Infection at old piercing site (gross details inside)?

An infected navel is very dangerous. See a doc right away.

How serious are you talking? For instance, is it something that could wait for an appointment or is it potentially urgent care serious?

Here is some informative reading for you. I can’t see how bad it is, but infections can be pretty serious. If you don’t have a fever or sever pain, it can probably wait until morning, but I would say it is a definite miss work/school day kind of thing.
http://www.pacificbodyjewellery.com/aftercare/infected_piercing.htm

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/body-piercing-problems-topic-overview
As a side note, I had a sinus infection once I didn’t have a clue about until I was hit by sudden, piercing pain. I went to the emergency room. The doctor said if I had waited another hour, it would have involved brain damage. I’m still not sure it didn’t. (Tiny bit of humor there to ease the nerves.)
Have it seen today, okay?

Infections in belly buttons aren’t unusual. Some people live with them on and off for years. Infections in an open wound are different, and can be more dangerous, but can simply be local too. I don’t know if you can tell if the infection is definitely from your piercing or your laparoscopy incision?

You don’t have a fever, so I’d say put the Neosporin as you did, and you can see your doctor some time this week if it worries you.

If there are red streaks leading from your belly button, that is an emergency. If there is red around it that is growing rapidly, like a centimeter every 12 hours or faster, that is an emergency, but when that happens it usually is very painful. You would know without looking that something is very wrong.

I’m not a doctor.

@Here2_4 Thank you. It’s just bizarre, because it’s been out for so many years. But I have been swimming much more than usual this summer. Without going into too many details, I’ll just say that what came out earlier did not seem normal. I’ve soaked it in a sea salt solution for about 30 minutes now, so I’m hoping that helps until I can go to urgent care tomorrow.

@JLeslie At first, before I read anything, I made the mistake of putting neosporin on it, which you’re apparently not supposed to do. But I had put a bandaid on it, only to find out that the bandaid gave me a stupid allergic reaction, so now I have bandaid-shaped welts on my stomach, too. :-/ Also, I haven’t had a laparoscopy.

Took my temperature to be on the safe side and it’s only 99.1, so still in the normal range, but that is a little higher than my average, which is around 99.4, so I’ll keep an eye on that as well until I can get in later.

*My average temperature is around 98.4, I meant.

I’m allergic to a lot of bandaids. Try Nexcare brand if you haven’t yet. Not for your belly button, I just mean for the future.

Since you mentioned surgery I assume yours was done laparoscopically (very common for one of the holes to be at the belly button) but you just meant they made you remove all jewelry I guess.

When you read up did it say it’s ok to put something like hydrogen peroxide on the area? Maybe use a q-tip?

When I had surgery they used Keflex (antibiotic pills) to clear up infections I had at the incisions.

The jelly above had a sinus infection (next to his brain) don’t let him panic you. Obviously, you want the infection cleared up, but you don’t sound in a lot of pain, or very sick. Luckily, it’s Monday, and you can call for an appointment or go to urgent care as a walk in if you want this week.

I haven’t tried that brand before, but I definitely will now. Thank you for the recommendation. And ah, okay. No, sorry, I did just mean in general – I just had to take my piercings out before surgery.

No hydrogen peroxide, because it can prevent healing from occurring because it’s apparently too harsh. But I did clean it with a q-tip and soaked it for a half hour with the sea salt solution, so hopefully it managed to dry out some of the stuff that was there.

I’m curious to know what the doctor does for it. Please post it here if you don’t mind doing so.

@JLeslie I don’t mind at all. I’ll let you know later.

Because of the bandaid issue, does this also mean that I should now most likely avoid latex condoms? The only allergy warning I could find on the box said that the packaging used rubber latex, but it didn’t mention the adhesive, which I thought was bizarre.

It can be the latex or the adhesive. It was bandaids and a test I had done for chemical allergies that made me realize I have a latex and/or adhesive allergy. I did not have any redness from any of the chemicals, but I thought I was allergic to everything during the test, because I was allergic to the square strips they used to hold the chemicals on my skin. 30 (or so) square outlines of redness and dried skin with not one reaction to the chemicals inside the square mark.

Now, I realize my mouth was irritated after going to the dentist, because of the latex gloves. Even my own hands when I used them at home for cleaning. I didn’t realize, because it was just for a short amount of exposure, but now that I stay clear of latex I see the difference.

Tagaderm doesn’t bother me at all, if you ever need large bandages. Hospitals usually have it, but they don’t always think to use it. Some no latex “bandaids” still do cause me a reaction, so now I realize that definitely some adhesives cause me trouble.

Use rubbing alcohol to disinfect. It could be MRSA or something similar so you need something strong to kill the infection. And see a doctor.

Why jump to MRSA? The OP isn’t describing the area being painful.

MRSA (or any other antibiotic resistant superbug) isn’t necessarily painful, just very deadly. Not worth taking a chance on!

Who’s taking a chance? I also agreed she should have a doctor take a look. MRSA, cellulitis, and necrotizing bacterias usually are painful.

I talked to a nurse at my clinic today and they weren’t able to fit me in until tomorrow evening. Based on my symptoms, they said I should be okay to wait until then, but that if anything gets worse I should go to urgent care. The nurse did say to take symptoms seriously, because of things like MRSA, but because my pain level is only about a 1–2 out of 10, they aren’t overly concerned.

Okay, so, I went in today. She said it looked well enough that I didn’t even need antibiotics, but that if it started acting up again/I got other symptoms to make another appointment. She said the best thing I could have done was the sea salt solution, so I think I’m just going to keep soaking it for a while to be on the safe side. She also said that when I took my jewelry out all those years ago it may have already been slightly infected, and that when it started healing up it may have just encapsulated the infection and then finally pushed it out a couple days. Ew. lol

I always say belly button and tongue piercings are not worth the risk of infection. Now, I feel
even more convinced of it.

GA for the update. Thanks.

@JLeslie No problem. And yeah, I wish I hadn’t gotten it done as a teen. It’ll always look like I have it pierced because of how my skin healed, too.

I have a second pierce in my left ear. Once every 5 years or so I put an earring in it out of curiosity. It is always open. It’s perfectly healed, it had never been infected, which probably is partly why it never closes. I write this when young people want to make their holes big with those disk earrings or pierce an unconventional place. There is always someone who says their piercing, wherever it is, closed up just fine. So what? There is a high chance it won’t. It’s a risk. For some reason that risk is rarely considered, I guess it’s rarely talked about among young people, and maybe parents aren’t talking about it either? They just say no and the teenagers just think it’s some sort of conservative no?

I am relieved you were seen and that all is okay.