With this in mind, there isn't a certain belly button type that can or can't have a piercing. As long as you have skin above your belly button (and we're pretty sure you do), an experienced piercer should be able to pierce the belly button.
Unfortunately, not everyone is a suited candidate for this piercing so it may not be possible for you to get a belly button piercing. If your belly button is too deep or has too much surrounding tissue, it can cause constant pressure on the jewelry, preventing the wound from healing properly.
Piercing an outie belly button is much more complicated than piercing an innie belly button. Because of the way they formed after birth, outie belly buttons are made of a different type of tissue than other belly buttons. As a result, there is an increased danger of infection and pain when piercing outie belly buttons.
Belly Piercing Placement
However, there needs to be enough skin there to pinch. If your navel is flat; your skin in the area isn't supple; you don't have a lip above your navel, we recommend opting for a different piercing because the piercer won't be able to perform a belly piercing.
Belly button piercings are considered the second least painful piercings after ear piercings. That's because the thick tissue left behind from when your umbilical cord was removed is flesh and not very nerve dense.
A Floating Navel Piercing sits the position of the barbell deeper into the inside of the navel while still coming out the top in the traditional placement. It's there where you can get creative with lots of cute options in jewelry from sparkling stones, or cascading dangles! (
Any piercing has the potential to be rejected. Rejection depends on the person's immune system and how well the piercing heals. But, the body tends to reject some types of piercings more often than others. Surface piercings are the most common types of piercing to be rejected by the body.
Outie-to-Innie Surgery
Umbilicoplasty is the plastic surgery procedure that can reshape both the innie and outie belly button, although it also can be reshaped during a tummy tuck.
The majority of people have “innies,” the very scientific term for belly buttons that dip inward. Protruding “outies” can be found on approximately 10 percent of the population. They're about as common as left-handedness.
An umbilicoplasty can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. The actual cost of an umbilicoplasty is dependent upon location, board certified plastic surgeon, and length and involvement of the plastic surgery.
The procedure does come with some risks of infection, bleeding, and bruising, and there's always a chance that you end up "with a shape that isn't pleasing," Russo says. As for the cost, the procedure typically costs around $1,000.
"(The infection rates) kind of tend to hover around 20 percent," said Dr. Jamie Holbrook, a dermatologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "Any area can become infected." Holbrook says the most common symptoms are redness and crusting, little local infections.
Sleep on your back or sides.
Sleep on your back and sides for the first few weeks after your piercing. This helps to ensure that you don't apply uncomfortable pressure on your piercing by sleeping on your stomach, while it's still new and sensitive.
You can exercise after the initial few days is over, but be sensible about it, and avoid excessive friction.
The most common of belly piercings is where the jewellery sits through the fleshy skin right at the top centre of the belly button, allowing the jewellery to hang over the hollow part of the navel.
A true navel piercing goes through the tissue of your outie rather than the surface skin just above or below it. If aren't a candidate for a traditional belly button piercing, you can talk to your piercer about this as an option. Just know that they might not be willing to do it.
Belly button piercings can become infected. An infection can create fluid or pus, known as discharge, that can smell bad. Discharge may be thick and yellow or green in color, and it may harden into a crust around the piercing.
Allow warm water to run over your piercing when you shower (but don't scrub your navel piercing with soap; letting sudsy water run over the piercing is fine). During the day, you can spritz or rinse your navel piercing regularly with a saline wash, like Recovery Saline Solution.
Avoid baths, hot tubs, swimming pools, saunas, lakes, etc. for the first three weeks after being pierced as they contain bacteria which can increase the risk of infection.
Ensure that the adhesive for the bandage is not sticking to the piercing or the jewelry inside the piercing. The adhesive can irritate the skin if it is placed on the piercing and it can tug on the jewelry and increase the chance of irritation and infection.
While certain piercings tend to be more challenging than others, pain is a very individual experience. If you are nervous about the pain, or want to pierce a particularly sensitive area, you may want to use an over-the-counter numbing agent.
Of all the body sites commonly pierced, the navel is the most likely to become infected because of its shape. Infections can often be treated with good skin hygiene and antibiotic medications. With this type of infection, jewelry generally does not have to be taken out.
They are commonly covered by insurance and umbilical hernia repair is done routinely by general surgeons. Plastic surgeons also commonly perform these as part of a tummy tuck (cosmetic procedure) or more complex abdominal wall reconstruction (reconstructive).
Most people who have an "outie" fall into one of two categories: either they were born with a tiny umbilical hernia, which is most likely, or had a small infection at the base of the umbilical cord that went unnoticed. This will cause unusual tissue called granulation tissue to form.