Belly Piercing

The medical community has done a rather poor job of warning designated patients about the dangers of infections, whenever such infections occur near an implanted device. Too often patients learn about those dangers only after they have contracted an infection. In view of that fact, it is not surprising that the risks of belly piercing have not received greater emphasis. Infections are, in fact, one of the most preventable dangers associated with belly piercing. The following article details how to better prevent the appearance of an infection in the region around a newly pierced belly.

Peer pressure has forced a number of young people to endure the problems that beset someone who has had a belly piercing. For many young people, the most obvious problems will arise at home. A large number of well-knowing parents frown on belly piercing. A large number of youth complain about their parents’ less than enthusiastic response to the exposure of a pierced belly.

A wise youth takes time to listen to what his or her parents have to say. A wise youth takes time to consider carefully the pros and cons associated with a belly piercing. In other words, a wise youth thinks about whether any of the belly button piercings risks outweigh the supposed benefits of the ability to sport a pierced belly.

The quest for a belly piercing should not take the form of a quick trip to the closest possible piercing facility. The operator of that facility might not qualify as a “professional.” A professional uses only clean and sterile equipment. A professional does not sacrifice cleanliness in order to improve his or her efficiency. Moreover, even a clean facility does not guarantee the attentiveness of the piercing specialist.

The selection of a clean piercing facility does not promise an end to the choices facing an individual in search of a belly piercing. Once pierced, a belly with a hole will close with time, unless an ornament remains in that same hole. The person who has elected to have a belly piercing must select the ornament that will stay in the freshly-pierced belly throughout the 3 to 9 months following the creation of the belly’s “hole.”

Whether one uses a belly button ring or a barbell, one must plan to keep the pierced area clean. That normally requires application of an antiseptic between three to five times every day.  In addition, the ornament in the newly-pierced belly must be rotated on a regular basis. Unless one has the willingness to stay with the demands of the healing process, one should not contemplate a belly piercing.

Avoidance of the prescribed steps to a successful healing can spell real trouble. Anyone who tries to hasten the healing process, and who thus abandons the regular cleaning, could confront the problems associated with an infection. An attractive ornament in a pierced belly looses much of its beauty if the skin around it has become red and inflamed.

The above warnings about belly button piercings risks should sound loudest for patients who have a medical device attached to or inside of the body part called the belly. Two main groups of patients would be expected to fall within that segment of high risk cases.
One is patients with an insulin pump. The other is patients with a ventricular-peritoneal shunt.