Before I begin to tell you about my recent experience with a navel piercing, I want you to know a little bit about me.
At A Glance Author Naomi Contact Naomi@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Maika Studio On Edge Studio Location The Hague, The Netherlands (europe) I've never really appreciated the navel piercing until a few days ago. I always thought it was somewhat of a strange place to have a piercing. It's through a fold of flesh rather than going through a loose piece of flesh (for example an earlobe or a nostril or a lip). I think that both eyebrow and navel piercings should be considered surface piercings. I didn't have much luck with my eyebrow piercing and the though of a navel piercing never crossed my mind. Perhaps I've just been overloaded with the view of fourteen year olds sporting their pubescent tummies decorated with cheap glittering jewelry. The fact that navel piercings are widely accepted because they are prevalent yet most of my piercings are not and therefore are not accepted, sort of turned me off – if that sentence were to make any sense to anyone. But any rate, lately people have been asking me why I don't have a navel piercing. And so I started thinking to myself, 'really, why haven't you ever thought of the p ossibilities of a navel piercing?' It occurred to me that perhaps I could pierce my navel at a big gauge – why not?
The Plan:
We were going to pierce my navel at 4 mm and immediately stretch it up to 5 mm where we would insert an acrylic plug.
The Procedure:
Maika autoclaved the jewelry; the clamps and needles were already autoclaved and packaged. She neatly arranged all the tools and things she would need. This included: the pen, the clamp, the needle, the jewelry, a stretching taper, and a whole tube of ky jelly (I'm proud to say she used a whole tube just for me). After she made sure she had everything within hands reach, she cleaned the navel area and marked my navel. I lay down on the table and she clamped me. The piercing of my navel was pretty standard except that we pierced the lower part of my navel opposed to the top and it was deeper than a "standard" navel pierce. I have to admit that it was quite painful compared to my ten other various piercings. The piercing took about a second and a half, and I started having doubts about stretching it. I decided that I got this far, I may as well try to stretch it.
She pierced me from top to bottom and so the taper and the jewelry would go the same downwards direction. The taper went in and I really did not like the feeling of that. The pain was quite immense and I had to tell her to stop for a moment. Maika pushed about three times and we only got as far as one fourth of the taper. I really could not take the pain anymore and we decided to leave it at four mm. The problem however is that we would have to remove the taper by moving it upwards. So far everything had been moving downwards. I knew that it was going to be an uncomfortable moment – which it was. She removed the taper and immediately put in a four mm plastic o-ring. Because of the piercing, stretching and especially the unstretching, the piercing started to bleed a bit. We put a gauze on it just until it stops bleeding and she send me home.
It was a bit sore but not uncomfortable. Sitting wasn't too nice but then again, I don't mind standing. I didn't clean it before I went to bed since I had gotten it pierced late in the evening anyway. I didn't want to agitate it and have it bleed again. The next morning I took a shower and cleaned it with soft antibacterial soap (unicura number two) which is what I use normally to wash myself anyway. I washed away the crusties and everything. It wasn't very swollen but it was quite sore so I didn't dare poke it with swabs or move the jewelry about.
Healing and everything after:
The first week my navel was sore and not crusting at all. I was very pleased with it. After a week and a half, it started looking a bit more angry and red but by then I started with sea salt soaks which it seemed to like a bit. My cleaning regiment is very simple. In the mornings (or whenever I take a shower), I clean it gently with the soap and in the evenings I soak it in saline solution. I wipe everything off with qtips. They're very handy for navel piercings. It also dries everything off in the little crevices which is a must in my opinion. I think the key is to dry it completely, especially inside the belly button. It's now been more than two weeks and my piercing is doing well. It's no longer sore if I touch it and I move it about it a bit more which makes cleaning very easy. It's not easy to clean an o-ring, especially where the belly button is. I suggest either a longer tunnel of some kind or a ring (though I don't know if that would be too heavy). I'm going to wait perhaps nine months or so until I know for sure it's absolutely healed before I attempt to stretch it again. My experiment may have not been successful, but at least I now know the limits of my pain tolerance. I do suggest starting off by piercing at a large gauge because I can't imagine having to stretch from 1.6 mm. And I suggest stocking up on qtips and sea salt. And if I'm happy with my new piercing? Definitely.