During ancient times, especially in Greece, Rome and Egypt, body piercing was associated with royalty and beauty. It is no wonder that the popularity of body jewelry remains up to now. In the past few years, belly button jewelry has become the second most popular piercing on the body. Many celebrities and models can be seen wearing belly button jewelry on TV. And, because of the way it enhanced their outfits, belly button jewelry has become a range for female tweens, teens and adults.

Pre-piercing 411

Getting a belly button jewelry is no joke. It isn't something that you can just dabble with. It is a very serious decision that involves responsibilities and consequences that you need to face. It may look good on you and you can flaunt it during parties, but there are other things that you need to look at before getting one.

First of all, you need to consider some health risks that come with getting pierced. Bacterial infection, excessive bleeding and allergic reactions are the least of your worries. Depending on the way your skin reacts to the process, you may incur some keloids on the area that will be pierced. These are thick, possibly discolored scars that can definitely put a mark on your flawless skin. It can also cause some damages to your nerves and you may feel some numbness on the pierced area right after the process. Worst, you can contract diseases that may be passed on by blood contamination.

Look Good Without Sacrificing Your Safety

Just because there are risks to consider doesn't mean you should give up your plans of getting a belly button jewelry. You just need to follow some guidelines that will prevent you from encountering the negative consequences of piercing.

Before you get pierced, try to do some research. You can start with a trip to your family doctor. Ask if you have any records of allergies to these materials: gold, silver, titanium and implant grade stainless steel. These are usually used for body piercing. If you are allergic to any of these and you still want to get a belly button jewelry, you can opt for Teflon or nylon piercings. The designs that you can choose from may become a little bit limited though.

And just like getting a haircut or going to the dentist, you should find a piercing artist that you can trust. Ask around! If you have some friends who have already gotten a belly button jewelry, find out where they had it done. If you can't find anyone to ask, visit some forums online. And, before you push through with the piercing, do look around the studio. Find out what tools they are using and how they sanitize them. In piercing, being clean is very important. Also, if you see that they are going to use a piercing gun to put your belly button jewelry on, call it off and move on to another studio. These guns cannot be sterilized and should not be used in navel piercing. You should also make sure that the sterilized needle that they will use on you comes from a sealed package.

In getting a belly button jewelry, you should make sure that you are comfortable with your artist and that he is using the proper equipment for the procedure. After all, having a belly button jewelry put on the wrong way is a hundred times worse than getting a bad hair cut.