I'm the type of person who just LOVES piercings. I want so many, I can't wait for more! I already have standard ones, like lobes (Twice each ear) and one upper cartilage in my left ear. I've started extending the lower lobe piercing in my right ear. I have my nose pierced, soon to get a rook and an industrial... Piercings rule.
At A Glance Author Imaginary-J Contact Imaginary-J@bme.anon When A year ago Studio Off Ya Tree Location Brisbane city So, I decided to continue down my long road of many piercings with a humble navel piercing. It seems like everyone has one before you get it pierced, but afterwards it seems like hardly was allowed to... Or judging by what people said at least. But it was my first piercing that was a body piercing, not ears or facial... So...
It took quite a lot of nagging to the mother parental but she finally agreed to let me get it done (Because she knows I'm not above doing piercings myself, ears anybody?). It was actually a birthday present, so I was pretty buzzing when I stepped out of the car.
Anyway, onto the actual piercing.
I took a friend with me, and while we sitting around waiting, she was more scared than I was. I was just sitting there wondering how long I'd have to wait, and she was shaking. Finally I got walked to piercing room and lay down in that weird dentist chair kind thing. The piercer went through everything with me, she told me about the clamps, showed me some pictures of other navel piercings she'd done, got me to choose out a bar and sterilized everything. She was very precise with the markings, 8mm exactly then showed them to me. We did some inhales and exhales (I have low blood pressure; she thought it might be best to take precautions).
I lay down with a few of those little goo things that dentists put on your gums to numb them a bit on my bellybutton. She took them out, rubbed my skin with some Dettol solution, and then picked up the clamps. She told me to breathe out just as the needle went through. It didn't hurt; I just felt a fair bit of pressure from the clamps, then this weird kind of pop when the needle came out the bottom of my navel.
She cut off the sharp end of the needle, fed the bar through, pulled out the rest of the needle and put the ball on the bar. The pulling the needle back out hurt the most, but it was more like a stinging pressure kind of sensation than down-right pain.
She made me lie down for ages, drinking cool water with a damp tea-towel on my head. Then she raised the chair very, very slowly, until I was almost sitting up straight. Then I suddenly felt really sick. I felt the blood drain from my face and my hands began to tingle. She quickly lowered the chair again and made me lie there for ages. Apparently a lot of people actually pass-out when they get navel piercings done, so it's not unusual. From shock I suppose, not pain or blood loss, because it didn't hurt and it bled only a tiny bit.
My friend and my mother came into the room when it was done to have a look, they nearly passed out right there and then! I suppose it had swollen a bit, and there was still some blood... They both have problems with blood.
Getting home I had to be really careful with the seat-belt in the car. I learnt quickly that one of the most painful things was getting the top of the freshly pierced belly-button bumped downwards.
I read the care sheet, wash with a salt-soak twice daily, in the shower clean with Dettol anti-bacterial body wash and use a cotton bud soaked in anti-bacterial solution to clean it up. I cleaned it as directed and everything, but something bad started to happen. It started rejecting. It wasn't healing even after the 4 months, it was getting infected, and it was getting closer to the skin everyday. My body was pushing my piercing out!
So we went back to the piercer and she changed the bar for a captive-bead ring. The ring could be moved around a lot better, so cleaning was easier, and everything was fine after that.
After it healed, I switched back to a surgical steel bar and everything's been fine and dandy. I love my belly-piercing, it's such a change from my other piercings, and I love the feeling when I poke the it of flesh between the top and bottom bits of the bar, and you can feel the bar under the skin. If anyone wants a belly-button piercing – Go for it. Sometimes they even grow out in a few years, so even if you're not sure – It's not permanent, and it's totally worthwhile. Rock on, if you got – Pierce It!