Belly button (or navel piercings) have become a fashion symbol for the summer months. When the warmer weather arrives in the Spring, it’s common for people to start prepping for the beach and pool. Many individuals each year, choose to spice things up a bit and get their belly button pierced.
As with any piercing, there is aftercare that is required to help your piercing heal. However, accidents do happen, and getting a belly button piercing ripped out is a common problem due to its location on the body. It’s easy for your jeans, a shirt or even a child to accidentally get caught on your piercing and pull it out.
In this article, you will learn how to care for a belly button piercing that’s been ripped out.
How Long Does It Take a Ripped Belly Button Piercing To Heal?
Your piercing could get ripped out due to various reasons, so the healing time will vary from person to person. For instance, if you bump into something or pull it with your shirt, the piercing will probably tear all the way out. In this situation, you will experience severe pain and some bleeding.
Your piercing might also come out due to rejection. A simple way to understand the rejection process is to realize that your body may not accept jewelry and begins to treat it as a foreign particle. When this occurs, the pierce will gradually migrate as the tissue repairs. As a result, the pierce will fall out. This process can vary anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
How Easy is It To Rip Out a Belly Button Ring?
Pierce rip-outs are quite common. However, it is also possible that you rip out the piercing after your skin repairs. The chances to rip off your belly button piercing depend on various reasons including infection, piercing method, rejection, and choosing the material of the ring that you are using.
Rejection
After you pierce your belly, the jewelry is likely to move a little or completely away from the position. This usually happens when your body tries to heal itself. You can refer to this condition as migration, and when this happens, it indicates that your body is rejecting the metal.
Sometimes, the migration continues, and your body pushes out the jewelry. The rejection can lead your belly button to rip off after a while. The common reason for rip-off due to rejection can be cheap material selection, length of the dumbbell, or unprofessional piercing technique.
Bacterial Infection
Bacterial infection can also cause rip-outs as your tissues surrounding the pierce becomes weak. You might develop bacterial infection soon after the piercing method, but the bacteria may also enter the body and infect if you did not care afterward.
The common signs of a bacterial reaction include redness and swelling of the scar or discharge of the puss. If you did not treat the infection in time, you might develop flu-like symptoms.
Changing Your Clothes
Changing clothes is probably the most common reason a piercing gets ripped out. It’s very easy for your finger, clothing or something as small as a bracelet get tangled in the piercing. Before you realize it, you jerk on it and are in instant pain.
There’s also a chance that the piercing doesn’t rip completely out. It may just enlarge the hole. If this happens, you should immediately begin treating your piercing like you did when you first got it. You’ll need to apply aftercare products to it to ensure it doesn’t get infected as it heals.
Incorrect Piercing
The piercing may also rip off if the person who performed it, did it incorrectly. A common mistake is for the piercing to not go deep enough or perhaps the material used wasn’t sufficient.
Can You Re-pierce Your Belly Button If It Was Ripped Out?
Re-piercing will ultimately depend on how the hole looks after your accident occurred. In all likelihood, you will need to visit with a professional piercer to get their opinion on whether it’s possible for you to do a re-piercing. When the ring that you are wearing gets completely rips out, and you will likely end up with a small scar around your navel. If so, it is recommended that you do not get a piercing in the exact same spot as the scaring.
If you notice that your belly button is rejecting the piercing, you should immediately remove the jewelry and visit a professional piercer. This gives you a change to have it re-piercing at some point in the future.
When your body is rejecting the piercing, your scar is healing itself. This means that your scarred tissues are becoming as strong as normal tissues. When you remove the barbell at that time, there are high chances that the piercer can fix this problem and re-pierce on the same spot. But when your body completely rejects the pierce tearing up your tissues, the tissues at that spot are still unhealthy.
Safety Measures You Can Take
After piercing, it is essential to follow aftercare practices. Here are few things you should keep in mind while going through the healing process:
Avoid Traveling to the Beaches
Until you piercing has completely healed you should avoid going into the water such as pools, lakes, hot tubs or the beach. Because your body is repairing itself, staying in water can cause bacteria to enter through the fresh scar. Particles may also enter the body through the opening, especially if you are on a sandy beach.
Choose the Right Size Jewelry
Rejection and migration are common in all types of piercing. However, it occurs more frequently in naval piercing. There are many reasons for your body to reject the piercing but choosing the wrong material used in the ring can play a significant role.
Using poor quality metals or bars that are too short can increase the risk of infection and a rip out. If you think the ring you have is causing problems, stop by and have a professional piercer take a peek. Catching a problem early can help save your piercing.
Take Salt or Saline Soak Bath
Cleaning helps prevent a scar from developing an infection and avoiding any foreign particles entering inside the body. There is an easy technique to properly clean your piercing.
You can take a sea salt solution or aftercare saline solution and pour it inside a cup. Make sure that the cup is large enough that you can place it on your belly. Now lean over the cup and submerge the piercing inside. Now press the cup to create suction and soak the scar for five minutes. After that, you can carefully move the cup and dry the area.
Be Careful About Clothing
Infection and rejection are not always be the reason for a belly button piercing getting ripped out. Your clothing can also cause problems. Try to always be mindful of your piercing when changing clothes.
Conclusion
Like any piercing, a belly button piercing has its risks and getting one ripped out is one of the primary ones. This could be painful, but caring for your piercing is worth the pain. If you love your navel piercing, you will give it complete care and follow safety measures to avoid infection or other skin problems.