Thursday June 25th, 2009 @ 12:31 PM
Filed under: Navel
Hi.
This is my third time getting my navel pierced. The first time, the piercing grew out. The second time, the top ball kept going inside the hole so I just took the piercing out. Now, on the bottom ball, when I move the bar a little, it seems like spongey bloody tissue is coming out. Also, there’s like a raised bubble around the hole. I’m just wondering what I should do, because the bloody tissue is really scaring me. Any suggestions?
First of all, don’t be freaked out by the bloody tissue. The bump/tissue you are describing is not uncommon with navel piercings. They typically show up around the 2 months mark, but sometimes they show up later and sometimes earlier.
Without seeing your piercing, I can only talk in very general terms. Very often, those bumps are a result of jewelry that does not fit well/right. The mechanical irritation keeps the piercing irritated, hence the bump/blood tissue. To figure out if this is the issue, a piercer would need to take a look at it.
You didn’t mention what you were doing for aftercare, but cleaning too frequently and/or using something too harsh can also contribute to irritation. If you are doing anything other than sea salt/saline soaks a few times per day, it’s probably best to consider changing your aftercare routine.
Another thing that many people miss is being sure to dry out your navel really well after you shower or soak it. Extra moisture can inhibit healing.
Good luck!
+5 / 5 votes 
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
Monday June 1st, 2009 @ 6:30 PM
Filed under: Navel
Hi,
I’ve had a my navel pierced for over 16 weeks, and the darn thing just won’t heal.
About two weeks ago it looked really good, I honestly thought it might finally be healing. Then bam! A nasty puss blister formed on the top hole. Within a week that blister grew, shrank,grew again, bleed, shrank, and now looks like a bloody scab and its still bleeding.
What is going on with my top hole? I honestly dont think its rejecting, that placement is still the same, and there is no skin thinning. There isnt much pain. The bottom hole is perfect, I have never had a problem and it looks like its completely healed.
Just top hole.. I clean it daily, do sea salt soaks.. ugh. Help?!
Thanks!
It could possibly be that the jewellery is a little too tight for a fresh piercing. There should be a little room between the balls and the piercing otherwise it can’t drain and the discharge will become trapped, resulting in the formation of a what resembles a boil. It’s hard to say without seeing but that would be my first guess. Alternatively, it is not uncommon for the skin around the ball to ulcerate if shower/bath products with added moisturiser are used, as these soften the delicate tissue to the point that friction between the jewellery and the skin causes irritation. And of course, there is also your aftercare regime to consider. It’s worth noting that you cannot expect a navel piercing to be healed at four months. They usually take between eight and twelve months (sometimes longer) to fully heal.
+10 / 12 votes 
Loading ...
Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 2 Comments
Sunday February 22nd, 2009 @ 9:21 AM
Filed under: Navel
I just found out I am pregnant (hooray!) and though I have a few months before my stomach gets to this point, I like to plan ahead. I have 2 navel piercing (top and bottom) and I was just wondering what would be best. Should I just take them out when the time comes or just get the barbells to put in? I would rather not retire these to piercings, but if it is what’s best then I will. Thanks for your help.
Congratulations!
What you can do is when you notice that you are starting to require a longer bar, is pop an oversized PTFE bar in there and this will accomodate any extra length your piercing may require as your belly grows. I, personally, am not normally a fan of PTFE but this is one of those instances when it does prove useful. Take care not to catch it, though.
+9 / 13 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Comments
Sunday November 23rd, 2008 @ 5:12 PM
Filed under: Navel
I got a standard navel piercing on December 11, 2007. It was pierced absolutely perfectly. The initial jewelry was a 14g J-shaped barbell, which I am still wearing. My problem is that, after almost a year, it still hasn’t healed. It gets crusties, and bleeds whenever I have to take it out to clean the crusties off the barbell. There is no tenderness, redness, or evidence of rejection. Why hasn’t it healed, and what can I do to get it to heal?
Thanks!
Navel piercings can take a year, sometimes longer depending on the individual, to heal. I suspect that the continual removal of the jewellery to clean the piericng is irritating it and lengthening the healing time. If you are getting crusties then that is indicitive of not being fully healed therefore you should be leaving the jewellery in situ and continuing with your twice daily seasalt soaks. That is the best way to allow your piercing to heal.
+13 / 13 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | 1 Comment
Wednesday October 15th, 2008 @ 10:35 AM
Filed under: Navel
I got my navel pierced (on the top) in the first week of may and I haven’t been having any problems. But recently in the past month I’ve been noticing that the skin covering the bar has been getting thinner and thinner, and I’m worried about it getting ripped out or falling out. I tried looking it up online, and what I figured was that it’s a migrating piercing. What should I do about it? If I take it out, would the scar tissue left over after it healed let me get it pierced again?
Thanks!
I’d say it is rejecting - a defence mechanism the body has for ridding itself of foreign objects, which is what a piercing is. If you leave it your body will eventually push the jewellery right out and you will be left with a scar. If this happens it is unadvisable to get it pierced again as scar tissue lacks the properties of normal skin and the same will most likely happen again. However, if you remove the jewellery now and give it at least three months before considering having it pierced again, then you may well heal the future piercing.
Also, you need to understand why it rejected. It could be poor placement, not having the right shaped navel to support the piercing, poor aftercare, irritation from clothes etc or you could just be unlucky.
+11 / 11 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Comments
Friday August 22nd, 2008 @ 7:44 AM
Filed under: Navel
I have had this particluar piercing for about 9 years, had no trouble at all when it was done (it is one of three in a triangle formation -one top, two bottom)
It is one of the bottom ones that have gone a bit wrong, I can only asume I slept on it funny and it swelled up a little then got infected, it is not oosing pus or anything, its just red under the skin and rather hard and swollen.
I feel very similar to when I got cellulitus at a festival last year in my leg.
sick, head aches, fuzzy head, swelling, funny redness under skin surface, etc. by the time I got to the doctors (could walk to get there) it had cleared up and they of course did not believe there was a problem.(pfft doctors eh?)
I know it can be a re-occuring problem, is it possible to get cellulitus via piercings?
I would go to the doctor about it but they never actually help, at all.whatever the problems they seem to just assume I’m after prescription drugs or something. which is baws as I have no interest in such things, prescription or otherwise
Cellulitis rarely clears up without antibiotic therapy. It is a bacterial infection of the subcutaneous tissues (usually staph. aureus, sometimes streptococcal). It is characterised by a red, spotty rash, heat, intense throbbing pain and later on, fever and general feelings of malaise. It is treated with urgency (in some cases intravenous antibiotics may be administered) due to the potential it has to lead to septaecemia. Usually, there is a point of entry for the infection - a wound of sorts, but it can be systemic if infection exists elsewhere in the body. I am not a doctor but I would also have doubted your diagnosis based on what you have said.
You say you are feeling unwell? Sometimes, even well-healed piercings can flare up if you are under the weather so your angry piercing could be a symptom of something else. If the redness isn’t accompanied by excess heat, pain and discharge then I wouldn’t be too concerned. You can do twice daily tepid seasalt soaks to help reduce the inflammation and ensure you eat a healthy, balanced diet and keep well hydrated. If you are under the weather then taking a multivitamin may be of benefit. If you have changed the jewellery recently, then this could be a factor. If you haven’t removed the jewellery to clean it in the last nine years then this could also be a factor!
Of course, if you are in any doubt whatsoever, then a trip to the doctors won’t do any harm.
+1 / 5 votes 
Loading ...
Posted by Tiff Badhairdo | Permalink | Comments
Thursday August 14th, 2008 @ 1:33 AM
Filed under: Navel
I will be going to get an industrial navel piercing and i am wondering weather i should get a bioplast or stainless steel barbell. I’ve done some research and have heard pros and cons of both types of jewlery. I have a somewhat active lifestyle and I would like to know which will be more comfortable.
thanks for your help:]
Realistically neither would be “more comfortable” with someone who has an active lifestyle.
Also have you visited a reputable piercer to inspect the navel area and make sure what you’re looking for, is even capable of being done? As more often then not, peoples navels are not suited for the type of piercing you’re referring to.
If you are suitable to get both your Standard Navel and Inverse Navel pierced. You could technically heal the each piercing with separate jewelry. Then once healed place a Tygon piece of jewelry through the pathways and leave it in until it becomes firmer/harder. From there remove it and the piercer can either order a custom bent Barbell or if they have proper non-damaging (ie: won’t gouge the hell out of the surface of the jewelry) bending pliers they can attempt to make the shape themselves.
If you want you can do a search on AskBME involving BioPlast and it will explain why BioPlast is not a suitable jewelry material to be used in fresh/initial piercings.
But realistically if a client came to me looking for this and mentioned they lead a very active lifestyle, I would have tried to really make them understand that a very active lifestyle is not conductive to the healing of this specific piercing. If they were still interested in going through with it, then I would stress to the client to consider it a “project” and encourage it be done the way I mentioned above. Where its pierced with two pieces and then later figure out the pathway shapes and create/order a custom barbell shaped specifically for what your navel requires.
+2 / 4 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Tuesday July 22nd, 2008 @ 8:08 PM
Filed under: Navel
I had surgery April 11th of this year. I have always wanted my navel pierced, but never got it done. Now I have had surgery and am dealing with this scar that is on top of my navel going down to below my navel.
Are my dreams of having my navel pierced gone for good or can I still pierce it?
What are the risks, issues with doing so and how long should I wait to do it? It’s been 3 months so far
Thanks so much
I always hate to have to say this when answering a question…but your best bet is to visit a local piercer who you trust/hear good things about and have them look at the scarring. They will (should) be able to give you much more precise information about what is and isn’t possible if they can see/feel the scarring.
In general, I would say that your hopes of having a navel piercings don’t need to be abandoned. Piercings can very often be done through scar tissue. In some cases, a slight adjustment of the placement might be necessary to avoid large sections of scarring. Piercing through scarring can sometimes increase the likelihood of migration or rejection. If you were my client, I would likely suggest starting off with 12ga curved barbell. The slightly thicker jewelry should put less pressure on the tissue, reducing the likelihood of rejection. While scar tissue is harder than normal tissue, it is also more “brittle”, so the less pressure/irritation on it, the better.
A piercer who can see the scarring in person will be better able to advise you in terms of how long to wait. Based upon what I can see (size and color of the scar), I would probably suggest waiting about a year. It might not be easy to wait that long, but you obviously want to give yourself the best chance of success when you finally decide to do it.
Best of luck!
+7 / 11 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | 3 Comments
Monday July 21st, 2008 @ 3:13 AM
Filed under: Navel
I had my navel pierced about a month ago and today it fell out–The top of it came loose and I dont know if this was because of things brushing against it or water?). Anyways, the whole piercing came out and I was told not to put it back in (risks infection) and to just let it heal. I was wondering if I would be able to get it done again if I wait until it fully heals? Also, should I put anything on the area while it heals? Will there be any bumps or scars after its healed? And do you know approx. how long it will take to heal? Thanx.
Who told you to leave the jewelry out and not put it back in, for fear of increased chance of infection?
The reality is if you actually walked into a studio, with the jewelry in a bag, they could have processed and autoclaved (Sterilized) the jewelry for you and then proceeded to re-insert the jewelry using a taper.
This is why you should NEVER listen to any friends, family or misc. person as they all have their own piece of information to get. If a studio actually told you not to put it in, then I say who was spaced out and forgot they had an autoclave to sterilize said jewelry in question.
If it’s been out now for more than a couple days your best bet is to let it heal up now. As for treating it you should still be doing sea salt soaks at least once a day. Personally I’d suggest waiting roughly 2 months or even a bit longer before attempting to consider re-piercing it again. And when you think its ok to re-pierce visit a studio and get their opinion on if its suitable to re-pierce yet or not.
+15 / 19 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Sunday June 22nd, 2008 @ 12:24 AM
Filed under: Navel
I got my navel pierced on the night of my 18th birthday, the 15th of June. I like the look of large navels and want to stretch it to 8g or 6g over the next 2-3 years. I let my piercer know this and he took it into account and spent a long time positioning the marks so it would be centered and at a good depth. After getting it I didn’t notice, still too excited about having it, but the next morning I saw that it is slightly crooked. The funny thing is the top is centered to the top, and the bottom is centered to the bottom, but they still look slightly off.
I’m also not sure if this is just because it was placed slightly deeper to account for stretching, if it’s just slightly swollen and crooked from that or if it really is slightly off.
I’m not sure if I should take it out and have it repierced in a better position, or if it’s so slight that it won’t make a difference, wait for it to heal, stretch it anyway, and perhaps scalpel it slightly if it ends up still looking crooked after I finish stretching it.
What do you think? Thanks for your help!
Unfortunately, it’s hard to really get much detail from the picture. It does look like it might be somewhat off, but that could be due to something as simple as how the jewelry happens to be resting…or as you mentioned, swelling.
I would suggest giving it a week or so and see how it looks then. At that point, most of the swelling should be gone, so you can eliminate that as a factor. If it still seems crooked, I would probably suggest removing it and having it redone. When you start stretching piercing that are off, sometimes it can actually make them look less off. Many times however, the stretching simply accentuates the “offness” even more.
When it’s all said and done however, it comes down to how much it bothers you. It’s your piercing and you’re the only one that has to be happy with it.
+5 / 5 votes
Loading ...
Posted by Derek Lowe | Permalink | Comments
