Body Piercings & Their Suggested Jewelry

During the last few years I have observed an alarming number of navel piercings struggling to heal. Most problems result from jewelry that is too small causing stress to the openings of the piercing. I have seen navel piercings with 3/8" - 1/2" rings containing 1/2" - 1/2" of tissue. It would be obvious if a nipple or other piercing contained too much tissue for the jewelry; but the navel is less obvious. It is not uncommon for navels pierced with a ring to suffer through 6-18 months of healing time.

We have all seen irritated and inflamed navel piercings; many develop discolored and hardened tissue around the openings. Some migrate and/or "grow out." This happens because the jewelry is too small and needs to move through the tissue to a position where it is no longer under stress. Removing the ring and replacing it with a Curved Barbell has always solved these problems, usually within days. A Curved Barbell allows the body to move naturally without stress to the piercing and will not cause any of the undesirable effects associated with the use of a ring.

Having worked in a high volume studio for over 5 years, I had the opportunity to gain much insight into problems associated with piercings. I have come to the conclusion that a Curved Barbell is the best initial jewelry for optimum comfort and healing. Navels pierced using a Curved Barbell generally heal in 3-4 months.

People usually associate rings with navel piercings, but when they are made aware that the healing time is greatly reduced with virtually no chance of any irritation or scarring, they are usually happy to start with Curved Barbells.\ After the jewelry is inserted, they also like the look.

This is a shift in thinking for all of us (piercers and piercees), but the overall benefits become obvious after a few piercings.

I encourage all piercers to carefully mark both the inside and outside of navel piercings to insure that the piercing does not contain too much tissue. All other piercings are marked on both sides and we see much better results in overall appearance and healing. I believe that navel piercings should be performed with equal care and precision.

Clean the navel with the piercee lying down, and mark a preliminary inner placement dot. Assess the overall situation; if the navel area spreads and/or flattens with no visible flap remaining, a Curved Barbell should be used.

Have the piercee stand and mark a visually attractive and desirable outer placement.

Lying down again, carefully measure the distance between the marks.

Adjust the marks to create a placement width that will accommodate the jewelry of choice. Generally, both marks will need to be moved closer together to create a balanced and attractive placement.

The final placement marks must be aligned and fine tuned with the piercee standing. Make sure that the final width remains consistent with the chosen jewelry. The initial Curved Barbell size should be 1/16" longer than the maximum width of the piercing as measured with the piercee lying down.

Keep in mind that a 5/8" ring often causes irritation to the bottom of the navel. The piercee may benefit from wearing a Curved Barbell most of the time.