Summary

• Healing Time: 6 months to 1 year
• Do not touch your piercing, or let others touch it while it is healing
• Clean your healing piercing only once a day, with antibacterial soap
• Never use alcohol swabs, Betadine or hydrogen peroxide to clean your piercing
• Ideally soak your piercing in saline solution daily
• Take care when swimming, avoid spas
• Pain, redness and unusual discharge may be due to infection. Consult your piercer or a physician if you develop any of these symptoms
• Wear loose clothing to avoid your jewelry ‘parking’ to one side
• Take vitamin C and zinc to maximise your healing
• Wait till your piercing is healed before changing jewelry yourself

Care Routine

• Do not touch your piercing unless you are cleaning it. Unwashed hands carry bacteria and your piercing is a point where these bacteria can penetrate below your skin and cause an infection.
• While healing, your piercing will need to be cleaned once daily - whilst showering is ideal. You will need to use an antibacterial soap that contains triclosan (e.g.Dettol Liquid Soap).

  The step-by-step procedure is:

1. Wash your hands with antibacterial soap.
2. Wet the piercing with plain water.
3. Put a few drops of antibacterial soap on the piercing and work them into a lather with a cotton bud.
4. Try to loosen any crusted discharge and float it off the jewelry and your skin with the cotton bud.
5. Leave the antibacterial soap on the piercing for two minutes while rotating the jewelry back and forth, allowing the disinfectant to penetrate the piercing.
6. Rinse with water and air dry thoroughly.

• Also of proven effectiveness is soaking the navel in saline solution. This takes 10 -15 minutes but is well worth the effort.

  The step-by-step procedure is:

1. Put 50mls of Saline solution in a small glass tumbler (ideally contact lens sterile saline solution, or alternatively a pinch of salt in a glass of cooled boiled water).
2. Holding the glass upright, bend over the glass and press the rim around your piercing.
3. Lie down on your back and hold the glass against your navel for 10 to 15 minutes. Read, listen to music...
4. Stand , bend over, and release the glass.
5. Afterwards, dry thoroughly with a clean tissue or cotton bud.

Piercing Options and Jewelry Choices

• Suitable Positions:
  Most people choose a vertical piercing entering inside the navel and exiting through the skin above the navel. This is least likely to be squashed by clothing.
• Suitable Types:
  1. Captured bead rings
     Rings are much cheaper than bar bells, but they do tend to park flat against the skin. Special pliers are usually required to remove or replace the bead.
  2. Curved bar bells
     Either choose internally threaded bar bells or be very sure that no threads are exposed.
  3. Jewelled bar bells
     Look for jewelry where the gems are mechanically set into the metal rather than glued. Glued jewelry cannot be sterilised.
  4. Spirals
     These can be positioned in several ways. Check with your piercer.
• Suitable Sizes:
  Only 14 gauge or heavier jewelry should be used. Smaller gauges will migrate out through the skin.
• Suitable Materials:
  Surgical Stainless Steel, 18 carat gold, titanium,niobium.
  Do not use 9 carat gold, silver (which can stain the tissues permanently), or gold plated jewelry in new piercings. In a healing piercing the gold plating will wear off the jewelry before the piercing is healed. This is not such a problem in healed piercings.
• Changing Jewelry:
  It is possible to change jewelry during the first 6 months, but this is best done by a professional piercer. Once a piercing is healed anyone can change the jewelry.

Other Issues

• Bacterial Infections
  Infections are perhaps the most common complication with body piercings. Symptoms include increased pain, increased redness and an increase in the amount and thickness of the discharge. The infected discharge is usually thick and yellow, green or grey and may have an unusual odour. Consult with your physician or piercer and do not remove the jewelry until you seek advice. Removing the jewelry can allow the piercing to close over the infection and create an even worse problem: a closed abscess beneath the skin.
• Cleaning Agents
  Never use alcohol swabs, Betadine, hydrogen peroxide, methylated spirit, or tea tree oil to clean your piercing. These do kill bacteria but they also destroy your healing flesh. Dead flesh then becomes easily infected.
• Clothing
  Tight clothing rubbing against your piercing is not recommended—it disrupts blood flow and can delay healing. It also increases the chance of your jewelry ‘parking’ or folding to one side, especially with rings.
• Exercising
  Take care on hot days and when exercising as sweat tends to collect in your navel. Wash or soak the navel afterwards.
• Lavender Oil
  This essential oil lubricates the piercing and is reputed to reduce scar tissue and prevent tightening. It must be used in its dilute form, a drop applied to each side of the piercing with a cotton bud, the excess removed, and then the jewelry moved back and forth through the piercing. The correct dilution is 10 drops lavender oil in 15mls grapeseed or sweet almond oil.
• Pregnancy
  You can continue to wear your navel piercing up till about the sixth month of pregnancy. Once the skin begins to stretch the jewelry should be removed or upsized. If necessary the piercing can be reopened at a later date.
• Smoking
  
  1. Smoking slows healing by suppressing your immune system and blood circulation to the skin.
  2. In a navel piercing it will add months to the healing time.
  3. If you cannot stop smoking then you should reconsider having any piercings.
• Swimming
  Swimming is not prohibited while your piercing is healing, but you should only swim for short periods in pools that are thoroughly chlorine- or ozone-treated. Do not let your skin become wrinkly and soft. If you swim in the ocean or waterways, do not swim after heavy rain. Storm water run-off often contains bacteria and parasites.
• Viral Infections
  Viruses such as Hepatitis A, B, and C, and HIV can penetrate a piercing that has not healed. These viruses may be present in the blood, saliva, semen, sweat and vaginal secretions of infected persons. Until your piercing has healed avoid any other person's bodily fluids contacting your piercing.
• Vitamins
  Studies have shown that vitamin C and zinc promote wound healing. Aim for about 2000-3000 mg vitamin C and 100 mg zinc daily. Note that these amounts are not available in multivitamin tablets. Ask at your pharmacist or health-food store for advice on suitable products. If you are taking any medications, ask your pharmacist to make sure there are no interactions between them and the vitamin C and zinc you intend to take. For example, vitamin C can delay the absorption of the contraceptive pill - they should be taken at different times.