Navel Piercing.

[Manasarovar]

So I've been meaning to get my belly button pierced for the longest time and I had pretty much decided to get it done this weekend.

But after reading about all the risks involved, I'm a little anxious. Anyone here know about piercings or have one in the navel themselves? Do you have any advice to give? Please tell me those risks aren't very common(Lol I really want to get this done )

Some background about me- I've gotten multiple ear piercings before and I haven't had any real problems so far, I'm allergic to regular metal(silver/gold is fine), I live in a pretty warm country so getting all sweaty won't be uncommon(a good breeding ground for microbes), I'll be living with my parents for at least the another year so I gotta hide it from them.

[cicadajones]

I don't have one myself, but when my sister went to get it done the piercer told her to wait until she was done growing. Otherwise, you may risk getting a scar/stretch of some sort if you end up getting taller and growing at the torso. Not sure how true that is, but thought I'd share it all the same.

[LPM]

I have multiple ear peircings myself. I did them all but my cartilage at the top. even did both tragus' and had no problems. I peirced my own naval too and had no problems. But I woodn't recommend doing it yourself. My two cousins who are sisters got theirs done and multiple amount of my friends had with no serius problems. you just have to take really good care of it and they said to use dial soap, that is the brand name, it is a mild soap that wont dry your peircing out. do not use neosporin alcohol swabs etc since that wood just reopen and dry out ur peircing which is perfect breeding ground for infection. you may experience puss. white puss in normal but if it becomes yellow even the slightest color you must start treating it right away as i mentioned with dial soap. I myself cleaned it about 3 times a day, when i took my shower, before bed and in the morning. Sometimes more times a day dependant on the weather if its hot and sticky or if I was exercising etc. I have read it takes about 3 months to a year to heal. but mine, i believe with all that care, or depends on the persons body, that mine healed in about 2 months. I wouldn't psyc urself out reading all the bad problems that can occur, it really only matters as long as you take care of it.

[Manasarovar]

Originally Posted by LPM

I have multiple ear peircings myself...I wouldn't psyc urself out reading all the bad problems that can occur, it really only matters as long as you take care of it.

Does is hurt a lot while you clean it? I mean when my ear were healing it was kinda painful to clean it and rotate the ear stud.

And my belly isn't completely flat, I'm kinda roundish, do you think that would make the healing harder? Lol because most people I've seen with pierced navels have the perfect stomach.

[Criseyde]

I had one. I would actually recommend against getting one unless your anatomy is right for it (mine wasn't). A piercer should be able to tell you whether it is: if you have a little lip/shelf at the top of your navel, that's good. If you don't, it will be a surface piercing, and all surface piercings eventually reject (rejection will give you a sliding scar unless you take the jewelry out as soon as you suspect it). Mine never healed properly and eventually rejected, after giving me trouble (the dreaded piercing bump) for almost the entire time I had it, and I have quite a scar. That said, I think mine was pierced crooked, which could explain the fact that it never healed well. Definitely make sure you go to a good piercer, if you decide to do it.

As far as infection goes, make sure that you wear fairly loose cotton tops for the first few weeks. If it gets infected, DO NOT take the jewelry out. Most infections resolve on their own, you just have to keep it clean. But if you take the jewelry out, and the hole closes, the bacteria could get trapped inside and that can cause problems.

My mom never knew I had one.

[Manasarovar]

Originally Posted by Criseyde

I had one.
...
My mom never knew I had one.

Aw too bad you had to take it off!

How can one tell if their anatomy is right for a piercing? Also how can I tell if there is a rejection? And how long did you have the piercing for before you had to take it out?

[Criseyde]

Originally Posted by Manasarovar

Aw too bad you had to take it off!

How can one tell if their anatomy is right for a piercing? Also how can I tell if there is a rejection? And how long did you have the piercing for before you had to take it out?

example 1

See how she has kind of a... flap of skin over her navel? That's good piercing anatomy. It gives something to pierce through, which lowers the risk of rejection.

example 2

See how she (or he?) doesn't -- that's how mine is, and that's more likely to reject.

I had mine for a year and a half, but it never healed properly and was just a giant pain in the butt the whole time.

How do you tell if it's rejecting -- you'll know. Your body will literally start to push the jewelry out of your skin. It will be sore, and the piercing will start to migrate.

If I were you, I'd spend some time browsing BME -- it's a great resource if you're at all interested in body mods.

[LPM]

Hmmm, trying to think back now. it was only ever painful when it was slightly infected (light yellow puss) but it wasn't anything excruciating just annoying, and be careful with shirt snags. you may also feel it when sitting down and your belly pushes the peircing upward. also when you clean with dial soap u want to clean around and in navel and on the stud itself and move the stud up and down allowing the soap foam thru ur navel. the ear is different from the navel. ears would get sore from sleeping on it snagging etc. the ears are sensitive to begin with. It really doesn't matter if you have a flat stomache or not. actually you wouldn't have to worry about growing and stretching it. my one cousin is round and had hers done she had no problems or delay in the healing process. meanwhile her sister, my other cousin, is small like me. but when she got pregnant she had to remove her navel peircing because of the stretching etc. But as i stated before, the healing process depends on the person and as long as you take care of it. I don't believe being round or flat or any other variation of sizes would affect much of the healing process.

[ssandra]

One thing to look out for is to have one large enough.

I had a little ring and after I gained some weight. Nobody however told me that I should have gotten a bigger one because of that, so it got infected and very nasty and didn't want to heal (of course not... it was too small!)

So either don't gain weight, or make sure that the thing is big enough

It has been over 10 years. I still have a small scar. I don't mind though...

[Peek]

Like Sandra, I have mine also for a long time already. It might be for 15 years.
Biggest point is to keep it clean especially in the first 10 weeks. I even walked with a surgical gaze on it just to make sure nothing could get in.

Other point, besides picking a good size is, to pick a beautiful one, because navel gazing is supposed to be more fun with a pierce in it!

[anissa]

I have my lip and my naval pierced as well as my ears. I didn't think it hurt when I got any of the piercings but that might just be me. My naval had some problems with healing and it took me almost a year for it to fully heal but the tattooist i went to, to get it done said it would take anywhere from 3months to a year to heal. My piercing would bleed often and it would hurt when i got it caught on my clothes but it ended up healing just fine and i rly like it. however my sister just got hers done recently and she didnt follow the instructions she was givin on how to take care of it and it got infected so she had to take it out. If you follow the instructions you are givin when you get the piercing you should be fine.

[Manasarovar]

Well the day of getting the piercing came but I decided not to get one right now, because in case I get a bad infection and need to go to the doctor, I'd have to tell my parents. Well I can work my way around that but it's not worth the risk for now.

So instead I got another ear piercing

But I will totally get my belly button pierced soon someday

Thank you for all you're posts!