During the healing process, you should do the following: Its normal to see an off-white fluid coming out of the area in the first few days after your piercing. Knowing what to expect and how to care for the piercing can help you avoid complications. Wash your hands with warm water and antibacterial soap, and dry them with a disposable towel before touching or washing your piercing. Belly button piercing is one of the most popular types of body piercings. Thoroughly rinse afterward. Answer (1 of 26): If you where pierced with a needle (best and only way) your pierced nose should have a spacing that is healing using fun stuff like white blood cells. While its ultimately your decision, and its a little different for piercings vs tattoos, the experts tend to agree when it comes to safe and effective healing. so ideally, you should not swim for 6 months to let it heal to 60 to 100%.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'outdoorfavor_com-banner-1','ezslot_2',668,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-outdoorfavor_com-banner-1-0'); These piercings take longer to heal due to the constant movement of the area where the piercing is and the fact that clothing can rub against it nearly all the time. In Swimming: Weird Things Asked About Swimming? At times, there may be movement from stage three to stage two for a number of times before it heals. The piercer will disinfect the area around your navel. He also has the vision to travel the whole world and share it with all readers of Outdoor Favor. The UK's National Health Service (NHS) advises, " After having a piercing, it is important to keep the area clean and dry." In regards to swimming after having a piercing, the NHS states,. "This was super helpful as I recently got a piercing and I am so lucky I stumbled upon this website! We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Heres What You Need to Know About Pain and Healing Time, All Your Helix Piercing Questions, Answered, Considering a Conch Piercing? Instead, if you have to use topical treatments settle for water based ointments as these promote air movement. He will share his passion for outdoor life and brands or products we use outside our homes. We include products we think are useful for our readers. We've created informative articles that you can come back to again and again when you have questions or want to learn more! Some studios may even have you pay a separate fee entirely for both the piercing itself and the jewelry. This can be in the form of gray or green discharge. Healing time: 6-8 months, fully healed by 12 months. As a small thank you, wed like to offer you a $30 gift card (valid at GoNift.com). This is why choosing your piercer is so important. Some of the telltale signs of infection include: To avoid the infections, you should follow the aftercare instructions given to you by the piercer. A belly button piercing is ideal for bikini season and a great way to show off at the beach. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. You can consult your piercing professional for knowing the right quantity and frequency of application of these essential oils or any other healing ointment. Copyright Thoughtful Tattoos & Buzzle.com, Inc. Anna Harris is an experienced fact-checker and researcher and a beauty writer and editor. Take a lot of water to stay well hydrated. Real PTFE does not come in colors and is white. So just avoid chlorine, right? The full breakdown, according to NHS, is that ear piercings take six to eight weeks, belly button piercings take six months to a year, and nose piercings take up to six months. Once you get out of the bath, lightly pat your piercing dry and immediately rinse the area out with sea salt water. They can also cause local tissue damage during the piercing process. Brooks advice for a new piercing is as follows, If youre going to clean it with anything outside of showering regularly; clean it with saline. she says, Otherwise dont twist, turn, or rotate the jewelry and do your best not to sleep on it. This doesnt change if you prefer to be at the gym every day, or not, as keeping a new piercing clean is always the best course of action. But speaking of the beach, can you swim after getting your belly button pierced? Whether youre getting your belly button (or any other body part) pierced, its important to get quality jewelry. You can effectively change out a belly button piercing yourself, but you have to be completely sure that your piercing is fully healed before doing so. Let's be honest:A year is a long time to not be in the water. Sign up to receive the latest and greatest articles from our site automatically each week (give or take)right to your inbox. Next - you'll want to make sure you are completely healed up before you head back in to get re-pierced. What do I do? It's not normally necessary to rotate or remove a piece of jewellery. Avoid excessive caffeine and alcohol. Read our, How to Change Out a Belly Button Piercing. How Can I Clean My Belly Button Piercing After A Shower? Neosporin is an antibiotic product that is used to prevent infections and speed up the healing of wounds. Make sure that you avoid spas and hot tubs until the piercing heals completely to avoid infection. Placement: Pierced through the skin right above the naval, with a true belly button piercing centered directly above the navel, Healing time: 6-8 months, fully healed by 12 months. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Minnesota. Try pure aloe gel for new piercings. Always follow the instructions given by the piercer when taking care of the piercing. These tend to delay the healing process. Halloran L. Body Piercing: Avoiding Complications. Taking out the ring may cause the hole to close. Last Updated: January 29, 2023 Make sure you visit the shop ahead of time so you can get a feel for the place. 2005-2023 Healthline Media a Red Ventures Company. Wow! During this time, the piercing goes through three stages of healing. If you have body hair around your navel, they may remove this with a new disposable razor. But this time the pain is worse. Brooks says nipple piercings, in particular, dont do well in a sports bra, as it rests in a way that is equivalent to sleeping on the piercing, which is never good. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. (Unless, of course, you plan to go on a winter vacation.). Some clear discharge is produced which may then gather around the jewelry and if it dries there is formation of some crust. While it's not doctor-approved, there are precautions and aftercare tips that you can take if you can't avoid submerging your piercing in water. JNP. It can be done safely as long as you make sure to keep the area clean and free of bacteria. A piercing on your belly button is more likely to get infected than other body parts because of its shape. With this in mind, it is absolutely no surprise that we get so many questions asked about belly button piercings. Dr. Susana Sixto-rodriguez answered Family Medicine 27 years experience Piercing: In three months you should be OK to go in the ocean. Think of this as your body coming to terms with the new object in your navel. The odds of infection are significantly less than 25%. The piercing forms scar tissue. Avoid playing with the new piercing as much as you can. Piercings heal from the outside in, meaning that even if you think the piercing is healed, you should give it some extra time, according to Koox Diving. Its normal for the area to feel sore for a few days after the piercing. You shouldn't even be taking baths in this early stage of healing. For some, this may be as long as 12 months. Ask the 1 piercing u: Be sure to go to a licensed and highly qualified expert on piercing, and ask them how long to wait before swimming in the ocean. By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. Alternatively, soak a clean cloth in the solution and apply to the area. This is especially important for people who enjoy high-intensity exercises with contact such as boxing and wrestling.. Anything that is in the water is getting into your piercings, and even in the cleanest of pools chlorine is going to hurt your piercing as well, Brooks says. During the healing process, Lauren Dozier, MD,a dermatologist and medical director at Brickell Cosmetic Center in Miami, FLsuggests staying away from antibiotic ointment, as this can suffocate the piercing site and cause more problems. Weird Things Asked About Swimming? DOI: health.clevelandclinic.org/are-your-earrings-or-body-piercings-causing-a-nickel-allergy, safepiercing.org/docs/APP_Initial_Web.pdf, youngwomenshealth.org/2013/08/07/body-piercing, What to Do with an Infected Belly Button Piercing, How to Use Tea Tree Oil for Piercing Aftercare, Dominique Fontaine, BSN, RN, HNB-BC, HWNC-BC, What's Really in Tattoo Ink? When this is observed, it is important for it to be followed up by proper belly button piercing aftercare for the healing to be seamless. This means six to eight weeks for a simple ear piercing, and up to 6 months for nipple/navel piercings and at least two weeks for a tattoo. No, you shouldnt swim for at least 24 hours after getting your belly button pierced. Soaking the area with saline solution should go on even when the area seems healed. Ensure that any sweat is cleaned out properly. Then, if your piercer is using tools, the area is held taut with a clamp. Ask your doctor if ther. Any initial itchiness and localized tenderness is normal. Please wear clean clothing that has a soft-to-skin fabric when you got a belly button piercing. It is important to note that during pregnancy, belly button piercing infections are common. While it may be tempting to relax in the bath for a long time, limit your piercings exposure to soap and chemicals from shampoos or conditioners by only bathing as long as you need to. An infection can be painful, cause scarring, and increase healing times. Even in case of redness or pus, you must completely avoid swimming. With any fresh piercing we generally recommend you avoid swimming for the first month, though the risk to your piercing depends on where you're swimming. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Getting a belly button piercing does not mean that you cannot swimming with it on. The right choice of jewelry and how professional the piercer is also affect how long it takes for the piercing to heal. Michael is heavily inclined towards traveling to natural places and documenting cultures/people from different parts of the world. Here's What You Need to Know, The Complete Guide to Industrial Bar Piercings, Rook Piercing 101: Everything You Need to Know, This Is How to Clean a Nose Piercing the Right Way, Tattoo Aftercare Is CrucialHere's How to Do it Right, Why You Should Soak Your New Body Piercing in Sea Salt, Michele Farber, MD, FAAD is a New York-based board-certified dermatologist practicing at. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our. Avoid pools chlorine kills white blood cells on site. 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