Belly Piercing

Body modification, such as belly piercing or tattooing, involves changing the appearance of some part of the body for religious, cultural, spiritual, ornamental, or sexual reasons.  Besides ear piercing, belly piercing is one of the more popular forms of piercing, especially among women.  Belly button piercing can be viewed as a way to express one’s adventurous side without garnering the social stigma that other forms of piercing such as genital or nipple piercing my cause. Keep in mind that belly piercing can be a risky procedure.  This is why it is important to have a professional and experienced practitioner perform the piercing.

Elizabeth was pretty conservation in style and taste.  She never wore revealing clothing, always wore simple hairstyles, and rarely wore makeup.  She believed that she was an attractive woman and did not feel the need to modify her looks very much.  However, she loved all kinds of jewelry and loved finding unique and different pieces as well as more traditional styles of jewelry.  She really liked earrings.  Because she had never gotten her ears pierced she found it difficult to find earrings that she liked.  Although she was not crazy about the idea of piercing any part of her body, she really wanted to expand and update her earring collection so she decided to get her ears pierced.

Elizabeth wondered why people felt the need to pierce parts of their bodies.  To satisfy her curiosity, she did some reading about body piercing.  She found out that the practice of piercing one’s skin has existed throughout the world since ancient times.  Body piercing is just one form of body modification, which involves temporarily or permanently altering a part of the body for religious, cultural, spiritual, ornamental, or sexual reasons. 

She knew that in today’s Western culture people pierced various parts of the body.  She had often seen ear piercing, nose piercing, eyebrow piercing, and belly piercing.  Ear and nose piercing did not seem painful to her. However, the thought of piercing the tongue, eyebrow, genitals and other sensitive parts of the body seemed like torture.  She could not imagine why anyone would want to do that.  Even a belly piercing seemed pretty brutal to her.

She went to a piercing professional and got her ears pierced. It hurt a little bit, but once her ears were healed she went on an earring-shopping spree.  Somehow piercing her ears made Elizabeth feel free and adventurous.  So, she decided to get a second piercing in both ears.  Then much to her surprise, Elizabeth decided to get a belly piercing.  Her friends were absolutely stunned when they heard that she was getting her belly button pierced.  But, Elizabeth had decided that she had been way too conventional for far too long, and it was time to loosen up.  Of course, being a very careful person Elizabeth did her homework and read about the belly button piercing procedure before she had it done.  She wanted to know exactly what was going to happen to her and be able to ask the piercing professional the correct questions.

Elizabeth found out that when having a belly piercing, one does not need to fully undress because only the belly button should be exposed.  To perform the procedure, the piercing professional uses a sterilized clamp and needle to make the hole and install the piece of jewelry.  An important first step is to thoroughly clean the belly button with an antiseptic.  The piercing professional then marks the location for the piercing.  Next, a sterilized clamp is connected to the skin above the belly button, and the sterilized needle is carefully pushed through the skin.  Lastly, the piercing professional inserts the chosen jewelry into the hole.

Once Elizabeth’s piercing had been completed she diligently followed the instructions that were given to her to properly care for the piercing, ease discomfort, and promote healing.