Vince Vendetta crossed his arms tightly as he lay back on the piercing chair at NewLife Tattoos, 404 E. Green St. A cold clamp grabbed his bottom lip and held the soft tissue in place. A silver needle glinting in the soft light hovered for a split second above the clamp, then swiftly pierced the side of his mouth. Apart from a sharp intake of breath, Vendetta was calm and laid still as the lip ring was put into place.

Piercings, along with tattoos, were once considered to be taboo but now are more accepted. Vendetta, a 21-year-old senior in LAS, recently decided to pierce his lower lip, following a trend common among college students. Still, even though some piercings are more common than others, people will always find a way to stand out as they invent new places to poke holes into their bodies.

All types of piercings are requested at NewLife Tattoos, but some are much more popular than others.

According to Matt Bavougian, the head piercer at NewLife, the most popular piercings are cartilage, lip, nostril, tongue, eyebrow, naval and nipple piercings. On any given day, it is common for him to do one or more of the aforementioned piercings in a small room that has a sign informing customers that he is a “professional piercer on duty.”

The piercings that are less common are usually more complicated, and a professional is necessary to ensure everything is done properly. Common piercings, such as the ears, enter through one side of the tissue and out the other. Surface piercings are more complicated as they require an entrance and exit hole to transverse a flap of skin.

Joel Molina, an apprentice piercer at NewLife, has seen many different types of surface piercings, including piercings on people’s hips, the webbing between the thumb and forefinger and on the nape of the neck.

“We’ll pierce anything as long as it will heal,” Molina said. He added that one surface piercing they do not do is the arm because of the skin’s tendency to move around, inhibiting the healing process.

Genital piercings are also uncommon, and Bavougian said maybe one is performed every month. More popular genital piercings include a hood piercing on a woman or a piercing through the urethra on a man, also known as a “Prince Albert.”

“The most mean thing I’ve ever done to someone is an ampallang where you pierce sideways through the penis,” Bavougian said. “I tried to be as gentle as possible, though.”

According to Jordan Black, a 19-year-old student at Parkland College who has a genital piercing, many people say genital piercings provide great stimulation.

“It doesn’t really do anything for me, though,” she said with a smile.

According to Bavougian, pain is also subjective, and Black even admitted that her nose piercing hurt more than her genital piercing.

As Black waits with a friend who has come to get the popular tongue piercing, Vendetta is still in the piercing room, listening to the after-care instructions. With a look of dismay when he hears that he cannot participate in open-mouth kissing or oral sex for three weeks due to a possible risk of infection, Vendetta may have gotten more than what he bargained for.