You really think there is no difference between an earing through the non venous lower ear lobe and the "lip discs" of certain Amazonian tribes, or multiple spiked studs nailed through a punk's face? None at all, just a subtle matter of "taste"?
There's a matter of degree of course, which you are quite aware of or you wouldn't be carrying your example to the ridiculous. Obviously 500 piercings in a single ear (or lip, nose, what have you) is much more extreme than a single hole.