Belly Button Piercings- Tips and Aftercare
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Belly Button Piercing
Navel piercings, more commonly referred to as belly button piercings, are a common body piercing among woman and some men. It is a semi-quickly healing piercing with usually little complications. They tend to heal like an ear piercing without little rejection and migration, but at the same time, you may encounter the healing process as more like a surface piercing with the rejection and migration risks.
Healing a belly button piercing can be complicated and irritated by clothing and friction. Because it's around the waistline, you have to take into account pants, belts, shirts, etc. You must, also, consider the position of your belly button in regards to where you bend at your waist.
Bottom Belly Button Piercing
Types of Navel Piercings
The belly button can be pierced at different angles and sides. The more common navel piercings include:
- Upper Rim- or standard belly button piercing, which is pierced at the top of the navel ring.
- Lower Rim- or bottom belly buton piercing, which is pierced at bottom end of the navel ring.
- Sides- anywhere in-between the upper and lower navel ring.
Some people get surface piercings around the navel to accentuate a standard navel piercing.
Some people have been known to get their actual navel (outtie) pierced, which can be referred to as the true navel piercing, however, in my personal opinion, it should never be done due to the numerous problems that can present themselves from healing, misplacement, and moved. Think about it, you're umbilical cord was once there. It's not safe. Don't do it.
Healing Belly Button Piercings
Healing any piercing can be as easy or hard as you make it. If you stick to proper aftercare and cleaning, you should have minimal problems with just about any piercing, to include navel piercings.
The proper aftercare for navel piercing is as follows:
- After you get the piercing, make sure that you hve a pack of miniature Dixie cups and saline solution (not contact cleaner but SALINE solution).
- Clean the navel piericng at least 3 to 4 times a day. Make sure to use a NEW, unused Dixie cup with about 1/4" to a 1/2" with saline solution.
- Lay on a flat surface and upturn the cup to surround the complete navel area so that the saline can work its way through the piercing.
- Afterwards, you can dip a Q-Tip into the saline solution and gently go around both holes of the piering to remove any excess crust, died blood/ fluids, etc.
There is NO other reason to touch the new piercing.
Continue the process for at least a month to make sure things are fine.
You may experience crust or dried fluids for an undetermined amount of time. Whenever this happens use the Q-Tip to remove the dried fluid.
Make sure when cleaning piercings to have clean hands before touching anything.
DO's With a New Piercing
- Wear lose fitting clothing that allows the piercing to breath- cotton works best.
- Make sure your hands are clean
- Do use a new Dixie cup and Q-Tip each time you clean
- Ask your piercer if you have any problems or questions
Don't Use as Aftercare
Don'ts With a New Piercing
- Do not use any type of ointment-A&D, bacitracin, Neosporin, bactine- because it can smother a piercing.
- Do not use hand sanitizer, Dial soap, or peroxide as they are all too harsh for a piercing.
- Do not wear tight fitting clothing that restricts the breathing of the piercing.
- Do not touch your piercing for any reason other than to clean it.
- Do not change the jewelry until you are absolutly healed. The best thing to do is to return the piercing to make sure it's ok to change it and/or to change it for you. It's, also, goo to buy the new jewelry from your piercing because everybody needs to make a living.
- Do not wear heavy barbells or barbells with danglies (things that hand) for extended periods of times. Danglies can catch on belts, pants, shirts, etc. which will irritate the piercing. Heavy jewelry will pull on the piercing because of the weight, which will again, irritate it. If you want to wear something gaudy and "bling blingin'" to "da club" that's fine, as long as you put a normal, light-weight piece of jewelry when you get home.
A few other don'ts to consider:
- Don't go into a pool, hot tub, ocean, lake, or any other body of water. It is unsanitary and having a healing piercing submerged in unclean water is bound to cause you irritation.
- Don't use a tanning bed with a healing piercing.
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Comments
How long does it take for it to heal ... i mean i go to the beach practically every weekend ... how long will it take before i can go back to my normal routine of wake boardin and stuff?
i got mine done on monday of last week and i was great!1 i thought it was going to hurt but acually it didnt hurt at all, i mean i didnt even know they put the needle through yet. good luck with urs but make sure u clean it really well!!
Holly, it can take up to 9 months to heal, sometimes longer depending on your body and its average healing time.
ashley, most of the time the initial pain is all in your head. but it does depend on your pain tolerance.
I got my belly done a week ago and I think it may be infected but I clean it everyday twice a day it's red and it hurt when hit or bumped into somwthing do you think its infected it has had a little bit of light light green like white stuff come out not much so what do you guys think
If you have green puss coming out of it, then more than likely it's infected. You should go back to the piercer and have him check it out.
I had my inverse navel done just a few days ago. its not really painful unless i bend over and am not careful, or if i bump it! its been oozing just like a bit of clear stuff, and when i got it done it only bled just a little bit... the thing is i dont really know what the normal healing process is, because i do have my top navel done and it has been done for almost 2 years (its been fully healed for almost a year), but it got very infected!! i bathed it at least 3 times a day and cared for it properly but it still got infected. so, just this little bit of cleart stuff and the small amount of pain only after certain actions, is it normal? it also only has like a small amount of redness around the top ball... which im guessing its only normal (since its only been freshly pierced in the last 3 or 4 days) ive been really careful with it because i know how easy the infections can come! also i live 800kms away from the place where i got it pierced so its kind of hard to go back as have my piercer check it...
so is it all normal? could someone explain whats 'normal'?
What you're seeing for the first few days.. Yes it's normal. Because you cared for the standard navel piercing properly the first time, you body may be prone to infection in terms of piercings, so just be careful.
Now, when you say inverse, are your meaning a bottom belly button piercing or a surface piercing horizontal under the navel?
In terms of a bottom rim navel piercing, treat it as as upper rim navel piercing. Clean it twice a day with saline solution and wipe any lymph away with a Q-tip. Lymph would be the clear crusty material that leaks from the piercing.
Otherwise, for a surface piercing clean the same, but you'll have a higher risk of rejection.
The redness should eventually dull into a purple color and then fade away. But, depending on your body, the healing time will differ from person to person.
Its on the lower part of my actually belly button. Thanks so much! the problem with my first, top nanel piercing i think was the piercer put a CBR in even though i asked for a bar... i had the ring in for almost a year and it the infection wouldnt heal... so after a while i decided to change it to a bar. i went and bought i sterilised bar from the piercing shop, and my friend helped me change it. within a few weeks of having the bar in, and still caring for it properly, it was healed up perfectly! the infection was completly gone and i havnt had another single problem with it. because the infection was so bad, i do have a tiny bit of scarring around my top hole, but other than that, my ring, and then bar, didnt migrate or anything like that! so im not saying that rings are bad, but i just think my body healed better with the bar. so when i went to get my inverse the first place i went to wanted to put a ring through it, i walked out. i went and found a place that would put a bar through. was that a smart decision, because i sorta just went through what my past experience showed...
It was a smart idea. Most reputable piercers do not pierce navels with CBRs anymore. The CBR is prone to causing irritation because the ring can pull at the piercing. It is best to have belly buttons pierced with the banana barbells.
well its starting to feel better not really sore and like the pain is bearable. also, my top hurt way more!! i have 3 piercings other than my ears and im hoping on one more and a tattoo! but im really scared!! i want to get a vertical clitoral hood piercing... lol and i want a tattoo that says "La Bella Vita" which is "The beautiful Life" in italian! im a bit chicken so im gonna wait just a little while before i attempt either one! i already have my lip pierced offset to the right side, which didnt hurt at all and my inverse didnt hurt as much as the top of my belly button!! my mum watched my lip get done and was amazed that i didnt even know she had pierced it! i usually have a very low pain tollerance!! my boyfriend watched me get my inverse done and he couldnt believe that i was willing to have pain inflicted on me! lol hes like not against piercings and tattoos but doesnt lke them for himself and wouldnt get them. but i think it really opened his eyes to how the procedure is done!
I personally would recommend the horizontal hood versus the vertical. It serves more a purpose other than aesthetic. Plus there's less discomfort not having to use the retainer tube. I have found that the lip/labret piercings are one of hte least painful in most people. My girl said her's didn't bother her, although she didn't keep it long.
So I had my belly button pierced (bottom) like...three months ago. It was doing pretty good, until about a week and a half ago. It was getting very irritated, red, and itchy. I started cleaning it, my biggest mistake is I didn't know it was bad to use peroxide. I ended up taking it out today, and it is already starting to heal over. I really didn't want to take it over, any advice? Should I try to put it back in?
If you try to put it back in, you're going to cause more damage and irritation that it is already. You really shouldn't have removed the jewelry to begin with. When you remove the jewelry of an irritated or infected piercing, you risk have the infection closed into your body versus allowing it to leak out. The skin will heal up, blocking the infection from being able to get out. Now, granted this doesn't occur all the time, but it's a BIG possible risk. I'd go to you body piercer and see what he suggests.
I got my bellyring done about a week ago. It seems to be very red arounf the holes, its not painful just itchy and has a whitish fluid that comes out.. i clean it twice daily with sea salt and boiled water and puta little tea tree oil on every second day. Is the redness and white stuff normal and am i cleaning it properly?
I was reading above about clit rings... I am thinking about getting one but a bit scared.. Is it painful? what do u recommend and what about infections? how long does it take to heal and is it safe to have sex while it is healing? My piercings are prone to infections, the only piercing that didnt get infected was my tongue ring..
Cindy what you're experiencing sounds normal. Just keep cleaning. Try not to over clean. I wouldn't necessarily use the tea tree oil.
Princessrobyn all piercings are painful to some degree. The amount of pain that you experience will vary upon each persons pain threshold. Treat infections with saline solution and a dab (teeny tiny dab) of ointment. Do not take the jewelry out because you risk blocking the infection in your body. If the infection is too bad, go to your body piercer for more help. If you're prone to infections, you may consider a different metal to get the piercing initially pierced in. Typically, piercers use steel. Generally, infections in genital piercings are rare; the vagina is covered in a slightly acidic mucous membrane that tends to prevent infections; although they can occur, it's rare. Typically, it's recommended that you do not have sex for 2-3 days at BARE MINIMUM and then take it easy; if you feel sharp pains you need to stop because you risk tearing the piercing. They generally heal in about 2-3 weeks. You're actually not getting the clit pierced but the hood above the clit.
Do u think tea tree is a bit strong? there seems to be a little puss that comes out now.. Im a bit worried.. My last one got infected too and i ended up taking it out tho that was done with a gun. Do u think its ok to maybe change the bar to a solid gold one or something? its been a week and 4 days. I really dont wanna take it out!
Cindy, usually tea tree oil is used if you start to have problems with a piercing and usuy to aid keliods. A week and a half is usually not enough time to determine how a piercing will go- rejection or heal. Keep cleaning. I'd switch to saline solution instead of sea salt, as it's not as harsh. Otherwise, if you want to continue the sea salt, use about 1/4 teaspoon with 6 ounces of water. This ratio will ensure that the mixture is not too strong. It's just easier to use the saline. The lymph (or what you're discribing as puss) is normal. If you start to have complications do not take the jewelry out; go back to the piercer and have him take a look.
I have a friend who just got belly button pierced (top) last night and she is having alot of bleeding. I can't find anything on the web about the bleeding and piercing place isnt open until after lunch. Is this normal?
It's normal. Tell her not to knock the piercing and not to mess with it. Don't touch it. Don't do anything with it except clean it with saline. She just got it last night, it's way to early to tell if it will migrate, reject, or get infected.
I got my top rim pierced on sunday, may 4 2008, recently, it has not been a week yet. and this is my first piercing besides my ears and i do not know what i am doing. the peircer told me how to take care of it, by washing it twice daily with antibacterical soap and rocking the barbell back and forth. overnight i tape a guaze to prevent irritation. the frist 2 days it wasnt bothering me at all, now ive realized that it reals irritated and its getting a little red. when i touch it, it feels soar. i do not know the meaning of "normal" or "normal healing". please help!
i got my belly button pierced in the christmas vacation (about 5months ago) and i thought that it was healing fine.but then i lost the top of the bar and had to get a new one and since i got a new one,i think its got infected, theres pus coming out and theres a reddish colour compared to the purple one before.if i get a normal piercing disinfectant,would that work the same?
Jessica DON'T mess with the piercing! Don't move it. Don't touch it. Don't tape it up. All you need to do is to follow the healing methods that I've described on this page. Use saline solution (not eye wash) in a small dixie cup and overturn the cup on you belly button for about 10-15 minutes 1-2 times a day. twice at first then once a day. Make sure to gnetly remove any crusties with a Q-tip. By covering it, you're restricting the piercing from breathing.
seonaid the lymph that the piercing secreted should have never been purple much less red. Use saline only. Disinfectants are too strong. You can use a thin, very thin, layer of antibiotic ointment on the piercing and gently push the jewelry through the hole once or twice, and wipe up any ointment around the piercing with a q-tip. Just make sure to clean the piercing at least once daily with saline only.
working
jaymz says:
3 months ago
As long as you take care of it properly you should be fine.