What You Need to Know About an Infected Belly Button Piercing

Belly button piercings are all the rage for women today. The cute, fun and flirty rings are adorned on the navel and are an exciting way to show off your belly. The problem is, they can become painfully infected and lead to serious complications. Often the infection is easily treated but there are always exceptions. Doing as much research as possible before getting a belly button piercing is very important. Knowing what to expect may prevent you from dealing with an infection.

Signs and Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of an infected belly button piercing are difficult to ignore. You will experience pain that may be associated with swelling, bleeding, discharge of yellow or green pus, and flakey skin. The first signs I had with an infected belly button piercing were redness and discomfort. The situation quickly escalated to a bright red, swollen, bloody, and painful infection. The area was also starting to peel and was hot to the touch.

Treatment

It is very important to aggressively treat the infected belly button piercing. Just like any infection, there is always a risk of serious complications occurring if not treated properly. I did just about every wrong treatment method the first time I had an infected belly button piercing, which unfortunately most people end up doing.

My initial reaction to the infection was to immediately remove the jewelry. I thought it would be best to leave the piercing open for everything to drain out and clear up. I later learned this was a mistake. It was even more swollen and painful because I had to fight to get the barbell out. I also thought alcohol would be the best cleaning agent to rid of any bacteria causing the infection. I came to the realization, after many hours of throbbing pain that alcohol only disinfects and does not heal. What now? I figured I would slather on a copious amount of antibiotic ointment. The ointment burned and ended up clogging the drainage. I didn't know what else to do, so I finally did some research online. It became clear to me that everything I did was wrong and I could have made the infection worse.

The best advice I have is to purchase cleaner from a local piercing salon or Bactine from a drugstore. The solution is designed for gently treating piercings or other wounds that may or already are infected. It took several days for noticeable improvement of consistently cleaning the piercing with Bactine, and a couple weeks before the piercing went back to normal, but it worked. I always use Bactine if I feel the area becoming irritated, just in case.

Prevention

I have had a belly button piercing, among others as well, for several years now. I find the best prevention is following a daily routine that ensures the belly button piercing remains clean.

I cannot stress enough the importance of washing your hands before touching the belly button piercing. Your hands come in contact with millions of germs that may cause infection.

Gently wash around the piercing with liquid antibacterial soap or specialized cleaner purchased from a piercing salon. Avoid using any scented soaps, as they may irritate the area and leaving the piercing prone to infection. It is important to clean the piercing at least once daily, if not twice.

Sanitize any jewelry you intend to insert into the piercing. Jewelry will collect bacteria that can cause an infection and you certainly do not want to insert them into your open piercing.

The biggest issue I had was coming in contact with toiletries that were fragranced. Scented lotions and soaps would often irritate my belly button and it would become infected. I found that if I avoided them, my belly button would be just fine.