I am hoping to at the end of August get my belly pierced! W00t! I just had a question I think my piercer may find inappropriate and was hoping that maybe the community could help me out. I've had my nosed pierced 3 times, so it's not my first body piercing, but I was too young (14-16) to really take care of it & in later years realized that though the place I went to had great piercing techniques, offered literally 1/50th the aftercare instructions they should have.  Big No-No!

        Now almost 6 years later I want this belly ring so bad but I'm left wondering: How fat is too fat for the barbell? I used to be obese and have steadily worked myself down to a healthy weight for the last 2 & 1/2 years. I still have a little left to go before being super skinny, but I am afraid that even with a small belly (no rolls but tiny pouch on the bottom 2 abs) that I might migrate/reject because where I am wouldn't be skinny enough. What is actually considered too big? Much Thanks :D


Edited by Ellie21 - July/19/2011 at 3:32am

If you were to post a couple good quality pictures of your navel in it's present state, I guarantee you will get multiple responses from the pros here as to whether or not you have the appropriate anatomy to get a navel piercing.

Thanks everyone I'll have a pic most likely within the week :)

Hello Ellie, I wanted to reply to this post with direct information from Elayne Angel - a woman I consider to be the most informative and ethical individual in this industry, not to mention the experience to boot.

I keep up with her blog and it so happens another individual had the exact question as you!
Quoted from Elayne Angel's blog:

"Navel Piercing: Weight and Weight Loss Regardless of your weight, if your navel folds in and disappears when you sit down, this is a good reason to select a different piercing. Wearing jewelry on this type of build causes mechanical stresses that guarantee healing complications. If you have a horizontal crease across the area even when you are standing, you are unsuited to navel piercing for the same reason. Some heavy people are still able to get navel piercings because body size isn’t as key a factor as your configuration in the area of the piercing. However, the diminished blood supply caused by excess abdominal fat does make healing more difficult. If you are diabetic and carry excess weight in this area, navel piercings are inadvisable because complications are to be expected and can be more serious.

If you are planning to lose weight, the overall shape of your navel area is still the primary consideration when deciding whether to postpone piercing. A protruding beer belly is generally suited to navel piercing because usually the area gets smaller with weight loss, but maintains the same basic contour.

Extremely rapid weight gain or loss during healing could cause irritation if the abdomen changes shape quickly enough to prevent the piercing from settling. It is unlikely that a weight fluctuation could impact a healed navel piercing, however, unless it is substantial enough to alter the shape or location of your navel."

Please visit the provided link to view the whole inquiry and the response.
http://piercingbible.com/blog/2011/06/navel-belly-piercing-and-weight


Edited by AshGUTZ - July/25/2011 at 7:34pm