With a new belly piercing taking four months to a year in order to heal properly it may be easy to lose patience and not be as diligent as you need to be to get an infection-free hole. What’s the solution? When you get your piercing, pick out a couple of belly button rings to wear after you have completely healed. The better you care for the piercing, the sooner you will be able to wear the fun and sexy belly button rings after it’s safe to take out the original one.
So how do you know when your piercing has healed? The best way is by touch and feel. If you touch the hole and it still feels a little tender, then it may not quite be done. If the edges are still crusty or if you can see a small amount of fluid leaking from the hole, it may not quite be done. And of course, if there is any bleeding, redness or heat then you may have a slight infection that must be closely watched.
For best results, only touch your piercing when it’s time to clean it. This is most easily done while you shower. However, it can also be cleaned using a Q-tip and a gentle touch. Avoid cleaning it too much since your body has a natural ability to heal wounds so let it take over some of the process. Antibacterial soap as well as a warm salt water solution are great to use in this cleaning stage of your belly button rings.
When you are completely healed – no pain to the touch, no redness, and no fluids of any sort leaking from the wound, then it’s time to reward yourself with one of your fun or sexy belly button rings. For the first time, you should go back to a belly piercer and allow them to help you insert the new belly button ring. They can give you a second opinion about how well your piercing has healed at the same time.