Navel Piercing Care

Just As Important As Navel Piercing Aftercare

Even after your piercing has healed properly, it is important to continue your navel piercing care if you are to avoid infections. Here's a few tips to help with your navel piercing care regimen.

You know it was important to keep your hands clean during the healing process. That is the case when it comes to ongoing navel piercing care. Proper navel piercing care involves making sure that your hands are free of any contaminants that could gather and create an infection in or around the piercing. Get yourself into the habit of washing your hands before examining or handling the piercing in any way.

Cleaning the jewelry on a regular basis is another essential part of navel piercing care.  Do not use cleaning agents that are astringent in nature, as any residue could damage the tissue when you re-insert the ornamentation. The same is true with the area - use a saline solution of some type rather than using rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to clean the area.

In like manner, good navel piercing care requires that you make sure any device used to clean the jewelry is clean and sterile. Minute traces of dirt or dust could remain on the jewelry and could get into the skin, leading to a nasty infection.

Navel piercing care also comes into play when changing jewelry. You may feel like wearing a diamond stud tonight and tomorrow be in the mood for a ring. That is fine. The important thing to remember is that the connection into the skin should not be too large for the piercings. While the skin will stretch a small amount, forcing in something that is too large for the openings will result in scar tissue, which will make wearing any navel ornamentation painful, and eventually lead to a trip to the doctor.

Your clothing is also a factor in navel piercing care. Do not wear clothing that is tight around the navel. While this was especially true during the healing process, it remains important afterward. The tight clothing could pull on the jewelry, causing rips or tears to the surrounding tissue. Looser clothing that is not likely to rub against the navel area or perhaps snag on the ornamentation will greatly decrease your chances of developing an infection.

From time to time, include the use of lavender oil or baby oil in your navel piercing care plan. This will help keep the area supple and prevent the piercings from drying out.  A drop or two, massaged gently into the piercing will do the trick.

A navel piercing care program is not hard to develop or follow. Much of it is simple common sense, and you can easily fall into the habit of properly caring for your piercing. The result is body ornamentation that you can enjoy without being overly concerned about pain or infection.