Belly Button Piercing Care

Belly button piercing or navel piercing is a latest fashion trend that has gain popularity worldwide, especially among the young generations. If you are one of the navel piercing enthusiasts and are planning to undergo belly button piercing, then hold on! Understand the various dangers and risks of belly button piercing first and decide whether you still want to wear that fantastic navel ring that you have seen in the stores.

Belly button piercing, like any other body piercing, takes time to heal completely. In fact, it requires longer healing time along with extra care tips, as navel area is rarely exposed. Some of the belly button piercing risks include painful, serious infections and blood poisoning. Also, clothing adds to the irritation of the belly button piercing site, thus increasing the risk of inflammation and infection. Considering all these points, proper belly button piercing care instructions should be followed, so as to avoid any possible complications.

Belly Button Piercing Care Tips

For those who have got your belly pierced and now are flaunting that sparkling jewelry in your navel, here are some belly button piercing care tips. Immediately after belly button piercing, the pierced site appears clean and your navel ring looks cool. Nevertheless, after the first few weeks, you have to give attention to the pierced site regularly. It is high time that you take a note of the following belly button piercing care tips, so as to avoid any unusual and painful symptoms.

Use Only Approved Metal
Using a good navel piercing metal is essential for minimizing the risks of infection. Hence, while piercing your belly button, make sure you use only approved belly piercing jewelry like stainless steel or titanium. If you are changing a jewelry, ensure that it is cleaned and sterilized.

Belly Piercing Jewelry
After getting your belly button pierced, it is quite understandable that you would want to touch or flaunt the jewelry. Tweaking or spinning the navel ring should be strictly avoided, as it can worsen the wound or injury. Every time you touch the navel ring or jewelry, you are aggravating the wound, which in turn can cause bleeding and other painful symptoms.

Wear Loose Clothes
As mentioned earlier, irritation by clothing aggravates the wound area and increases the infection. To avoid this, it is logical to wear loose, comfortable cotton clothes that do not rub the piercing area. In addition, do not wash your clothes with strong detergents, as they impair the healing process when they come in direct contact with the wounds.

Clean the Piercing Site
One of the most important belly button piercing aftercare tips is cleaning two times daily. You can use warm water and antibacterial soap for cleaning the pierced site. Gently remove the crust from the wound by using a cotton ball soaked in warm water. Also, do not forget to wash your hands thoroughly prior to cleaning the site.

Keep Piercing Area Dry
Another belly button piercing aftercare tip is to keep the area dry. After bathing or routine cleaning of the site, pat it with a clean absorbent tissue paper. Always remember that chances of infection are higher in wet wounds.

Salt Water Soaking
Saline solution is an effective method for quick healing of the belly button piercing. For preparing salt water solution, dissolve ½ tablespoon of sea salt in ¼ cup of sterilized water. Pour this saline solution in a medicinal cup and place it over your navel for about 15 minutes. Doing so helps in preventing infections.

Avoid Public Spas
Do not go to public spas or swimming pools, until the belly button piercing is healed completely. In case you go to any of such public areas, make sure that you put a waterproof bandage on the piercing area.

Check for Belly Button Piercing Infection
Do not ignore any infection signs in the navel pierced site (if present). You can get yourself examined by a qualified dermatologist as soon as possible before the infection progresses. Some of the noticeable signs that signify belly button piercing infection are severe pain, redness, swelling, burning sensation and abscess formation at the pierced site. Read more on belly button infections.

Well, this was a brief information on how to take care of a belly button piercing. As already mentioned, healing process of the belly button piercing is very slow and it takes time to heal completely. For some people, it gets healed within 2 - 3 months, while for others, healing may take as long as a year or more than that. However, with proper belly button piercing care tips, you can at least ensure positive healing with no complications.