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Skin thinning is one of the final signs of piercing rejection. While you may be able to catch a piercing begin to migrate and can sometimes stop it from rejecting all the way, a piercing with thinning skin is nearly always unsalvageable. Thinning skin can be noticed in multiple ways. More of your jewelry may be showing, which would cause your bar to look longer. Or your skin might be so thin that you can actually see the bar through the thin opaque layer of your skin. But it all means the same thing: your body is pushing your jewelry towards the surface.
What Do You Do When Your Belly Button Piercing is Thin?
When your belly button piercing is growing thin, there’s nothing else to do but go to the piercer to have it safely removed. When a piercing rejects, it can be very dangerous. There is only a thin layer of skin keeping your jewelry in, so if anything pulled on the jewelry, it would be ripped from your body. Rejected piercings nearly always leave very large scars. Not to mention, if jewelry is actually ripped from your body, it’s incredibly painful.
It’s always best to visit your piercer for signs of a rejecting piercing. Even if you only want the jewelry removed – if the skin is thin, there’s quite the chance that you won’t have stable enough hands to safely remove it. Most piercers will remove a rejecting piercing for free.
Does Belly Button Skin Grow Back?
Unfortunately, once your belly button piercing begins to thin, the skin will not “grow back”. It’s easier to instead think of it as your jewelry being pushed from your body. In order for the skin to “grow back”, the jewelry would need to be pushed back into your body, which never happens. But don’t worry: you won’t permanently be left with less skin. The amount of skin on your belly button never changes, so once you remove the piercing, it will close up and you will have a safe amount of skin.
How Do You Know if Your Body is Rejecting a Belly Piercing?
Ideally, you want to catch a belly button piercing migrating before it starts thinning, which is the point of no return. If you catch the signs of migration, your piercer may be able to swap to a piece of jewelry better suited to your anatomy and you have a chance of saving the piercing. The main sign of a migrating piercing is the skin at the ends of your piercing will be bright red (obviously wait a few days after getting the piercing before taking this as a sign). You may also notice the jewelry appears to be moving. The final sign before the point of no return is that the piercing hole itself may appear larger.
Can You Get Your Belly Button Pierced Twice?
If you get your rejecting piercing removed, you’ll need to wait for the piercing to heal completely, but after that, you can absolutely get re-pierced. Make sure to let your piercer know that your last belly button rejected and it would be helpful if you have pictures of your previous piercing so they can see the placement. A lot of rejected piercings can be fixed with different placement, but sometimes your belly button may not be anatomically suited for a belly button. Your piercer will be able to let you know if they believe you’d be able to support a belly button piercing if it were placed differently.
Conclusion
If you find the skin on your belly button piercing is thinning, it’s an emergency situation. Visit your piercer as soon as possible so they can safely remove the piercing for you. If you don’t, you risk the piercing being ripped from your skin and being left with a very large scar. Once your piercer removes your jewelry and you fully heal (just a few weeks), you’ll be able to safely re-pierce your belly button if you decide.
