Belly Button Piercing Pain: Does it Hurt?

Belly button piercing pain is one of the top concerns people have before getting their navel pierced. Well, if you’ve had your ears pierced, how much did that hurt? Was it excruciating? Maybe you couldn’t stand the burning sensation.  Or maybe it was totally easy and you were changing your earrings a few days later.

Does a Belly Button Piercing Hurt?

Belly button piercing pain varies from person to person. What was painful for your girlfriend might be totally easy for you to deal with. The truth is that there are only two factors that decide how painful getting your belly button pierced will be: pain tolerance and the quality of the piercing studio. Getting your piercing done at a reputable studio (and by an experienced, professional piercer) will help mitigate any piercing pain.

Belly Button Piercing Pain Scale 1-10

How much do belly button piercings hurt? On a scale of 1-10, belly button piercing pain is around three to five. Although as we mentioned above, the exact level of pain will vary from person to person.

My Navel Piercing Experience from Hell

We all have our own pain tolerances, so I am going to start with my personal experience of getting my navel pierced. I was a total novice in the piercing world. I only had my ears pierced. But, I was determined to get a navel piercing so I could show off my tummy during summer with some sexy body jewelry. I found a local piercing studio, called, and made an appointment. They had good references on Yelp, so I thought how bad can it be?

Beware of Unprofessional Piercing Studios

The man who did the piercing was a bit of a brute with no bedside manner at all. He had me climb up on the table, took a black marker and put a dot on the inside/outside of my navel, and then basically just shoved the ring through my skin! I was horrified that he didn’t use a needle and that he barely cleaned the area. Then he nonchalantly told me to go home, rinse it with saltwater, and not wear tight clothing.

The first night was awful. I like to sleep on my stomach, but that was out.  The elastic pajama pants I was wearing kept hitting the captive bead ring and waking me up. I finally took them off so I could get some sleep. The next morning my navel was still puffy and red. I put on a very loose fitting dress (figuring this would irritate it the piercing or rub/catch on the belly ring).

Migration, Puss, and Belly Piercing Pain

I had a horrible problem with belly button piercing migration. This is when your body essentially rejects the piercing and tries to push it out, and it’s about as gross as it sounds. My navel was constantly itching and oozing, it looked absolutely horrible. I didn’t realize at the time that I was allergic to nickel, and that surgical steel had small amounts of nickel in it. It was during this awful piercing experience that I started designing the TummyToys belly ring clasp. I decided that literally anything was better than this thing, so I quickly made a prototype (being a jeweler comes in handy sometimes), and swapped them out. I made sure to keep my piercing very clean, and to my amazement it began to heal really quickly. All in all it was about a five month experience and learning curve.

Being a belly ring designer and owning my own body jewelry brand, customers are always telling me about their stories of getting pierced. How bad their belly button piercing pain was. I really do feel for them because as you know by now, I also had a terrible experience!

Belly Button Piercing Healing Time

The actual pain of getting your navel pierced is somewhere on the 2-4 scale out of 10. The belly button piercing healing process is a good solid three months (and can even be up to eight). Salt water washes and gentle cleaning in the shower are the best methods for accelerating the belly ring healing process.

Because this piercing is done through a thick piece of skin and heals from the inside out, it may look healed on the outside, but the inside could still be raw.  Removing your jewelry at this point could open everything back up again. I recommend just leaving it alone for a minimum of three months before changing out your jewelry.

Don’t touch your piercing, try to let it breathe, and don’t let it catch on clothing. I also recommend that you don’t wear anything too heavy for the first year otherwise it will pull on your piercing. If the piercing becomes aggravated enough, it could promote migration, which would leave you with a very ugly scar.