opening inside the mouth.

Makeup and lip products stay off it for several weeks. Foundation around a fresh piercing is a genuine irritant and it is the thing most often forgotten.

Cleaning a Piercing with Two Sides

A Monroe needs both an outside routine and an inside one, which is what makes it more work than a purely external piercing.

Outside, sterile saline twice a day. Nothing else, and specifically not alcohol, peroxide, tea tree oil or ointment. Our article on aftercare products explains what each of those does to healing tissue.

Inside, rinse with an alcohol free mouthwash or saline after eating rather than constantly. Overusing mouthwash upsets the balance of your mouth and causes its own irritation.

Do not play with it with your tongue, which is the single hardest instruction to follow and the one most likely to leave you with a piercing that took twice as long as it should have.

The Jewellery

A labret stud, always, with a flat disc inside. Never a ring, and never a ball on the inside.

Implant-grade titanium while healing, with the standard stated, for the weight reason above as well as the biocompatibility one. See titanium, steel or gold.

Internally threaded or threadless. Never externally threaded, because the thread drags through a channel that runs through your lip.

Once healed, the fronts come in every size and finish you can imagine. Keep them small. A Monroe reads as a beauty mark, and a large front loses the entire effect the piercing exists for.

Why the Front Should Stay Small

A Monroe exists to read as a beauty mark, and that effect depends almost entirely on scale.

A small flat disc or a modest gem sits on the face the way a mark does. The eye registers it and moves on. A large front stops being a beauty mark and becomes a piece of jewellery on your lip, which is a different look and not the one the piercing is named for.

There is a practical argument as well as an aesthetic one. A larger front is heavier, and weight on a lip piercing pulls at the channel all day and presses the disc harder against your gum. It is also more likely to be caught by a scarf, a jumper or a hand.

Two millimetres to three millimetres is where most Monroes look best. It is worth trying a couple of sizes in a mirror before committing, because photographs online are almost always closer up than real life and everything looks smaller on a screen.

Combining It With Another Piercing

A Monroe and a Madonna together, one on each side, is a symmetrical look that works well. Do them one at a time and let the first heal, because healing two openings in the upper lip at once makes eating unpleasant and doubles the tissue that is trying to repair.

A Monroe sits comfortably alongside a septum, a nostril or ear work. It does not usually sit well with a philtrum, because both occupy the same small area of face and the two compete.

Migration and Retiring It

Monroes are reasonably stable, and the usual causes of trouble are mechanical rather than mysterious. A post left too long, constant fiddling, or being knocked.

If you do retire it, the outside usually leaves a small mark that fades but often does not disappear entirely. That is worth knowing before rather than after, because it sits on a very visible part of your face.

The Consultation, and What to Ask

A Monroe is the piercing where the twenty minutes before it happens matter most, because placement is nearly the whole outcome and it cannot be adjusted afterwards.

Ask to see it marked relaxed and smiling. Your upper lip moves a great deal, and a mark that looks perfect on a still face can ride up or sit oddly when you smile. Any piercer worth the money expects this request.

Ask them to lift your lip and look at your gum line. Where the gum sits determines where the disc will rest, and that determines how much long term care this piercing needs. If they do not do it unprompted, ask.

Ask what post length they are fitting and when to come back. The answer should be a longer bar now and a downsizing appointment in a few weeks, and that appointment should not be an extra charge.

Ask what the disc is. Flat, titanium, with the standard stated. If the answer involves a ball on the inside, that is the wrong piece of jewellery for this piercing.

Say if a dentist has raised it with you. It changes what a piercer would fit and where they would place it.

The First Few Nights

Sleeping is the part nobody plans for and it makes a real difference to how the first week goes.

Sleep propped up on an extra pillow for the first two or three nights. Lying flat lets fluid gather in your face overnight, and you will wake with more swelling than you went to bed with.

Try to sleep on your back, or at least not on the pierced side. A pillow pressing on a fresh Monroe pushes the disc into your gum for hours at a time, which is exactly the pressure you are trying to avoid.

Change your pillowcase more often than usual for the first fortnight. It is a small thing and it costs nothing.

If it Starts to Sit Crooked

A Monroe that begins to lean or point outward is almost always telling you the post is too long, and it is telling you at the point where it is easy to fix.

The bar was fitted long to allow for swelling. Once the swelling has gone, that slack lets the stud tip every time you talk, eat or touch your face, and a stud that tips all day will eventually settle at the angle it has been tipping to.

The fix is downsizing and it takes five minutes. The window is roughly the first couple of months, which is why the appointment exists. Left long enough, the channel sets at the wrong angle and the only remedies are retiring it or re-piercing later.

If yours is already leaning, come in rather than waiting to see whether it corrects itself. It will not.

At Perfect Image

Our piercers will mark it, show you in a mirror relaxed and smiling, and change it until you are happy before anything happens. Every piercing is fitted with implant-grade titanium and a flat disc, and the downsizing appointment is included.

If a dentist has raised the subject with you, bring that to the consultation. It is a sensible thing to raise and it changes what we would fit you with.

Bottom Line

A Monroe is a small stud in a very visible place, so placement is most of the outcome and it is worth taking the time in the mirror. The disc against your gum is the real long term consideration, and it is managed by a flat back, correct post length, titanium and a dentist who knows it is there. Wear it small.

FAQ

What is the difference between a Monroe and a Madonna?

Position. A Monroe is on the left of the upper lip, a Madonna on the right. Same piercing otherwise.

Do Monroe piercings damage your teeth?

They can over years, through the disc resting against gum and enamel. A flat disc rather than a ball, a correctly downsized post, titanium, and a dentist checking the spot is how it is managed.

How much does it hurt?

A sharp pinch, over quickly. Most people find it easier than they expected.

How long does it take to heal?

Usually eight to twelve weeks, because both the outside and the inside have to settle.

Can I wear a ring in a Monroe?

No. It takes a labret stud. A ring cannot sit correctly in that placement.

Will it leave a scar?

Usually a small mark that fades but often remains faintly visible. Worth considering, since it is on your face.

Can I get both sides done at once?

You can, and we would rather you did not. Two healing openings in one lip makes eating unpleasant and asks a lot of the tissue.

Why does my Monroe keep hitting my teeth?

Almost always a post that has not been downsized, or a ball on the inside instead of a flat disc. Both are quick to fix.