On this page
There is no official ranking of piercing pain, and the sources we read say so. This page sets Healthline’s grouping beside our own scale for the same placements, and shows where the two differ.
Healthline’s article (written in 2020, medically reviewed) uses no numeric scale. Our scale is the site’s own 1 to 10 estimate, applied the same way to every placement. Neither is a measurement of how it will feel to you.
Healthline’s groups beside our scores
| Placement | Healthline group | Our score (1 to 10) |
|---|---|---|
| Nipple | More painful | 6 |
| Septum | More painful | 5 |
| High nostril | More painful | 5 |
| Dermal | More painful | 4 |
| Rook | Less painful group, but more than standard ear piercings | 6 |
| Daith | Less painful group, but more than standard ear piercings | 5 |
| Conch | Less painful group, but more than standard ear piercings | 5 |
| Tongue | Less painful | 5 |
| Belly button | Less painful | 4 |
| Eyebrow | Less painful, on the boundary | 3 |
| Earlobe | Standard ear piercing | 2 |
Healthline also lists genital piercings, which this site does not cover, as its first group.
Where they agree
Both put the earlobe at the gentle end and treat daith, rook and conch as harder than a lobe. Both put the nipple among the more painful placements. The Cleveland Clinic gives the reason for the lobe: it is fatty tissue with few nerves, so it does not hurt much. Healthline’s rule of thumb is the same: the fewer nerves in the area, the less pain you will feel.
Where they differ
Tongue. Healthline places it among the less painful piercings. We score it 5, in the middle, because a tongue piercing goes through thick muscular tissue and the swelling afterwards can be dramatic. Our tongue page explains. The two views are not necessarily in conflict, because one is about the needle and the other about the days after.
Dermal. Healthline puts it with the more painful group. We score it 4.
Daith, rook and conch. Healthline puts them in the less painful group but says they hurt more than standard ear piercings. Our scores run from 5 to 6, which is above helix and tragus at 4. That is a more specific ordering than Healthline gives.
The top and bottom of our scale
On our scale, the industrial, snug and nasallang score 7, the highest of any placement. The earlobe, second lobe, stacked lobe, smiley and tongue web score 2, the lowest. Our types of piercings chart shows every placement with its score, and the piercing pain chart explains how we score.
Why it varies
Healthline says there is no easy answer, that everyone’s pain tolerance is different, and that even your perception of pain can affect how much it hurts. That is why a ranking is a starting point rather than a prediction. Our placement guides go through each one:
Frequently asked questions
Which piercing hurts the most?
Healthline puts genital, nipple, nose (septum and high nostril) and dermal piercings in its more painful group, and gives no numeric scale. On our own 1 to 10 scale the industrial, snug and nasallang score highest at 7, with the nipple and rook at 6.
Which piercing hurts the least?
Healthline's less painful group is the ear, belly button, tongue and eyebrow, noting that daith, rook and conch hurt more than a standard ear piercing. On our scale the earlobe and second lobe score 2, and the Cleveland Clinic says lobes are fatty tissue with few nerves.
Why does the same piercing hurt differently for different people?
Healthline says everyone's pain tolerance is different and that even your perception of pain can affect how much it hurts. It gives a rule of thumb: the fewer nerves in the area, the less pain you will feel.
Is there a pain scale for piercings?
Not an official one. Healthline's article uses no numeric scale. Ours is the site's own 1 to 10 estimate, applied the same way to every placement, so it compares placements but is not a measurement.
Do cartilage piercings hurt more than earlobes?
The sources say yes. The Cleveland Clinic says earlobes are fatty tissue with few nerves, and Healthline says daith, rook and conch hurt more than standard ear piercings. Our scale gives the lobe 2 and cartilage placements 4 to 7.
Sources
- Healthline - Most painful piercings to least painful: what you should knowhttps://www.healthline.com/health/most-painful-piercings
- Cleveland Clinic - Ear piercing 101: healing, hurting, cleaning and morehttps://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-to-expect-when-getting-your-ears-pierced