A bridge piercing runs horizontally through the skin across the bridge of the nose, between the eyes, with a bead showing on each side. It is also called an Erl, after the piercer credited with popularising it.
It passes through skin only. It does not touch bone, cartilage, or anything to do with your eyes, which is the first thing most people want to know.
Photo by Nicor via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
It is a surface piercing
That is the fact that determines everything else about it.
The bar sits in a shallow channel through flat skin, with no fold, flap or rim anchoring it. Your body responds to any foreign object in a shallow channel by gradually working it toward the surface, which is migration, and its end point is rejection.
Bridge piercings do better than most surface piercings, because the skin over the bridge pinches up well and gives a reasonably deep channel. But the risk is real and it never disappears. Read the surface piercing guide before booking, and know the warning signs.
Your anatomy decides it
The piercing needs enough loose skin over the bridge to pinch. Your piercer will do exactly that, take hold of the skin between finger and thumb, to see how much lifts away from the bone.
Some people have plenty. Some have skin stretched tightly over the bridge with almost nothing to lift, and on those the bar sits shallow and under tension from day one, which is the classic recipe for migration. A piercer who pinches and then declines is reading your anatomy correctly.
Where the bar sits vertically is also a judgement: too high and it reads as a forehead piercing, too low and it interferes with glasses and with the natural crease when you frown.
Pain
About 4 out of 10. The skin is thin, the needle passes through a pinch of it quickly, and it is over in a moment.
What people find strange is watching it. The piercing happens directly in your field of view, and that unsettles some people more than the sensation does. Closing your eyes is entirely acceptable.
Bruising under both eyes for two to five days is common and is nothing to worry about. It happens because the tissue is loose and drains downward. It looks worse than it is.
Healing
Two to four months, which is quick for a surface piercing and slow for a piece of skin.
- Days 1-5: swelling, tenderness, likely bruising under both eyes.
- Weeks 1-6: swelling drops, crusting at both openings.
- Months 2-4: the channel matures. Migration risk runs throughout.
Downsize at four to eight weeks. The initial bar is longer than the finished piercing needs, and a long bar on the bridge levers on both openings every time something touches it.
Glasses, and everything else that touches your face
This is the practical issue.
Take your glasses to the consultation. Some frames rest exactly where the beads will sit, and constant pressure from a nose pad or a frame on a healing surface piercing is the fastest way to lose it. A few millimetres of placement adjustment often solves it, but only if your piercer knows before they mark.
Also worth planning for:
- Sleeping face-down presses the bar into the bridge. Back or side only.
- Towels catch both beads. Pat dry, never rub.
- Sunglasses, ski goggles, swimming goggles and VR headsets all sit on the bridge.
Aftercare is otherwise ordinary: sterile saline twice a day at both openings, patted dry with clean paper towel, and nothing else. The aftercare guide has the routine.
Jewelry
Straight barbell, 16 or 14 gauge, implant-grade titanium, sized to the pinch. Some piercers prefer a slightly curved bar, which can follow the contour of the bridge more comfortably on some faces. Either is defensible; a heavily curved bar is not.
The heavier gauge is deliberate. A thin bar cuts through tissue more readily than a thick one, and on a surface piercing that matters. Threadless or internally threaded only. See the materials guide.
Keep the beads modest. Large ends add leverage on a piercing that is already prone to being pushed out.
Watch for migration
Check monthly against a photograph from the day it was done:
- More of the bar visible than there was.
- Skin over the bar looking thin, shiny or stretched.
- The openings widening, or flattening into slits.
Any of those means see your piercer promptly. Removed at the first clear sign, a bridge piercing leaves two small marks. Left until it pushes all the way out, it leaves a scar across the bridge of your nose, which is not a discreet place for one.
Related placements
- Septum: through the soft tissue below, and far more stable.
- Nostril: the conventional nose piercing.
- Eyebrow: another surface piercing on the same part of the face, with a similar risk profile.
Cost
$40 to $90 in a US studio, plus jewelry. Expect the upper end from a piercer with genuine surface experience, which on this placement is worth paying for. Tip 15 to 20 percent.
Frequently asked questions
What is a bridge piercing?
A horizontal piercing through the skin across the bridge of the nose, between the eyes, with a bead showing on each side. It passes through skin only and does not touch bone or the nasal cartilage. It is also called an Erl piercing.
Does a bridge piercing hurt?
About 4 out of 10. The skin there is thin and the needle passes quickly through a pinch of it. What people find odd is the position rather than the pain, since you can watch the whole thing happen.
Does a bridge piercing affect your eyes or vision?
No. It passes through skin well above the level of anything that matters, and it does not touch the eyes, nerves or bone. Bruising under both eyes for a few days is common and harmless.
Do bridge piercings reject?
They can, because it is a surface piercing with no structure anchoring it. A good pinch of skin, correctly sized jewelry and a piercer experienced with the placement lower the odds considerably, but the risk never goes away entirely.
Can everyone get a bridge piercing?
No. It needs enough loose skin over the bridge to pinch and pass a bar through. Skin stretched tightly over the bone gives a piercer nothing to work with, and a bar under tension will migrate.
Can I wear glasses with a bridge piercing?
Usually, but check first. Some frames rest exactly where the beads sit, which means constant pressure on a healing surface piercing. Take your glasses to the consultation.
Sources
- Association of Professional Piercers - Suggested aftercare for body piercingshttps://safepiercing.org/aftercare/
- Association of Professional Piercers - Jewelry for initial piercingshttps://safepiercing.org/jewelry-for-initial-piercings/
- Association of Professional Piercers - Body Jewelry Verification Programhttps://safepiercing.org/body-jewelry-verification-program-2/
Placeholder author profile. Replace with a real, named APP piercer before launch.
Placeholder medical reviewer. Replace with a licensed RN, NP, PA or physician before publishing any health content.
This article is for education only and is not medical advice. If a piercing is hot, swollen, spreading redness, oozing yellow or green discharge, or you have a fever, see a doctor today.