November of 2003: After spending a night in the hospital, I was forced to take out my two-month old piercing, so that I can have some x-rays done. By the time the doctor was done, my hole had closed, and I was devastated.
At A Glance Author Lyna Contact Lyna@bme.anon When A week ago Artist Byron Studio Planet Three Location Downtown Savannah, GA July 2005: That was almost two years ago. I had spent every day since then thinking about my piercing. Admiring my barbell. Wondering what it would be like to get it redone. I researched navel repiercings, and I was told that it would hurt, so I changed my mind, and starting thinking about getting a tattoo.
During my search, I came across Planet Three. Since they no longer do tattoos, I was left with nothing but pictures of navel piercings that I found on their site. I quickly became obsessed with the thought of getting mine repierced again.
I did some more research on piercers in the area, and the one I wanted was out of town, so he referred me to Planet Three. I called first to see if they would do a repierce, and if they would use my old jewelry. The answer was yes to both.
I called my fiance, and asked him what he thought about belly button piercings. He told me that he thought they were sexy, and he agreed to take me to get mine redone.
August 4, 2005: The day I was supposed to get pierced. I woke up that morning, and I did a sea salt soak, and cleaned my belly button really well. The ride to Savannah seemed to last forever. I was becoming nervous, and I had butterflies in my stomach. I couldn't calm down, so we ended up passing by the studio three times before I said that it was okay to park.
I was skeptical when I first walked into Planet Three. It was dark, and it just looked like a normal department store. I was tempted to leave, but I decided that I would give it a try. I met Byron, the piercer, and we went over some jewelry, only to discover that I had lost my piece. He wanted way to much for the barbell, so I got stuck with a stainless steel circular beaded ring. He took my ID, and put all of my information into the system, then he brought out a sterilization card for me to initial. He never asked me about any allergies I had or anything.
Then it was time. He took my fiance and I into the room where he would be piercing my navel. It was very clean. The sink had a foot pedal so that he wouldn't have to touch anything, there was an examination bed in the middle of the room, and stainless steel counters.
He put on some gloves, and asked me some questions about my last piercing while he began to mark my belly button. He put the ink right over where my last piercing was since I didn't have any complaints. He gave me a minute to look at it in the mirror, and then he cleaned it and told me to lie down.
He had some gauze with a hole cut in the middle to put around my belly button. He started to massage it to loosen up the scar tissue, and informed me that mine was almost gone, so it shouldn't hurt as much.
Then, he left to get all of the sterilized equipment, and he showed it to me with my initialed card. Then he was ready to begin.
He told me to breathe deeply, and he clamped my navel. Then he told me to take a deep breath so he can put the needle through. It only hurt for a second, but that one second was awful. He left the needle in my navel while he got up to get the jewelry. He asked me if it hurt, or if I felt light-headed or anything.
He told me to take another deep breath so he can put the ring in. That was the worst part because he was twisting it and everything. When he had it in, he explained how the CBR would work, and told me that the ball wasn't screwed on, so if it ever becomes loose, it could fall off. Then he was done, and I got up to look at my new piercing.
I didn't feel light-headed, nausea, or anything. I felt better than when I went in. While I was admiring my new ring, he went over aftercare procedures, and told me that I could use the same method that I used with my last piercing if it worked for me. He then gave me a sheet with all of his information on it, and it also stated the day I had it done and the type of jewelry that was used.
It's been a week, and it feels like an old piercing. I'm just considering letting him put a barbell in since I keep hitting the ring.