Having had my navel pierced for about five months now, I thought I would write about the problems I am encountering further into the healing stages.
At A Glance Author Alison Contact Alison@bme.anon When N/A Artist Nathan Studio Europierce Location Bournemouth After an initial period of it doing really well and seemingly healing nicely, I started having problems, it became red, inflamed and sore and I had no idea why this was happening.
Now, I was pretty damn sure I am not allergic to surgical steel. Also I was fairly sure it wasn't rejecting though that couldn't be ruled out completely. Neither was it infected as I got it checked out by my doctor. Something had definitely triggered the reaction, though there were a number of possibilities, so, I will tell you the "story" from start to present time.
I had it pierced in May this year with a PTFE bar with blue titanium ball at each end. During the first couple of weeks, it was doing fantastic, I couldn't believe how fast it was healing. Then one day, walking down the road, a thread on my jacket caught to the top ball and ummm, split the top hole slightly and it bled (problem number one). I went straight to my piercer who just said "keep it clean". I did this and in no time at all, the thing was all better and back to healing and looking nice. I then got bored with the bar being so plain, so, I went back to the piercer, who actually offered to change it for me to a nicer one (again ptfe but with bottom cluster jewels and plain ball at top). This was only three and a half weeks after the initial piercing (problem number two). All was well and it continued to heal nicely but a few weeks later, I got bored again and as it was doing so well, my piercer again said I could change it. This time I had bottom cluster jewels with one of those knocker things at the top, again, ptfe bar. I found the knocker thing a bit "in the way" at times but it seemed ok.
Now, this is where things start to change slightly. The knocker part used to actually put pressure along the pierce where it rested (problem number three) . I found I would be left with an indented ring on my belly. Plus there was slight, and only slight, redness. It still seemed pretty much ok. During this time, I had been to the beach one afternoon with a friend, didn't take my clothes off, or go in the water but hey, sand blows in the wind doesn't it so this is yet another thing contributing to the list of possible triggers!
I had the current bar in for a few weeks now and decided that the knocker bit was just irritating it so went to the piercer with my plain ball (spare from a previous bar) to get that put on instead. When I arrived at the studio, the he was outside having a cigarette, we went downstairs and he took the ball from me with his bare hands, having not even washed them, I don't recall him cleaning the ball prior to putting it on my bar either. This troubled me a little but I said nothing. Once the ball was on there though, it was much more comfortable so I was happy enough.
Then, I go and use my slendertone pad machine muscle toner thing don't I. Well, while I was using it, not too bad, even though some slight tenderness was starting to develop by now. (The toner pads cause the muscles to contract and relax so probably not advisable to be using it with a new piercing). Not long after using that, it started to get really tender and uncomfortable. Needless to say, I never used it again.
I had stopped messing round with changing bars by then and decided it was time to let it finish it's job of healing. Ha, fat chance, it just got worse and worse, though never got infected (so far). Having been using the navel wash from the piercer from day one, once a day as directed, I found it was no longer doing any good and changed to sea salt water. Meanwhile, went back for advice and much as I like the guy, he didn't seem all that helpful. He didn't recommend putting a surgical steel bar in but leaving the ptfe, also said the cluster on the bottom shouldn't affect it healing (I am convinced it caused extra pressure on movement). Another thing to note is although the bar was ptfe and titanium originally, the one I had in this time was ptfe with surgical steel.
When it got seriously sore, that was when I bought the antiseptic wound wash. I used that twice over two days and nothing else on it whatsoever and it calmed down quite alot. Then I went back to the salt water.
It still wasn't healing by now and nothing I did seemed to help at all so I finally went to another piercing studio for a second opinion. They actually agreed with me that the PTFE being so bendy could actually be causing it to irritate rather than helping and I have to admit, I did find it rather uncomfortable, especially if I was bending. After much discussion, they agreed to change the bar to a plain single jewel surgical steel one. I tell you, the second that bar was in, it felt a hundred times better already!!! I found it much more comfortable to bend and move with the steel than I did with the ptfe.
However, it still didn't seem to be healing too well so I then got in touch with a more reputable piercer in town. I mailed him with some pics and then phoned him for a chat. He was the one who spotted that the surgical steel is what was causing my reactions, turns out I am allergic to it. This I found rather annoying and was reluctant to even believe it but I decided to pay him a visit and hopped on the bus into town.
When I arrived at his studio I couldn't help noticing just how clean it was, very impressive, not only did it appear clean but smelt clean too!! Cleanest piercing studio I have ever been in I think.
After chatting for a while, I chose a double jewelled titanium bar which he put in for me after cleaning it etc etc. Here's hoping it will be alot better now.
It's a shame I didn't go there to have it done in the first place, he might have stopped me changing bars too soon, would probably have used titanium in the first place and I may never have had all these problems.
Obviously I still don't know if my navel will ever heal, it certainly seems like it won't sometimes but now that I have a good piercer who I can go to for advice and know not to put surgical steel in there, I am alot more confident that things will start to improve.
Although I have had lots of trouble with mine, I certainly don't regret having it done, I love having a pierced navel. My only "regret" is not researching the piercer beforehand and that I hadn't know about Sarge's studio in town. I would certainly recommend him to others.