Piercing Jewelry Sizes

Measure out your piercing jewelry

If you are not entirely sure what size you need for your piece of jewelry, we have a useful tool for you here. The only thing you need is your current piece of jewelry and a credit card / insurance card / driver's license or any other kind of plastic card you may have.

Not all screens have the same resolution. That's why you have to first use our helpful tool. Hold your credit card directly over the picture of our card on the screen and drag the slider until both cards are the same size. When the sizes are the same, click on the green button labeled "set credit card" - after that, our helpful tool is set and ready to show you the correct jewelry size.

Bar width

At Bodymod, all sizes (diameter, length and wire gauge) are shown in millimeters. A few other shops show their sizes in "gauges". Bar width indicates the thickness of the rod. For example, when you have a 1.6mm tongue piercing.

Length

The length of our jewelry is also shown in millimeters, unless otherwise described directly in the description. The length of the piece of jewelry is measured from one end to the other (within the area of both balls). When it comes to curved barbells like eyebrow rings or belly button piercings, it's not the whole length of the barbell that's measured, but instead, the shortest distance from ball to ball. It's always just the visible part of the bar.

Diameter

The diameter is a word term used to mean several different things at once. Most of the time, the terms "ball diameter" and "stretch diameter" are meant in this context.

It might come as a surprise that we speak of balls with two different numbers: the diameter and the bar width. The reason for this is that the bar width indicates which balls are compatible with the bar. If the bar width is 1.6mm, it is referring to the thread of the ball. This ball would fit perfectly with a tongue piercing. If the measurement were only 1.2mm, it would be too small for a tongue piercing, but would be great for most labrets.

The word "stretch diameter" is almost self explanatory. It indicates the diameter of a stretched earhole. The measurement is always for the thinnest part of the jewelry, which is located most of the time in the center of the piece. It would certainly be preferable to record the length (length/height/width), but since most sizes vary greatly according to the diameter, it is difficult to indicate the length of our plugs, tunnels and tapers. You can always just contact us if you would like to know the length of a specific jewelry piece.
Below, the information described above can be found represented visually.

Under the images, you can also read more about the standard sizes of the different piercings.

Length

Bar width

Ball diameter

Length

Bar width

Ball diameter

Ball diameter

Bar width

Length

Diameter

Bar width

Ball diameter

Diameter

Bar width

Ball diameter

Diameter

Rule of thumb

There are a few standards when it comes to piercings. For example, all piercings for the head area are 1.2mm, with the exception of tongue piercings, which have a standard measurement of 1.6mm. But these standards aren't always 100% correct, since some people have thicker lips than others, and therefore need a lip labret of 1.6mm instead of 1.2mm. The same thing can be said about eyebrow piercings. Some people need 1.6mm even though the standard size is 1.2mm.

Here you can see the typical standard measurements (W = Bar width and L = Length):

• Tongue piercings: W: 1.6mm L: 16mm.
• Belly button piercing: W: 1.6mm L: 10mm.
• Lip piercing: W: 1.2mm L: 8mm.
• Eyebrow piercing: W: 1.2mm L: 8mm - 10mm.
• Nose piercing: W: 1.0mm L: 8mm.
• Nipple piercing: W: 1,6 mm. L: Depending on the nipple's size.