Navel piercings take approximately 6 months to 1 year for healing. The belly button is a dark, damp part of the human body and is susceptible to irritation and infection more than other body piercings. Clothing applies irritating pressure to the piercing, causing a reaction during healing or migration. The Association of Professional Piercers recommends wearing an eye patch constructed of hard materials to protect a healing navel piercing during contact sports or not wearing clothing such as pantyhose that irritates the piercing.
Preparation Supplies
The piercee's skin is cleaned to remove harmful bacteria from the piercing placement and the surrounding skin. An antimicrobial soap is applied to the piercee's skin via sterile gauze to clean the area. The piercer instructs the piercee to avoid touching the area, for the piercee's hand will contaminate the skin. Folding the piercee's shirt and waistband away from the clean area also prevents contamination. A sterile marking pen marks the placement for the navel piercing after the piercer observes the anatomy during movements such as standing, bending over, sitting and laying down.
Pennington Forceps
A pair of Pennington forceps are autoclaved to render the tool sterile. Pennington forceps have two loops on the ends for fingers and triangular tips with an opening for grasping the skin during a navel piercing. The piercer applies pressure by squeezing the forcep's ends together to pull the navel skin up and away from the piercee's body. The forceps prevent the skin from slipping or moving if the piercee jerks or jumps during the belly button piercing. Inexperienced piercers may bruise the piercee from using unnecessary force to hold the skin in place or applying rubber bands on the top of the forceps to tighten the grip.
Needle
A hollow, triple bevel needle makes the puncture wound to house the jewelry for the belly button piercing. The needle is sterile and is used only once. The standard size for needles in navel piercings is 12 or 14 gauge. Exceptions to this size are when the piercee requests a larger gauge piercing, such as 10 or 8 gauge, and the piercer is confident the piercee's anatomy is appropriate for healing the larger navel piercing without the risk of migration.
Jewelry
The piercer inserts sterile jewelry directly behind the needle during the belly button piercing procedure. Jewelry for navel piercings depends on the piercee's anatomy. Curved barbells, or banana bells, are the most common jewelry that is appropriate for navel piercings. Captive bead rings are the only other option for initial jewelry in a belly button piercing. Piercee's anatomy rarely is appropriate for captive bead rings because the rings twists and adds pressure to the piercing while healing. Implant grade stainless steel, titanium and niobium are the only metals appropriate for an initial belly button piercing, for acrylic jewelry cannot be sterilized in an autoclave.
Post Procedure Tools
The piercer deposits the sterile needle in a Sharps receptacle after the navel piercing procedure. A metal container with a lid houses the forceps until the forceps are transported to a biohazard area for scrubbing and insertion into an ultrasonic and autoclave. Spraying the chair and work surface of the piercer with a germicidal spray is essential to destroy bloodborne pathogens from remaining on the work surfaces and transferring to shop employees and future clients.
Member Comments