From an external perspective, navel piercings may look cool and effortless, but if you want them to look pretty good in the long run, they require a serious commitment. They heal more slowly than many other types of body piercings and require a lot of aftercare.
A navel piercing (also known as a belly button piercing) is a piercing type located in or around the stomach button.
It may heal rapidly with no irritation, such as an ear piercing, or it may be more like a surface piercing accompanied by an extended healing time. Healing usually takes about 6-9 months, or even longer, and it will heal nicely as long as it cleans up. Unlike most outer piercings, this is one of the few that not usually reject, although the rejection rate is higher than for non-surface piercings, such as ear piercings.
The actual belly button can only pierce if it is an outie—for example, the skin around the navel piercing in one or more locations. The most common form of belly button piercing is through the upper edge of the belly button. It has been piercing by many female and male celebrities.
Navel Piercing Safety
Go to a place that you trust: Look for a clean, hygienic store licensed by the Professional Piercers Association. You should see the sign on the wall. The illumination should be good, so your piercer can see what they are doing.
Choose your piercings with caution: Just because a piercer has a license does not mean that they are well taught and experienced in piercing. Ask your piercer how long they have been doing it and how they train. Ask how they keep continuing to learning and improving. It is relevant because piercing does involve risks.
Ensure that the needle is hygienic: Tools should be in sealed pouches, which shows that they are sterile. If your piercer uses a single-use disposable needle, you should observe how he opens a new pack.
Choose your jewelry carefully: Medical-grade stainless steel is the least likely to cause an allergic reaction. Other safe options include gold, niobium, and titanium. The ring or barbell you choose should have a shiny finish and be free of nicks, scratches, or rough edges.
How much will it cost?
A belly button piercing will cost between $50 and $100. As with any piercing, choose experience over price. Never choose a piercer who uses a piercing gun. Your piercer must understand the correct size of jewelry to avoid rejection with belly piercings, so you must select an experienced piercer.
Pain and healing time
While you might think that a belly button piercing wouldn’t hurt as much because it’s on your stomach, it can hurt slightly – just like any other piercing. Because the skin on your belly is fleshy, you might expect it to be less painful than some cartilage piercing. However, the piercing creates passing the needle through the skin, so of course, there will be some pain.
A navel piercing will likely take six months to a year to fully heal, depending on how you care for it and your daily lifestyle; however, the most common time frame is between six and nine months.
Aftercare
- Don’t ever touch it without first washing your hands.
- Do not wear tight clothes around your navel, tanning beds, hot baths, public swimming pools, or sleep on your belly until the piercing at least mostly heal.
- Clean it twice or thrice a day with a saline solution for at least the first month.
- Observe the piercing site to ensure there are no problems with allergic reactions, infections, or rejection of the jewelry.
- Don’t change your jewelry until six to twelve months into the healing process, when you can move the jewelry back and forth without pain or any resistance.
What are the risks associated with navel piercing?
While navel piercings are fashion symbols that may make a bare abdomen look more sexually attractive, they carry many of the risks of body piercing, especially:
- Jewelry displacement or rejection: displacement is when the piercing moves internally to a slightly different position, while rejection is when your body starts pushing the jewelry out, and you see more and more of the barbell.
- Infection: New piercings may take 6-9 months or longer to be removed, during which sweat and bacteria may cause infection. Bacterial infections can lead to cysts.
- An allergic reaction to the jewelry
- Scarring: Skin tissue that rarely heals to match the surrounding tissue; it heals in different thicknesses, in various ways for different types of people, and forms various types of scars to other kinds of “damage”. Likely, any piercing does for a long time (months to years) leave a spot if removed.
- Excessive blood loss.
What jewelry material used for navel piercings?
The three most common types of materials used in belly button piercings are surgical steel, gold, and titanium. When you get a belly piercing, it is essential to use only materials containing nickel.
Surgical stainless steel: is usually the safer type of metal for piercings because of its low irritant or allergic sensitizing potential. However, this metal’s disadvantage is that it contains nickel, and its presence is a common cause of contact dermatitis.
Gold: If you’re more into gold for overall aesthetics and appearance, feel free to choose this metal for your new piercing. Be aware, however, that it contains nickel. Also, make sure it’s at least 14 carats, as anything less than that is too soft and unsafe for your body.
Titanium: If you prefer to avoid the potential adverse effects of surgical steel or know you are allergic to nickel, medical titanium is your best choice. It’s the same as surgical steel, although lighter and nickel-free.
