<p>My 15-year old is interested in having her belly-button pierced.</p>
<p>Apparently she has many friends who have this (since most shirts cover this area, who would ever know??)</p>
<p>Any downside to this? What happens if you take out the belly-button ring… or gain 25 pounds??</p>
<p>It hurts like MAD.</p>
<p>This is one of those piercings that becomes easily infected–jeans, etc. often rubbing and irritating the area. Our niece had real problems when she had it done. We told our D she could not get any extra piercings until she was 18. She has only gotten 2 in her ear cartilage since then–her cousin’s belly button piercing experience was enough to keep her from getting that done.</p>
<p>The Washington Post had an article on piercing earlier this year that covered some belly button piercing concerns:</p>
<p>The Hole Truth
<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110301971.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110301971.html</a></p>
<p>I think it is possible to have one safely, but your daughter should do some research and decide if she really wants it. Like anything of the nature it does come with some risks, and she will need to be responsible for it. If she does decide to get one and plays sports, she’ll probably want to put a strip of athletic tape on it. It will hurt a lot if it gets caught on anything or pulled.</p>
<p>Both of my D’s have it. My younger one softened me up by saying, “mom, my belly won’t ever look this good again!” Boy, is that right. So I let her. Neither of them experienced much pain. Neither of them got infected. Just choose a safe place to pierce with very sterile conditions.</p>
<p>I see lots of belly buttons in my profession, and many do fine. But what stands out the most is the number of girls/women who eventually tire of them or have problems, and remove them. The scarring that results is not the type of “hole in the ear lobe that disappears.” It leaves a rather permanent mark at the entry and exit site. This is true even when there was never an infection.</p>
<p>I have discouraged my teens from getting them until they are adults, as so many teens get them and then remove them. My oldest has already lost interest in getting one. I am hoping my youngest does as well.</p>
<p>The only ones I would STRONGLY urge against getting are nipple rings. I have treated some VERY SERIOUS breast infections/abscess as a result. They worst ones were in teens or young adults who had it done without their parents’ knowlege. Then when there were problems, they waited until it was quite severe. </p>
<p>Very active teens, athletes, cheerleaders and dancers are more apt to have problems.</p>
<p>Edited to add: I went back and read the Washington Post article–its a balanced presentation for the most part. And yes, be very choosy about where you go to have it done.</p>
<p>Many young males consider them an advertisement of sluttiness. There is even a naughty slang term for them. I have no data to back that up.</p>
<p>My friend, an avid fake tanner and PDA-enthusiast, says she was thinking of getting a belly button piercing…but it was “trashy.”</p>
<p>In our area, belly button rings were all the rage a few years ago (when ldgirl was a freshman) and has since become a bit out of fashion along with tummy-baring shirts. My d wouldn’t even consider it because of cheerleading. Points off at competitions for jewelry and it is just dangerous. I would ask your daughters to consider their activities…sports/physical activities where the jewelry could be caught or torn out is definitely a problem.</p>
<p>I don’t think I have to worry about body piercings with mine…she’s a big ninny about needles coming anywhere near her person. She didn’t get her ears pierced until right before high school. (Thank goodness, the potential pre-med is not the least bit squeamish about needles/dissecting/blood as it relates to OTHERS…lol!)</p>
<p>D did it senior year in high school, immediately went camping and got it infected, had it done a second time which she said it hurt a lot.</p>
<p>She’s in her mid-twenties now and told me she took it out. At least I managed to talk her out of getting a tatoo on her belly. She wanted a butterfly and I pointed out that later in life, in pregnancy and afterwards, that was likely to be a very sad looking butterfly.</p>
<p>The piercing I’ve heard the most concerns about are tongue piercings. Not only all the bacteria in the mouth, but a lot of chipped teeth.</p>
<p>Just.
Say.
No.</p>
<p>(Father of sons…)</p>
<p>WashDad, it’s funny to me that you said that. We have two sons, and my husband has a huge list of things that he would have never let a daughter of his do. I’m sure belly-button piercing would be high on the list. I’ve told him that if he had a daughter, she’d have him wrapped around her little finger, so his rules would fly out the window. ;)</p>
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<p>LOL!! Are you kidding? Belly-exposed has regrettably been the style for years now, to the point where totally inappropriate candidates (by age and/or weight) have adopted the look. I would have to say most shirts worn by today’s hs (and middle school) girls do NOT cover the area. That’s why belly rings are so popular, because this area has been totally exposed for years now.</p>
<p>If you are looking for arguments against, you could tell your D that compared to the 6-8 week period of healing for ears, navals take much longer (4 months to a year or even longer) to heal completely and are much more prone to infections. That’s because the friction of clothing prevents air circulation, which promotes healing. </p>
<p>If it were my own daughter, I’d have no trouble saying no to this until she’s older and could do it all on her own. Fortunately (my own bias) , my own D has never been interested in anything but a single earring in each ear. Growing up in my own family, even ear piercing was considered barbaric (“you want to pierce your ears, you might as well pierce your nose” was the line I heard most often). Ironic, considering that nose piercing is now considered practically mainstream now! I finally got my own ears pierced for the first time when I was in my 20s, so I am not the best one to give advice here, I suppose!</p>
<p>I had my navel (“belly-button”) pierced 5 years ago. PM me if you’d like details on the healing process. If you gain significant weight, you may be able to purchase a longer post, or it may not be possible to continue to keep it open. (Although women I know who’ve gotten pregnant and wanted to keep their navel piercing have used a clear extender made for this purpose and returned to their regular jewelry after delivery, so even pregnancy stretching and weight-gain can be accommodated.) If you take out the jewelry within the first couple years, it may indeed close up. </p>
<p>Anyone doing this should go to a highly-reputable piercer, choose the best starter-jewelry available (which will not be cheap), and should expect it to take TWO YEARS to fully heal… which means NO CHANGING JEWELRY for up to two years. After-care is significant, jeans and other clothing with waistbands that might rub on the area can be a notable problem, and there is danger of infection for the first couple years.</p>
<p>And yes, I love mine and consider it a part of me now. And I didn’t find it hurt much at all… but it WAS an annoyance for quite some time.</p>
<p>If she wants to pierce it, she’ll have to do it when I don’t have to be involved.</p>
<p>Actually, she hates pain, so the long healing would be an issue (even though I’m sure she would deny it.)</p>
<p>Also, she wears a leotard for dance five days a week, so I think the snagging and chafing could be an issue.</p>
<p>Finally, if there could be a scar long term, I think it best for her to wait a year or two and make sure this is not a passing fancy.</p>
<p>After years of low-rise pants and midriff-baring shirts being popular, fashion is swinging in the polar opposite direction with higher rise pants and tunic tops being in vogue. I think the trend will continue and the rise in pants will only get higher (only the more fashion forward are doing the higher rise now, I suspect it will become mainstream in a year or two and the high rise will stay in fashion for several years before turning back). If higher rise pants are back for the foreseeable future, I suspect a lot of belly button piercing will be coming out due to discomfort. Where I live, the trend has already been over for a couple years.</p>
<p>A bad haircut lasts a month or two, but self-mutilation is forever. More or less.</p>
<p>My friend wanted to get hers done, and I went down to the piercing shop with her and the piercer made her roll up her shirt a bit and then sit/stand/move around a little, and then he told her that because of the way her belly button was shaped and how it folded when she sat down, the piercing would always want to twist to the side and might not ever heal correctly. I’d never heard that before (but I’m not the one that should’ve been researching it, either) but I guess it makes sense. Just something else to keep in mind. I don’t remember whether or not he was willing to do it anyway, but she decided not to get it done. I got my nose and ears done at the same place and they’re very professional. I was pretty surprised my friend wanted one at 20, though, because now most people my age that I’ve asked seem to think they’re a bit tacky to have once you’re out of high school. If you make her wait until she’s 18 she may very well decide she doesn’t want one after all…</p>
<p>My oldest daughter had her navel pierced, without our knowledge, before she went off to college. She knew we wouldn’t be enthusiastic about the idea, and she managed to keep it from us for quite some time. During move-in weekend, d1 and d2 were sitting next to each other in the back seat, and when they got out of the car, I noticed a very odd expression on d2’s face, and an animated private conversation between them. D2 had noticed d1’s navel ring, but was persuaded by d1 not to bring it up at such an emotionally fraught time.</p>
<p>When d1 was returning to school at Thanksgiving break, she had a lot of trouble with the metal detector at the airport. I couldn’t see much from my vantage point and thought perhaps the metal studs on her jeans were setting the detector off - she later told me it was the navel ring, and that she asked the security guard to stand where her mom couldn’t see her remove it. (I would insert a blushing smiley here if I knew how.)</p>
<p>We eventually found out at a family dinner when d1 and her same-age cousin announced their ornamentation. Several parents nearly choked.</p>