Oh.... there's a difference... believe me. I let my two 14g lip holes go empty for 4 months... now my 14's won't pop through... and regular earring wires (prob 18g) will.... so here's hoping 16 goes through!
I peirced my lip with a 13g needle & i have a 16g lip ring in it & it fits perfectly. the length is whats usually the most different. most stores only carry one standard size. even tho the length doesnt look different untill u put them side by side or after you put it in. the smaller the gauge number the bigger the whole or the bar is. so if you had it peirced at a 13 or 14g then its should fit in good with a 16g lip ring. but if u had a16g lip peircing then tryed to use a 13 or 14g it would be a little to small. the one in the picture is one size up from the standard sizes sold at many stores. i had to get those ones because i dont have small lips. & the regular 16g ones were to tight they were cutting into my lip so i got ones that were slightly bigger in length not gauge.