navel piercing infection healing cure spray ointment peroxide? no alcohol

[cyndrelli]

I need to know if I should use dermawound on a red (slightly swollen, maybe not sure, not much swelling if any I can really tell) belly button piercing. can anyone (or SCI nurse) let me know what works because the saline spray H2ocean is not working fast enough, that's the distilled saline salt water spray in an airtight can you get at the tattoo shops, I just want the redness gone, and I dont want to take the ring out now because I dont' want it to look ugly or look scarred while it's red. I have some ointment from the doc my son got for a spider bite leftover, it is called tobradex it has tobramycin 0.3% and dexamethasone 0.1%
preservatives are mineral oil and white peterolatum and chlorobutano 0.5%. Would this stuff work or not be good? It says on the internet to not put alcohol or bacatracin because you can get scar tissue, so just the spray is not working fast enough. thanks.

[cyndrelli]

anybody know what to put on a navel piercing to make the redness go away quicker than sea salt spray? Is the navel piercing just like any other wound? I was looking at dermawound, thanks!

[Jadis]

how long have you had the piercing? Is it getting snagged on anything that would tug it and.or keep it from healing?

[gurly2356]

yeah..are you able to take it out for awhile or is it still new???

You mentioned you have a ring in it...The place that pierced mine wouldn't use a ring for sanitary reasons. They said rings are more prone to infection cause you can't clean them as good. If you can change it maybe you should switch to a barbell since you can move it around better.

Im not sure what else you should try using on it..the salt water is all I've ever been told to use.

My belly button was pierced for like 3 years before I had my injury. I just let it close up because I didn't like the thought of accidentally tearing it out!

[Broknwing]

it always takes a long time for a belly button piercing to heal...I had mine for over 4 months before I ripped it and had to take it out...It had not yet healed...I've got a hyperactive immune system and had attributed that to it not yet healing, but have since found out that that is NOT an uncommon ammt of time for it to take for it to heal....It's VERY common to take at least 4-6 months for a belly button piercing to heal...How long has it been since you had it done? /

[cyndrelli]

Mine healed totally after about 6 months, just looked like plain skin, then it got infected when I took it out and put in another kind of ring, maybe it wasn't stainless steel and it's been red for about 2 months now since then.

[cyndrelli]

no it was totally healed after 6 months wasn't red at all, then I changed the ring (or I guess yea it's a barbell thing, not a ring it has a diamond at the top and the bottom) but I put this pink one in and maybe it was't stainless steel and maybe it wasn't healed totally yet, and then it became infected and red, it's mainly just red and irritated now without much of an infection because there isn't anything coming out that's gross or crusty (sorry, that's what they call it though, ha) it is pierced really thick so it shouldn't rip out as long as I can get it healed this time I ordered that dermawound stuff, I will let you guys know, I see someone else was asking about it too.

[LaMemChose]

Are you SCI or here to ask about your belly button and your aunt's pacemaker, cyndrelli? Just curious as you don't have a profile.

[cyndrelli]

I am not sure what SCI means. I found this board on google when I put in something related to dermanwound or belly button aftercare. This came up. What is SCI? What is the accident you were talking about, the last girl, sorry I forgot your screenname.

[cyndrelli]

sorry I see that SCI must stand for spinal cord injury, I didn't know that as all I saw the topic to this board was "care". Anyway, lamemchose, is it still alright that I have a belly button injury and am posting to this board? Gurly, how did you get into an accident in 04?

[cyndrelli]

gurly, I don't know if I should take it out or not, I mean how do they expect you to clean it if you can't take it out, you know. Well sorry guys, didn't mean to clutter up your board, I just thought it was under "care" so you guys are in SCI because that's what it stands for, does that mean you are unable to get around as well as before the injur(ies), or is this just partial spinal injuries? Wish you guys the best.

[rfbdorf]

...does that mean you are unable to get around as well as before the injur(ies)...This must be the understatement of the year! But she meant no harm.
- Richard

[SCI-Nurse]

If you have an infection, you need to see a doctor. Don't self-treat using peroxide, Betadine, sea salt spray, etc. etc. etc.

(KLD)

[SCI-Nurse]

I have combined all of these separate threads. See your doctor for an infection of your naval. It is not to be taken lightly or self-treated.

(KLD)

[cyndrelli]

Richard,

I didn't want to come out and say it any other way I thought may be offending anyone, I guess I was reading SCI as CSI (like the show or something) or something, lol sorry anyway.

[gurly2356]

Well if its been over 6 months you should be able to take it out to clean it. If you dont think you are able to.. just move the barbell around when cleaning it. I never had any problems with mine healing. Maybe put some neosporin on it?? I really have no idea...

I think your best bet is to put the original piece of jewelry that you got it pierced with in. If it still doesn't clear up you might need to remove it permanently. I think if you went to a doctor for this his advice would be only for you to get rid of it....

BTW..I got my spinal cord injury in 2004 from a automobile accident. I wasn't driving & it wasn't my fault..some people just like to run stop signs. :doh: Most of us on this website are paralyzed due to a spinal cord injury.

[Karla523]

Gurly,
Thank you so much for such a nice response to Cyndrelli, who happened upon the site by an apparent mistake. It is nice to see people offer up a bit of advice rather than attacking Cyndrelli for not realizing what kind of site she was visiting.

Cyndrelli,
I wish you well with the belly button thing :) I let mine grow up when I was pregnant and haven't felt the desire to do it again... sure don't feel like showing any belly now haha. Best of luck to ya.

[cyndrelli]

Hey guys, if you put in on google the word dermawound this site comes up right at #3 under the site that is selling it. So that's how I came right to the "care" board. A friend of mine was in a car wreck when someone ran a stop sign too but she ended up with a few teeth chipped and had some neck problems for a while, well with my belly button problem I really feel like I'm being overly concerned seeing you guys have another type of injury here. it's just been bugging me all day, I looked it up (me and my husband) T4 and T5 SCI injuries, you learn something new everyday. Well my aunt was diagnosed by a doc a few weeks ago as having some sort of RDI or something (not sure what it was, just had an R in it) from a surgery on her arm, the doc told her within a year she'd lose control and movement of her arm, she was stressed to the max for 3 months, then a week ago they told her it was misdiagnosed and she only had carpal tunnel. So anyway, that was good to learn, you never know when they may be wrong on something. Anyway, enough before I bore everyone here. talk to you guys later.

[Jadis]

im thinking the second piece of jewelry had a metal in it you were sensitive to, or it wasnt' clean. I agree with putting the original jewelry back in--let it soak in alcohol for about 3 minutes first tho.

[Karla523]

Cyndelli,
I can see how you ended up at this site. There are many discussions on this site about wound care products. You probably don't realize this, but people with Spinal Cord Injuries may get terrible pressure sores (open wounds from where there is no movement to relieve pressure on the skin). That is why google probably pulls this site up when you look up wound care products.
You've gotten some good advice from Jadis and the others. Try the original... you know the old saying, "Don't fix it if it ain't broke"... or something like that :) Put the old one back it, keep it clean, and hope for the best. You don't want to start over with a new one if you don't have to, that's for sure!

[Jadis]

i had it happen with my nose piercing. healed up and looked great. I changed out the stud=mistake. The stud was cheaply made and i ended up with a very angry piercing.

[cyndrelli]

A nose piercing is a smaller hole than in your belly button they use this HUGE needle, this "hole" thing is about to gross me out I'm almost ready to take it out, well I did put the orginal back in, well over a month ago and it's still red, I think I just needed to use that H2ocean spray a long time ago and neglected it. well from the research I've done it shows alcohol is a big no no on belly button piercings because does something to the cells and creates worse scar tissue, I remember the piercer in vegas telling me that too when he did it, (the guy that pierced it was the same guy that was on some show on TV that married a couple with hanging from their own piercings, lol) but he says not alcohol, even peroxide can dry it out, only sterilized saline solution you can get at walgreens in a spray can is good, but the H2ocean is better because it has some kinda antibiotic in it and also something that helps cell regrowth which gets rid of scar tissue, and they also said NO neosporin becasue it has bacatracin which can lead to scar tissue, well it also said this dermawound stuff has something for cell regrowth and cuts down on scarring during healing, so I'm going to see how that works out, for now just using saline solution til the tat shop opens tomorrow, everything was closed today and it started getting really bad when I had took it out and put it back in and somehow it got caught in the middle of there and poked it, now it's bruised, it's starting to get GROSS like I said. But now that I have it I dont want to take it out and leave a scar there esp. this close to summer.

[cyndrelli]

jadis, I see what you mean you said to soak the BARBELL thing in the alcohol I was hoping you didn't mean the navel soaking in alcohol, lol. But like I said yea I put it back in a long time ago I just neglected it htinking the redness would go away, it's been healed for 6-7 months before this trauma with the non stainless steel thing did this to it. I lived in Montana by the way for 2 yrs me and my husband met there in dillon, mt we worked at the paradise inn restaurant/bar/hotel, they used to always have the confederate RR come out for labor day and all these country singers, I remember tanya tucker coming into the bar once, everyone coudln't stand her, she was a big flirt not to mention flasher, lol, we also lived in butte for a while, my dad built a house in canyon creek in between lincoln and helena, he's got anohter piece of land over at canyon ferry lake. We LOVE it there, want to move back really bad but his job keeps us in boring swampy flat southeast texas.

[Jadis]

nope, alcohol and peroxide both on the skin are bad. not only did i have a red spot on the nose, i had an allergic reaction to the metal that left a nice 14g hole in my nose. I have 16 piercings, and am aware of what you are talking about. Anywho... saline flushing is a good idea to keep that crud flushed out. also, I use Amerigel on mine (cat decided one of my piercings was pretty and attacked it- ended up tearing it a little.)

Yeah, I know where you're talking about. Hubby's best chum from high school lives down around in that area. We have to head out to Billings on Thursday -- what a drive that's gonna be. Puttin fresh tires on the car tomorrow and grabbing chains.

[cyndrelli]

oh well I guess you're in Billings now then. Hope you had a safe trip.

[Jadis]

not yet. thurs we leave bright and early.

[xJdinox]

I agree. Belly button piercings do take a long time to heal. Mine took about 2-3 months. The top of my piercing was also red ahd eventually developed a pus bubble. My cousin was a piercing artist, and he told me to just keep on washing it with sea salt. I did that, and my piercing healed completely.