Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: Taking care of your new belly button piercing
• Part 2 of 3: Preventing piercing irritation
• Part 3 of 3: Dealing with complications
• Tips
• Warnings

Getting a new belly button piercing is always exciting. To make sure you stay happy with your belly button piercing, you need to keep it clean and healthy. To keep your piercing healthy, you should establish a thorough cleaning routine during the healing process, and consciously try to avoid anything that irritates the piercing so that the area can heal properly.

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Part 1 of 3: Taking care of your new belly button piercing

1. Have your belly button pierced by an expert piercer. Do your research to find a trustworthy case with trained, expert piercers. You can ask friends or family members for advice. Never skimp on quality when it comes to piercers. The more professional the company is and the more knowledgeable the employees, the less likely you are to develop problems or infections. An experienced piercer can also advise you on size, jewelry, and other questions you may have when getting a piercing.
   • Go to a safe and reliable store, as good quality jewelry is often used there. A good quality piercing is, for example, made of surgical steel, titanium, nickel-free 14 karat gold or niobium.
   • An expert piercer also uses a hollow needle to place the piercing, rather than an earring gun. If the piercer wants to use an earring gun to place your piercing, go elsewhere. An earring gun can seriously damage the skin and is more likely to cause infections.
2. Only touch your piercing with clean hands. Wash your hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap before touching your piercing with your fingers. Dirt and grease from your fingers can get on your piercing (which is actually an open wound) and cause an infection.
   • Make sure to get all the dirt out from under your nails as well. Dirt under your nails can also get on your piercing and cause an infection.
3. Wash your piercing every day. Use a cotton swab with warm water to remove the crusts that have settled around the piercing. Do this very carefully and try not to move the piercing. Then wash your piercing with an antibacterial soap while in the shower. Put a small amount of soap on your fingers and then soap your piercing for about 20 seconds. Then rinse the soap thoroughly with the showerhead. When you get out of the shower, dry the piercing with a paper towel, not a towel.
   • Wash the piercing with soap twice a day. You can also simply use a cotton swab with water or salt water to remove the crusts. However, don't clean it more than 3 times a day with a cotton swab. You shouldn't clean the piercing too often.
   • Take a shower rather than a bath. In the shower you have running water, while in the bath the water stands still, so that sweat, dirt and bubble bath can get into the piercing.
   • It is better to dry the piercing with tissues, because they are clean and then throw away. A towel can contain moisture and bacteria.
   • Do not twist the piercing while cleaning it in the shower. Too much movement can irritate the piercing and cause it to bleed.
4. Rinse the piercing with salt water. Put 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt in 240 ml of boiled water. Wait for the water to cool so you can touch it. Pour this salt water into a small glass, bend over (so that your belly hangs above the rim of the glass), place the glass on your stomach and then lie on your back. The glass will now vacuum, so you can soak your piercing in the salt water for 10-15 minutes. Repeat this at least once a day.The salt water is very effective at killing bacteria and can soften the crusts around your piercing.
   • You can also make a warm salt water compress and a folded tissue paper, or buy a sterile salt spray from the drug store.
5. Take vitamins. Experienced piercers have found that taking vitamins such as vitamin C, zinc or multivitamins can help a piercing heal better. Sufficient vitamin D from the sun can also help heal a belly button piercing.

Part 2 of 3: Preventing piercing irritation

1. Don't touch your piercing. Of course, you should touch the piercing with clean hands when you wash it, but try not to play, twist, pull, or fiddle with it unnecessarily.
   • If you touch the piercing unnecessarily (especially with dirty hands) the wound can open again and bleed or become inflamed.
2. Leave the jewelry in it. Your first piercing should remain in place for the entire healing period (4-10 weeks). If you take the piercing out before it is completely healed, the hole can close, making it difficult and painful to put in a new piece of jewelry.
   • This irritation can cause scar tissue to form and the body's natural healing process slows down.
3. Do not apply ointment or cream. Ointment or cream will seal the piercing from the air. In that case, no oxygen can be added, and moisture remains in the wound, which may contain bacteria. Although these agents are antibacterial, they can interfere with the healing process and cause infection.
   • It is also better not to use harsh cleaning agents such as hydrogen peroxide and cleaning alcohol. These disinfectants kill the cells needed to heal the piercing site.
   • Cleaning agents containing benzalkonium chloride should be avoided as they also hinder healing.
   • In addition to these cleansers, you should also avoid applying oil, lotion, sunscreen, and makeup near your piercing. These products can clog the piercing and cause an infection.
4. Wear loose clothing. Tight, restrictive clothing can irritate a new piercing because they rub against the piercing and because they block fresh air. Try to wear loose, breathable fabrics, such as cotton, and avoid synthetic materials.
   • Also be careful when you change or undress. If you take your clothes off too quickly or roughly, you run the risk of pulling on the piercing and causing the wound to open again.
5. Avoid dirty water. Just as you shouldn't take a bath, you shouldn't go into other pools or standing water. Water in pools, hot tubs, lakes, and rivers should be avoided for the first year after piercing.
   • The reason for this is that all of this water can contain bacteria that can cause your piercing to become infected.
6. Sleep on your back or side. For the first few weeks after getting the piercing, sleep on your back or side. Then there is not too much pressure on your piercing as if you were to sleep on your stomach.

Part 3 of 3: Dealing with complications

1. Evaluate the symptoms. If you are experiencing complications with your new belly button piercing, assess the symptoms first so you know what the problem might be. Check for pus coming out of the piercing, how much it hurts, if it is red or swollen, or if the area of ​​the piercing looks different (bumps, larger opening than the jewelry, different placement of the jewelry). Depending on the symptoms, the piercing may simply be irritated, inflamed, or you may have an allergic reaction to the metal.
   • The less severe the symptoms, the more likely the piercing is to be just slightly irritated. The more severe the symptoms, the more likely it is that the piercing is infected or that you have an allergic reaction.
2. Treat an irritated piercing. If your piercing was healing normally, and you accidentally pulled it, slept on it, irritated it with bath water or cosmetics, and it hurts now, the piercing is probably just a little irritated. The piercing can also become irritated if the jewelry is too tight or too loose, causing it to cut into the skin or spin too much. An irritated piercing is characterized by mild pain and mild symptoms. Things like a little swelling, a little redness, and a little pain (without severe pain and pus) mean the piercing is irritated. Continue your salt water cleaning routine and treat the piercing as if it were just new.
   • Consider applying a cold compress (consisting of a small cloth with cold water). This relieves the pain.
   • Leave the jewelry in your hole. If you take the jewelry out, the piercing will be even more irritated.
   • If you have any questions, consult the piercer or stop by so he can have a look.
3. Treat an infected piercing. It is normal for a new piercing to hurt a little, bleed or feel sore, but make sure it doesn't get infected. When a belly button piercing is infected, you will usually see a lot of swelling and a lot of redness around the piercing. The skin around the piercing may feel warm or radiate heat, and yellow, green, or gray pus may come out that smells bad. You can also get a fever if your belly button piercing is infected.
   • If you think your piercing is infected, see your doctor as soon as possible. If you are not sure if the piercing is infected, call the piercer to discuss the symptoms and ask if it could be an infection.
   • Do not remove the jewelry from the hole. If you take out the jewelry, you will irritate the inflamed hole even more, and the hole can close so that the pus can no longer come out.
4. Treat an allergic reaction. An allergic reaction can develop in the hours or days after getting the piercing. Normally an allergic reaction is the reaction of your body to the metal of the jewelry. Nickel is a metal that many people are allergic to. Signs of an allergic reaction include itching, rash, heat radiating from the skin, an enlarging hole, or swelling and redness around the hole. In case of an allergic reaction, the skin can become looser or tighter around the jewelry.
   • In case of an allergic reaction, the jewelry is often rejected. The skin wants to reduce contact with the jewelry, making the hole bigger and wider.
   • In this case, take immediately contact the piercer so he can give you another piece of jewelry, and see your doctor to have the wound treated. You may need antibiotics.
5. Try home remedies. If the symptoms are mild and you think the piercing is getting infected, you may want to consider home remedies before seeing your doctor. Some calming home remedies include:
   • Compresses. As mentioned before, both warm and cold compresses can relieve the pain of an irritated piercing. A warm compress with saline solution will clean the piercing and stimulate blood flow (allowing more healing white blood cells to reach the wound). A cold compress will relieve the hot sensation of the piercing.
   • Chamomile tea. Infuse a sachet of chamomile tea in a cup of boiling water. Wait for the tea to cool (about 20 minutes) and dip a cotton ball in it. Place the wet cotton ball on the piercing for about 5 minutes. Repeat this as often as you like.
     • You can also freeze the tea in an ice cube tray, then use the ice cubes to relieve the pain, irritation, and swelling.
   • Painkillers. If the piercing area hurts or itches, consider taking a pain reliever to relieve the discomfort. Preferably take an anti-inflammatory painkiller.
6. Go to the doctor. When in doubt, always see your doctor. If cleaning and home remedies don't help, it may be time to see your doctor. In particular, see the doctor if you are in a lot of pain, if the area is very swollen, or if you have pus or blood coming out.
   • If you have an inflammation or allergic reaction, your doctor may prescribe antibiotics to fight the infection and speed up recovery.

Tips

• Only use cleaning products recommended by the piercer.
• You cannot absorb all the water with a tissue. Once you pat the piercing dry, you can use your hair dryer to gently dry the piercing. Set the hair dryer on the coldest setting so that you do not burn your skin and the jewelry does not get too hot.

Warnings

• Don't get a piercing if you can't take good care of it.
• Tell your piercer if you have allergies to, for example, fake jewelry, creams, sprays, or latex (such as the gloves they wear there).