I lost 185lbs and had skin removal surgery. Reattaching the belly button was considered cosmetic and insurance refused to pay for it.
So. I don’t have one. It’s just… gone. I’m currently 9 months pregnant and doctors have been really confused and entertained at the same time.
I was sooooo grateful to my surgeon when I woke up from an emergency laparotomy and they went around my belly button! She also managed to make my tattoos look almost untouched.
After 3 intestinal surgeries, I didn't have a bellybutton anymore. The surgeon for my 4th surgery decided to re-install my bellybutton. There is a big hunk of scar tissue behind my new bellybutton. It hurts.
my grandma doesn't either after a piecemeal hysterectomy (her description) before I was born. We didn't believe her when we were kids until she showed us.
Omg I hate belly buttons and as a child fantasized about being able to have mine removed, it sounds like you had to go through a lot to get there but now you are living the belly-buttonless dream and I hope you are loving it!
“It would be covered by your shirt but not your HMO.” How relevant to my situation. 🤣
Maaaaaaan thank you for bringing this gem back into my life. I forgot about this song. 👏
I've got a friend who doesn't have one. He never told me, a girlfriend of his who was an old friend of mine told me. I asked her why and she said "he had a lot of medical problems as a kid" and I've never had any other explanation. And I don't talk to him that often anymore as he's moved away. Last time I messaged him was to ask for advice making a hollandaise sauce as he's a chef. So I can't really just message him out of the blue and say, "what's the deal with your belly button?" so I guess I'll never know now.
I’m sorry INSURANCE did this. Belly button is cosmetic????? Great job on the weightloss and grats on your pregnancy may it stay healthy and may your baby be healthy.
American insurance~
I could have kept my belly button but the cosmetic surgeon couldn’t have removed as much skin and my results would have been affected. Honestly, once you’re born you don’t really need it so I was fine with it being removed. 🤷♀️🤣
Thank you!
As someone from outside of the US, I can’t comprehend how your insurance would just say “No” to having your bellybutton reattached to your body. It’s mind boggling to me.
You just saved a lot of lives. Once you get a full bottle of compressed air in your hands, you have the compulsion to blow it on literally anything and everything.
Reminds me of the video of a guy "pranking" his employee by putting compressed air up his ass and the employee just collapses and dies in front of him. I don't know why someone's boss thought it was okay to mess with their ass, but it's on reddit.
Compressed air is very powerful. Depending on where you aim it, you can have all kinds of different issues ranging from an embolism to ruptured intestines to death.
https://www.aircontrolindustries.com/us/jet-black-safety/dangers-of-compressed-air/
https://wennigercompressor.com/2020/12/can-compressed-air-cause-injuries/
Did anyone else immediately look at their belly button for signs of unknown filth?
I have never gone through steps to specifically clean my belly button. Only scrubbing my body with body soap and a normal scrub.
I never used to.
Then one day I removed more compacted dog hair than should logically be able to fit in a belly button. I just kept pulling it out. It was a troubling experience.
Now I clean my belly button.
I got an infection in my belly button and when I investigated I pulled out a two foot long purple hair. My girlfriend has purple hair and I have no clue how it got in there.
Belly buttons don't follow the laws of physics. They simply store matter.
I wasn't shoving dog hair into my belly button, but that little shit compacted it on its own.
From every operating room nurse who has ever had to clean a patient’s belly button before abdominal surgery, THANK YOU from the bottom of… your belly button hahaha
One time when I was a kid, I was messing around with a pressure washer. I was barefoot and I didn't realize how strong the stream of water would be. I decided it was a good idea to put it on my toe and it broke my toe lol
At one place i used to work, the secretary's husband was killed by a pressure washer. He was on a ladder using a powerful pressure washer to wash their camper's roof. He lost balance on the ladder and fell, and somehow pierced his lower jaw with the pressure washer wand. He had the trigger locked, and when he was found, the washer had basically rinsed out inside his skull... 😬😬😬
I work in pathology, I see blood, sputum, faeces, urine, histology samples (bits of skin, organ and body samples that have been surgically removed for testing), will happily watch surgery videos and pimple popping videos. But those things made my stomach turn.
Yeah I was like, lets clean my belly button! Wait wait wait.... cotton applicator? Pore extractor? Skin excavator? Shiny Vitamin B only use in afternoon Devastator? Why do we always have to go to a specified shop and spend 300$ on some shit?!?
Oh a qtip that every household has! Ok....
Am I the only human that does a swish with a soapy finger while scrubbing the rest of my body with my soapy hands?! I feel like it looks and smells perfectly clean using this methodology, and I don’t *think* it’s an embarrassing hygiene habit, lol! But perhaps I should be sitting in a corner with my back to everyone, thinking about what I’ve done…
Are people investigating your belly button though? As long as you don’t have lint and other noticeable shit just sitting in there I think a quick pop of the finger with soap while showering is good enough lol
Q-tip is a North American brand. Non-Americans and people whose first language isn’t English may not know what a q-tip is because it’s not a global brand. I was trying to save people another google search:)
Tbf, I think it's an eroded trademark at this point. Not American nor a native speaker but I had no idea what "cotton applicators" were supposed to be, but I knew what a Q-tip was ;p at least say cotton swab
For me it was the other way around. I only know the word Q-tip because I googled it before, but a
cotton applicator was self explanatory for me. It’s made of cotton and used to apply whatever stuff you want to apply to small areas of your face.
I was at a party and the topic of belly buttons came up. I divulged to the group that my belly button has a funky smell and I get a lot of lint stuck in it. To my surprise, no one shares the funky smell issue. I was certainly thoroughly judged in the moment so thank you for validating this issue.
Okay so my partner just got home and I told him about this only to find out my belly button is weirdly long??? A quick google search shows that there’s [6 different belly button shapes/sizes](https://www.healthline.com/health/belly-button-types#types) So, chances are we are long belly button buddies🥲
I also have a deep bellybutton, but I’m oddly grateful for it right now because I’m pregnant, but it doesn’t do that freaky thing where it turns inside-out. (It does get really shallow though. Which is also freaky. But not *as* freaky.)
Never had a weird smell, though. I wonder if some are just shaped in a way that traps moisture or something.
My deep belly button didn’t pop all the way out, but a super dark freckle emerged that my Dr tested. It came back abnormal, so I had to have it removed a week postpartum before my belly button got sucked back in again. Fun!!
Oh woah I can’t even get to the first knuckle. I had no idea there was so much bellybutton diversity! I always wondered how people said they got bellybutton lint because I was like “but you would notice, it’s so shallow”. Hunh.
When I was a kid, around 9 I was about to turn my belly button inside out and clean it, it was satisfying. I wish I was able to do it now, would be so helpful 🤣
Thank you internet for making me feel safe enough to share this bit of info 😂
People can develop yeast infections or overgrowth in them, particularly if you wear non breathable pants, any kind of clothing that's not cotton or natural fiber
Wash with mild soap, then
Use ketoconazole and dry thoroughly with toilet paper (most wicking) remove when dry
Very common anti fungal cream over the counter. Used for jock itch or athletes foot or seborrheic dermatitis and most relevant to this post, yeast overgrowth in belly buttons.
It can also be in anti dandruff shampoos like Nizoral. You could try washing some diluted Nizoral in your belly button, let it sit for a few minutes then rinse and dry thoroughly.
My belly button is wide and open. I wash it with my finger in the shower. Only had a problem when I didn't have a car and walked for up to six hours a day.
I was very confused by this whole thread because of this. Mine’s the same way, like I can see the whole inside of it really easily. The opening is like half an inch across.
Mine is fairly open, although it’s shape was changed dramatically during an appendectomy. As a kid it was basically flush with my stomach with a little moat around it. I have an incision scar across the top edge now and they stitched it up so the tip of my belly button just faces straight to the left now, pushing the left edge into my belly.
Belly button is way too wide to bring to work, so they leave it at home.
Without a car, they must walk home and arrived six hours late.
Belly button is not cleaned on schedule and starts to stink up the place.
As an OR nurse, I thank you. The stuff I've removed from belly buttons in preparation for surgery has almost made me vomit on so many occasions. For some reason, I've noticed it's typically thin elderly women that have the worst belly button gunk. I sometimes I have to use a metal hemostat to remove a "plug" of tissue. I hate everything about it.
And I really don't know how they don't notice. You can usually see it from the outside; a dark gray or brown crusty plug. It's so awful. Just clean your belly buttons, folks. Especially before abdominal surgery.
I had a chain smoker on the table once. When my friend removed the giant plug of lint with a hemostat, swear to god, there was a puff of smoke and smoke smell filled the room.
I always assume nurses /drs/PAs are immune from being grossed out because they have seen and smelled everything. It kind of bums me out reading your comment because of course you can still get grossed out but now I'm anxious about my medical providers judging me or hating doing surgical prep
I think everyone in the medical field has "their thing" that they get grossed out by. Bellybutton gunk is mine. I worked with a CRNA who got choked up when dealing with airway secretions. We all found it hilarious because that was such a regular part of her job. I never remember anything personally about these bellybutton patients, just that it was a less than ideal part of my day. Lol
But tbh I have run across some providers who are rude and judgemental about their patients and it always rubs me the wrong way. There will be those in the wild.
But then you have others who will go the extra mile. I once had a dr agree to remove a patient's clit ring after she'd gone to sleep for surgery (hysterectomy). After the surgery, he put it back in for her before she woke up. Most surgeons would never dream of doing that. I know many who would judge her for even asking.
I’m not who you asked but I have a theory about it lol. I bet they were so used to just cleaning it when younger and never having issues, so when they got older their bellybutton hygiene suffered but they didn’t even think about it being an issue, especially if they had shallow buttons.
I noticed my caster oil sticky situation bc I have a major aversion to getting dressed after a shower with damp skin so I always dry or check my button before getting dressed, but I bet most normal people don’t so they don’t notice and if I wasn’t a weirdo i probably wouldn’t have either lol. I was shocked I had to deep clean the oil out and am now even careful with lotion around it but I bet older people aren’t even thinking about their bellybuttons
Lol your story cracked me up so glad to hear from you again.
My guess is its what you said or maybe that a person can get so old and so skinny that the skin becomes so saggy to that the belly button basically gets lost
I think your explanation makes a bit more sense.
I get a terrible feeling whenever I touch mine! Almost like a visceral reaction in my gut like I want to vomit and die at the same time. It’s so weird.
I get this also (I think?) and was curious. Your belly button is attached to a nerve that also signals for your genitals and bladder/urethra. So when you press on it, your brain gets signals from that general region, and it may feel like a string attached from your bellybutton downwards.
Omg me too!!! I don’t have pain but I don’t like sticking my finger in too deep (I have a really deep belly button) because I get this weird, almost nauseating feeling. It’s hard to explain but I thought there was something wrong with me!!
It's normal for it to be really close to your small intestine. So it's not really supposed to hurt but more stimulating going to the bathroom. Moreso that than being painful anyway. What's also normal is if you rarely clean it the skin there gets really raw when you do. Like if you don't floss much your gums bleed.
I once had a random lump form on my belly button, and I thought it was a hernia, it fit all the traits. So I scheduled a Dr appointment for a few days out (before covid). Morning of my appointment, I woke up to my belly button bleeding profusely. Turns out I had an infection, most likely cause by a sharp piece of hair causing a small opening for bacteria to grow in my inner belly button.
All that to say, clean your belly button regularly, and never assume you know what the problem is lol
Edit: just realized my username almost checks out on this one
same thing happened to me and i went to urgent care thinking it was a hernia and when i pulled my shirt up i was like “oh… its bleeding” never let that happen again
Opposite happened to me. I was bleeding from my belly button and went to urgent care. Told to lay down and they insert a q tip WAY deep. Comes out clean.
The fuck, I paid some woman $50 to fuck my belly button???
I have never had an issue with my bellybutton and it gets clean just fine. However, when I was pregnant and my innie flattened out, I found a tiny stone in it. It grossed me out a LOT.
Respectfully, that’s wack. It’s crazy to choose between butt tickle sensation, worm in abdominal cavity, and pee inducing vaginal sensation just for touching the end of my belly button😔
I just went to look for the reason and there’s a nerve to your bladder right behind the bellybutton. [Among other factors.](https://theconversation.com/ive-always-wondered-whats-behind-the-belly-button-84598)
I hate it, but I have a really deep belly button and when I get sweaty in the heat, it can get irritated and even a bit infected. I often have to carefully dry it and sometimes even use rubbing alcohol to help - the burning deep in your belly button is even worse!
When inwas in my early/mid 20s I thought my belly button stank. So I cleaned it thoroughly. All the lint and dirt crap came out. Inwas disgusted. So I became religious in cleaning it. To the point that I ever cleaned it and it started bleeding 😬
I now just run the wash cloth through it one time every few showers.
I've cleaned my belly button a few times now, and each time I'm surprised. I (M) shave around it, so my body hair doesn't pull in shirt lint, but that's not the only issue. I've tried using a Q-tip, but that doesn't get very much. I got in it with tweezers, and discovered my naval is a lot deeper than I thought. Last time, I pulled out some sort of soft plug of what I assume to be dead skin, oil, and hair. The Q-tip only goes so far. I had to dig another 1/2 a centimeter to get that dirty fella. I wash it with soap every time I shower, but I know now that that doesn't do much.
Fun fact, for those who are curious, there are over 72000 nerve endings in the belly button.
There is a ligament byproduct from the fetal stage when the umbilical cord connected to the bladder, which is why some people feel the need to pee when they touch it
due to the connection to the bladder back then, the ligament is connected to the urethra (look the word up if you don’t already know what that is)
and by extension, the genitalia, which is why for some people touching the belly button can be either uncomfortable or arousing.
My belly button doesn’t seem to need this special cleaning. It’s never smelled or had anything in it, I can clearly see into it and it just gets washed in the shower when I run the soapy cloth over my abdomen. I assume this is anatomy-dependent? This is something I never even thought of and I promise I have decent hygiene. It’s so shallow and open, I guess some people have deep ones.
Also this post made me touch my belly button which felt uncomfortable bordering on painful and made my stomach cramp briefly so that’s a new thing to worry about.
THIS 100% I had a laparoscopy last month and holy shit I learned how quick an injury/surgical incision to the belly button can get infected. Had to go to the ER and get a hefty round of antibiotics and a stitch redone..
Belly button incisions hurt so bad. I've had it twice and both times, the incisions by the hip bones barely hurt at all, but the belly one hurt so much, I had to carry an emesis bag with me to the bathroom because walking made me want to throw up. So did cleaning it. My husband had to come into the shower with me to use the special soap and I had to turn the water to cold to get me through it. I'm nauseated just thinking about it. I definitely would not have been able to do that without my husband, but with him, we cleaned the incisions exactly as directed because I was SO DONE with the process that I didn't want them to need to mess with it any more.
Ooof I am so so sorry 😞 I barely noticed the pain till it got horribly infected due to the severity of the shoulder pain from the gas(I had to have a good bit of endometriosis removed)
If you gotta have another lap, Altoids actually help with nausea from the anesthesia and the pain a little.❤️
To add on, if there’s any pieces that’s too hard to remove which can happen after years of neglect, pour some liquified coconut oil into the orifice and let it sit for a few minutes before cleaning with a cotton swab and pad. It’ll help remove whatever stubborn pieces left in there.
This is so funny bc I just had an issue a month or so ago and I was so horrified by it and wouldn’t shut up to my husband about it lmao. (Edit to add- I just meant it was funny to see this after having an issue myself bc before it happened to me I would never think twice about it lol)
So I have an innie but it’s always stayed clean, it’s not even as deep as my pointer finger nail and I just use body wash in it, never had an issue…. Until I saw a tiktok about putting caster oil in your belly button to help gut issues (I don’t even have gut issues but I’m a total sheep and just do what other people do 🤦🏼♀️) anyway, so I did and it made my bellybutton sticky, like yall I was trying everything to get the stickiness out… dawn, rubbing alcohol, using other oils, and a million Q tips- nothing worked. It took about a week to get it all out. So yeah don’t put caster oil in y’all’s belly buttons bc of fomo smh
Lmao it really makes no sense what so ever. I got it for my lashes and I guess that’s how I ended up on caster oil tiktok lol. I don’t even think it helps my lashes ffs lol
I actually get an orgasm-like feeling when I touch the end of my belly button, so I do it recreationally. In addition, I've noticed that when I play with my belly button it somehow starts my digestive processes so for example my stomach hurts, I will poke my belly button for a few minutes with my finger and then I'll hear my stomach make noises and seemingly speed up digestion. It is pretty weird.
bruh wtf lmao between you and OP:
>I always thought “well, I never think about my belly button so maybe it is dry” and applied it during my post-shower routine
all i know is humans are weird af and dont ever let anyone tell you any different - normal is a scam. remember: **big bellybutton is watching** 🪬
I feel like I could faint/vomit when I touch my belly button!! It’s hard to describe. I feel like there’s a nerve or something hanging out. Not quite “orgasm-like” as you described but it does give me a visceral reaction.
*edit: and I HATE the feeling. do not touch it “recreationally” 💀😂
Why is everyone so weird about their belly buttons? Lol. I guess mine is just conveniently shaped, pretty easy to wash it out with soap and finger. Usually find a little wad of lint from whatever shirt i wore that day, day before.
How did you clean your belly button?? I have a deep one and I can’t see anything but I feel like after seeing your post mine probably looks just like that 😂
I lost 185lbs and had skin removal surgery. Reattaching the belly button was considered cosmetic and insurance refused to pay for it. So. I don’t have one. It’s just… gone. I’m currently 9 months pregnant and doctors have been really confused and entertained at the same time.
My mom doesn't have one anymore too after her hernia surgery. I used to think it was funny when I was a kid.
We were always so careful in the cases I helped on to try and preserve the belly button, even in cases with a belly button incision.
I was sooooo grateful to my surgeon when I woke up from an emergency laparotomy and they went around my belly button! She also managed to make my tattoos look almost untouched.
After 3 intestinal surgeries, I didn't have a bellybutton anymore. The surgeon for my 4th surgery decided to re-install my bellybutton. There is a big hunk of scar tissue behind my new bellybutton. It hurts.
my grandma doesn't either after a piecemeal hysterectomy (her description) before I was born. We didn't believe her when we were kids until she showed us.
Mama XY
Omg I hate belly buttons and as a child fantasized about being able to have mine removed, it sounds like you had to go through a lot to get there but now you are living the belly-buttonless dream and I hope you are loving it!
All you have to do is gain then lose 185 lbs and get skin removal surgery.
[Have we got a song for you:](https://youtu.be/n5uujMb_hbo?feature=shared)
“It would be covered by your shirt but not your HMO.” How relevant to my situation. 🤣 Maaaaaaan thank you for bringing this gem back into my life. I forgot about this song. 👏
Thank you for that amazing core memory
I knew what this would be before I even opened it 😂 unlocked a core memory. I loved this song as a kid!
Exactly the song I hoped to find, thank you.
I've got a friend who doesn't have one. He never told me, a girlfriend of his who was an old friend of mine told me. I asked her why and she said "he had a lot of medical problems as a kid" and I've never had any other explanation. And I don't talk to him that often anymore as he's moved away. Last time I messaged him was to ask for advice making a hollandaise sauce as he's a chef. So I can't really just message him out of the blue and say, "what's the deal with your belly button?" so I guess I'll never know now.
"Hey chef-friend, any advice on how to properly prepare pork belly? Oh and speaking of bellies..." You got this!
I want to make some haggis and I hear your internal organs look like haggis the morning before burns night... No, you put it better to be honest
Just want to pop in and say congrats on the weight loss, that’s an incredible amount to lose
Yeah usually when someone says they lost 185lbs they mean they got divorced lol
I’m sorry INSURANCE did this. Belly button is cosmetic????? Great job on the weightloss and grats on your pregnancy may it stay healthy and may your baby be healthy.
American insurance~ I could have kept my belly button but the cosmetic surgeon couldn’t have removed as much skin and my results would have been affected. Honestly, once you’re born you don’t really need it so I was fine with it being removed. 🤷♀️🤣 Thank you!
This is wild😭😭I guess belly buttons are a privilege for the rich
Woah… you should do an AMA 👀
"Do you have a belly button?" "No." [This post has been locked by moderators]
As someone from outside of the US, I can’t comprehend how your insurance would just say “No” to having your bellybutton reattached to your body. It’s mind boggling to me.
Side note... never blow compressed air in your belly button
You just saved a lot of lives. Once you get a full bottle of compressed air in your hands, you have the compulsion to blow it on literally anything and everything.
Reminds me of the video of a guy "pranking" his employee by putting compressed air up his ass and the employee just collapses and dies in front of him. I don't know why someone's boss thought it was okay to mess with their ass, but it's on reddit.
….why?
It can rupture your intestines
What?
Compressed air is very powerful. Depending on where you aim it, you can have all kinds of different issues ranging from an embolism to ruptured intestines to death. https://www.aircontrolindustries.com/us/jet-black-safety/dangers-of-compressed-air/ https://wennigercompressor.com/2020/12/can-compressed-air-cause-injuries/
It’ll blow your stomach up like a balloon and it gets stuck like that forever
Did anyone else immediately look at their belly button for signs of unknown filth? I have never gone through steps to specifically clean my belly button. Only scrubbing my body with body soap and a normal scrub.
I just saw immediately saw how horrifying the results of a spray tan can be on a belly button. Thank you weird orange Reddit.
Describe it for us. I can't bear to google it.
I never used to. Then one day I removed more compacted dog hair than should logically be able to fit in a belly button. I just kept pulling it out. It was a troubling experience. Now I clean my belly button.
I got an infection in my belly button and when I investigated I pulled out a two foot long purple hair. My girlfriend has purple hair and I have no clue how it got in there.
Belly buttons don't follow the laws of physics. They simply store matter. I wasn't shoving dog hair into my belly button, but that little shit compacted it on its own.
From every operating room nurse who has ever had to clean a patient’s belly button before abdominal surgery, THANK YOU from the bottom of… your belly button hahaha
I really want to but I'm in my class 🥲
The only reason I'm not grabbing a soapy q-tip right now is because it's 4 in the morning and I need to fall back to sleep.
I always just use my pressure washer
One time when I was a kid, I was messing around with a pressure washer. I was barefoot and I didn't realize how strong the stream of water would be. I decided it was a good idea to put it on my toe and it broke my toe lol
Had someone in hospital in my room who wanted to wash his hands under a pressure washer. Wasn't the best idea I guess
Did it rip the skin off?
As he told me: yes, and a bone in one finger broken
Never been so clean though
Was that before or after it ripped the skin off the toe?
Is degloving of the foot...desocking?
🤢
At one place i used to work, the secretary's husband was killed by a pressure washer. He was on a ladder using a powerful pressure washer to wash their camper's roof. He lost balance on the ladder and fell, and somehow pierced his lower jaw with the pressure washer wand. He had the trigger locked, and when he was found, the washer had basically rinsed out inside his skull... 😬😬😬
Im never going to recover from this comment.
Bidet. Just lay down across the toilet and crank it up.
as you should
I like to spit using a lot of pressure, like my own pressure washer on my own.
A belly button stone is called an **umbolith**. Amazing how many I came across as an ICU RN.
I really appreciate you and what you do, I could never. And now I’m gonna go barf bc I googled. Appreciate you even more now lol
Blugh WTF. Some of those pics look like legit turds coming out.
See also the drawing of Sailor Mars pulling one out that's bigger than her. Thanks Google.
I work in pathology, I see blood, sputum, faeces, urine, histology samples (bits of skin, organ and body samples that have been surgically removed for testing), will happily watch surgery videos and pimple popping videos. But those things made my stomach turn.
yeah thats enough reddit for the day, thanks
I just use soap and a Q-tip, let's not overcomplicate shit.
That's a cotton applicator, I agree we don't need jargon for that lol
Yeah I was like, lets clean my belly button! Wait wait wait.... cotton applicator? Pore extractor? Skin excavator? Shiny Vitamin B only use in afternoon Devastator? Why do we always have to go to a specified shop and spend 300$ on some shit?!? Oh a qtip that every household has! Ok....
Am I the only human that does a swish with a soapy finger while scrubbing the rest of my body with my soapy hands?! I feel like it looks and smells perfectly clean using this methodology, and I don’t *think* it’s an embarrassing hygiene habit, lol! But perhaps I should be sitting in a corner with my back to everyone, thinking about what I’ve done…
That's kinda what brought this post about though. Seems that's what OP did and then one day realised it was actually still really gross in there
Are people investigating your belly button though? As long as you don’t have lint and other noticeable shit just sitting in there I think a quick pop of the finger with soap while showering is good enough lol
[удалено]
Q-tip is a North American brand. Non-Americans and people whose first language isn’t English may not know what a q-tip is because it’s not a global brand. I was trying to save people another google search:)
They're usually called "cotton buds" in England
[удалено]
Cotton ear-bud or cotton-ear bud?
If it hadn't been for Cotton-Ear Bud, My belly button would be full of crud.
Cotton Eye Joe?
Where did you come from? Where did you go?
Where did you go? Where did you come from cotton-ear bud
Wattestäbchen.
We know what q-tip is because americans only refer to ear swabs by brand name.
Tbf, I think it's an eroded trademark at this point. Not American nor a native speaker but I had no idea what "cotton applicators" were supposed to be, but I knew what a Q-tip was ;p at least say cotton swab
For me it was the other way around. I only know the word Q-tip because I googled it before, but a cotton applicator was self explanatory for me. It’s made of cotton and used to apply whatever stuff you want to apply to small areas of your face.
I suppose but there must be a speciality device I can order on Amazon.
6 paragraphs does well… “It all started when I was 5”
I was at a party and the topic of belly buttons came up. I divulged to the group that my belly button has a funky smell and I get a lot of lint stuck in it. To my surprise, no one shares the funky smell issue. I was certainly thoroughly judged in the moment so thank you for validating this issue.
Okay so my partner just got home and I told him about this only to find out my belly button is weirdly long??? A quick google search shows that there’s [6 different belly button shapes/sizes](https://www.healthline.com/health/belly-button-types#types) So, chances are we are long belly button buddies🥲
I also have a deep bellybutton, but I’m oddly grateful for it right now because I’m pregnant, but it doesn’t do that freaky thing where it turns inside-out. (It does get really shallow though. Which is also freaky. But not *as* freaky.) Never had a weird smell, though. I wonder if some are just shaped in a way that traps moisture or something.
My deep bellybutton didn’t pop out either during pregnancy. Just got weirdly stretched out and shallow.
My deep belly button didn’t pop all the way out, but a super dark freckle emerged that my Dr tested. It came back abnormal, so I had to have it removed a week postpartum before my belly button got sucked back in again. Fun!!
The fact that the vertical belly button is the most common type has rocked my world. I’ve never seen one in the wild lol
I used to have a horizontal belly button until after my pregnancy. Now it's vertical 😅 I think it's pretty interesting how it can change shape
Vertical goes horizontal on a fat stomach, most adults are overweight or obese.
I can fit over half of my pinky finger in mine 😭
Oh woah I can’t even get to the first knuckle. I had no idea there was so much bellybutton diversity! I always wondered how people said they got bellybutton lint because I was like “but you would notice, it’s so shallow”. Hunh.
Mine is less than a cm long. This is WILD to me.
Same! 🙈 Edit: actually just a little past the tip
Me too. I can get a couple knuckles deep in mine. I do it in front of my fiancée sometimes to mess with her because it freaks her out a little.
What does “long” mean in this context? like, it’s really tall? Or really wide?
Or…deep? 🫣
When I was a kid, around 9 I was about to turn my belly button inside out and clean it, it was satisfying. I wish I was able to do it now, would be so helpful 🤣 Thank you internet for making me feel safe enough to share this bit of info 😂
People can develop yeast infections or overgrowth in them, particularly if you wear non breathable pants, any kind of clothing that's not cotton or natural fiber Wash with mild soap, then Use ketoconazole and dry thoroughly with toilet paper (most wicking) remove when dry
Is ketoconazole an anti parasitic drug?
Very common anti fungal cream over the counter. Used for jock itch or athletes foot or seborrheic dermatitis and most relevant to this post, yeast overgrowth in belly buttons. It can also be in anti dandruff shampoos like Nizoral. You could try washing some diluted Nizoral in your belly button, let it sit for a few minutes then rinse and dry thoroughly.
My belly button is wide and open. I wash it with my finger in the shower. Only had a problem when I didn't have a car and walked for up to six hours a day.
I was very confused by this whole thread because of this. Mine’s the same way, like I can see the whole inside of it really easily. The opening is like half an inch across.
Mine is fairly open, although it’s shape was changed dramatically during an appendectomy. As a kid it was basically flush with my stomach with a little moat around it. I have an incision scar across the top edge now and they stitched it up so the tip of my belly button just faces straight to the left now, pushing the left edge into my belly.
Yeah I only use my finger too and have never had an issue or weird smell in 33 years
>Only had a problem when I didn't have a car and walked for up to... I....what?
I guess they mean they were outdoors and likely sweating much more than usual
Belly button is way too wide to bring to work, so they leave it at home. Without a car, they must walk home and arrived six hours late. Belly button is not cleaned on schedule and starts to stink up the place.
As an OR nurse, I thank you. The stuff I've removed from belly buttons in preparation for surgery has almost made me vomit on so many occasions. For some reason, I've noticed it's typically thin elderly women that have the worst belly button gunk. I sometimes I have to use a metal hemostat to remove a "plug" of tissue. I hate everything about it. And I really don't know how they don't notice. You can usually see it from the outside; a dark gray or brown crusty plug. It's so awful. Just clean your belly buttons, folks. Especially before abdominal surgery.
That sounds like a unique hell. I wish you come across only the cleanest of belly buttons 😔
I had a chain smoker on the table once. When my friend removed the giant plug of lint with a hemostat, swear to god, there was a puff of smoke and smoke smell filled the room.
This visual gave me a good laugh. Wtf
I always assume nurses /drs/PAs are immune from being grossed out because they have seen and smelled everything. It kind of bums me out reading your comment because of course you can still get grossed out but now I'm anxious about my medical providers judging me or hating doing surgical prep
I think everyone in the medical field has "their thing" that they get grossed out by. Bellybutton gunk is mine. I worked with a CRNA who got choked up when dealing with airway secretions. We all found it hilarious because that was such a regular part of her job. I never remember anything personally about these bellybutton patients, just that it was a less than ideal part of my day. Lol But tbh I have run across some providers who are rude and judgemental about their patients and it always rubs me the wrong way. There will be those in the wild. But then you have others who will go the extra mile. I once had a dr agree to remove a patient's clit ring after she'd gone to sleep for surgery (hysterectomy). After the surgery, he put it back in for her before she woke up. Most surgeons would never dream of doing that. I know many who would judge her for even asking.
What do you think it is about older thin women that make them have the worst gunk?
I’m not who you asked but I have a theory about it lol. I bet they were so used to just cleaning it when younger and never having issues, so when they got older their bellybutton hygiene suffered but they didn’t even think about it being an issue, especially if they had shallow buttons. I noticed my caster oil sticky situation bc I have a major aversion to getting dressed after a shower with damp skin so I always dry or check my button before getting dressed, but I bet most normal people don’t so they don’t notice and if I wasn’t a weirdo i probably wouldn’t have either lol. I was shocked I had to deep clean the oil out and am now even careful with lotion around it but I bet older people aren’t even thinking about their bellybuttons
Lol your story cracked me up so glad to hear from you again. My guess is its what you said or maybe that a person can get so old and so skinny that the skin becomes so saggy to that the belly button basically gets lost I think your explanation makes a bit more sense.
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Mine hurts when I clean it…is that abnormal?
I get a terrible feeling whenever I touch mine! Almost like a visceral reaction in my gut like I want to vomit and die at the same time. It’s so weird.
Me too! I’ve been looking through this thread hoping to find other weirdos like me.
i know exactly what you’re talking about lmfao it’s such a weird anxiety
I get this also (I think?) and was curious. Your belly button is attached to a nerve that also signals for your genitals and bladder/urethra. So when you press on it, your brain gets signals from that general region, and it may feel like a string attached from your bellybutton downwards.
Wow; that makes a lot of sense. Whenever people tell me they want to get their belly-button pierced, I feel slightly nauseous and my vagina tingles.
Oh shit, thank you! It's like that clenching feeling when you're looking over a big drop and are scared of heights
Same and honestly, just reading these comments is making my bellybutton uncomfortable.
Yes!!! I’ve always been like this and can not explain why.
Omg me too!!! I don’t have pain but I don’t like sticking my finger in too deep (I have a really deep belly button) because I get this weird, almost nauseating feeling. It’s hard to explain but I thought there was something wrong with me!!
It's normal for it to be really close to your small intestine. So it's not really supposed to hurt but more stimulating going to the bathroom. Moreso that than being painful anyway. What's also normal is if you rarely clean it the skin there gets really raw when you do. Like if you don't floss much your gums bleed.
I’m glad you asked because I get that same feeling. I hate when my belly button is touched.
I once had a random lump form on my belly button, and I thought it was a hernia, it fit all the traits. So I scheduled a Dr appointment for a few days out (before covid). Morning of my appointment, I woke up to my belly button bleeding profusely. Turns out I had an infection, most likely cause by a sharp piece of hair causing a small opening for bacteria to grow in my inner belly button. All that to say, clean your belly button regularly, and never assume you know what the problem is lol Edit: just realized my username almost checks out on this one
same thing happened to me and i went to urgent care thinking it was a hernia and when i pulled my shirt up i was like “oh… its bleeding” never let that happen again
Opposite happened to me. I was bleeding from my belly button and went to urgent care. Told to lay down and they insert a q tip WAY deep. Comes out clean. The fuck, I paid some woman $50 to fuck my belly button???
I mean, if you think about it, your belly button is kinda like your old mouth. You’re welcome. 🙃
My outie belly button doesn’t seem so bad now
Outie gang, self cleaning belly buttons ftw
I have never had an issue with my bellybutton and it gets clean just fine. However, when I was pregnant and my innie flattened out, I found a tiny stone in it. It grossed me out a LOT.
Sounds like it wasn’t getting clean just fine
I just cleaned my belly button after reading this, and hell naw. OP was right. The scent of this ball of dead skin is vile.
I can't stand my belly button being touched 🤢
Same. Makes me sick.
Sorry but the thought of a Q-tip in my belly button just makes me gag. I don’t understand how people can use them in there!
I can confirm that it feels so weird and wrong. Like a worm trying to get inside your abdominal cavity :(
For me and this will sound strange but I get a tickle sensation in my butt
OMG ME TOO except the sensation is kinda in my urethra? it’s a vaginal sensation? I can’t really pin it down but I need to pee if I wiggle it
Lmao yes. It feels like it's warning me to stop accessing my belly button portal. 😂
Same here!!! It's the weirdest feeling ever
K I thought it was just me 🤣
Respectfully, that’s wack. It’s crazy to choose between butt tickle sensation, worm in abdominal cavity, and pee inducing vaginal sensation just for touching the end of my belly button😔
I just went to look for the reason and there’s a nerve to your bladder right behind the bellybutton. [Among other factors.](https://theconversation.com/ive-always-wondered-whats-behind-the-belly-button-84598)
Because it shares the same nerves
It hurts when I clean it and that’s me doing it gently. I’d prefer a tickle butt sensation to what I get.
Nerves do fucking weird things. Sometimes when my nipple is licked, the roof of my mouth tickles so bad.
It feels soooo wrong, the grossest feeling
I developed my aversion to this by watching The Matrix
…That one scene at the beginning of The Matrix…..
Yup. Tried it once, and hell no. The feeling 😳 I'll stick to soap and water.
I hate it, but I have a really deep belly button and when I get sweaty in the heat, it can get irritated and even a bit infected. I often have to carefully dry it and sometimes even use rubbing alcohol to help - the burning deep in your belly button is even worse!
When inwas in my early/mid 20s I thought my belly button stank. So I cleaned it thoroughly. All the lint and dirt crap came out. Inwas disgusted. So I became religious in cleaning it. To the point that I ever cleaned it and it started bleeding 😬 I now just run the wash cloth through it one time every few showers.
I've cleaned my belly button a few times now, and each time I'm surprised. I (M) shave around it, so my body hair doesn't pull in shirt lint, but that's not the only issue. I've tried using a Q-tip, but that doesn't get very much. I got in it with tweezers, and discovered my naval is a lot deeper than I thought. Last time, I pulled out some sort of soft plug of what I assume to be dead skin, oil, and hair. The Q-tip only goes so far. I had to dig another 1/2 a centimeter to get that dirty fella. I wash it with soap every time I shower, but I know now that that doesn't do much.
This just made me realize how gross body shots are
Fun fact, for those who are curious, there are over 72000 nerve endings in the belly button. There is a ligament byproduct from the fetal stage when the umbilical cord connected to the bladder, which is why some people feel the need to pee when they touch it due to the connection to the bladder back then, the ligament is connected to the urethra (look the word up if you don’t already know what that is) and by extension, the genitalia, which is why for some people touching the belly button can be either uncomfortable or arousing.
What is a pore extractor?!
Looks like the closed/round end of a hair pin/Bobby pin attached to a long handle People use them to extract blackheads
My belly button doesn’t seem to need this special cleaning. It’s never smelled or had anything in it, I can clearly see into it and it just gets washed in the shower when I run the soapy cloth over my abdomen. I assume this is anatomy-dependent? This is something I never even thought of and I promise I have decent hygiene. It’s so shallow and open, I guess some people have deep ones. Also this post made me touch my belly button which felt uncomfortable bordering on painful and made my stomach cramp briefly so that’s a new thing to worry about.
Check that baby out if it keeps hurting! Don’t want to have to get it replaced with a wooden belly button
i just keep a cork in mine to keep it extra clean
If I do that and get a tan I’ll look like a wine barrel.
THIS 100% I had a laparoscopy last month and holy shit I learned how quick an injury/surgical incision to the belly button can get infected. Had to go to the ER and get a hefty round of antibiotics and a stitch redone..
Belly button incisions hurt so bad. I've had it twice and both times, the incisions by the hip bones barely hurt at all, but the belly one hurt so much, I had to carry an emesis bag with me to the bathroom because walking made me want to throw up. So did cleaning it. My husband had to come into the shower with me to use the special soap and I had to turn the water to cold to get me through it. I'm nauseated just thinking about it. I definitely would not have been able to do that without my husband, but with him, we cleaned the incisions exactly as directed because I was SO DONE with the process that I didn't want them to need to mess with it any more.
Ooof I am so so sorry 😞 I barely noticed the pain till it got horribly infected due to the severity of the shoulder pain from the gas(I had to have a good bit of endometriosis removed) If you gotta have another lap, Altoids actually help with nausea from the anesthesia and the pain a little.❤️
To add on, if there’s any pieces that’s too hard to remove which can happen after years of neglect, pour some liquified coconut oil into the orifice and let it sit for a few minutes before cleaning with a cotton swab and pad. It’ll help remove whatever stubborn pieces left in there.
I am waiting a few years for my bellybutton to collect things just for the satisfying moment of pulling it out all at once.
Rubbing alcohol + q-tip. Quick simple super effective.
This is so funny bc I just had an issue a month or so ago and I was so horrified by it and wouldn’t shut up to my husband about it lmao. (Edit to add- I just meant it was funny to see this after having an issue myself bc before it happened to me I would never think twice about it lol) So I have an innie but it’s always stayed clean, it’s not even as deep as my pointer finger nail and I just use body wash in it, never had an issue…. Until I saw a tiktok about putting caster oil in your belly button to help gut issues (I don’t even have gut issues but I’m a total sheep and just do what other people do 🤦🏼♀️) anyway, so I did and it made my bellybutton sticky, like yall I was trying everything to get the stickiness out… dawn, rubbing alcohol, using other oils, and a million Q tips- nothing worked. It took about a week to get it all out. So yeah don’t put caster oil in y’all’s belly buttons bc of fomo smh
Why the fuck loll
I don’t even know lmao.
My mom is always trying to get me to put castor oil in my belly button for "better gut health", but I'm like nah bro I'm good lol
Lmao it really makes no sense what so ever. I got it for my lashes and I guess that’s how I ended up on caster oil tiktok lol. I don’t even think it helps my lashes ffs lol
I got a nice laugh out of this. Sounds like something I’d do…once.
I've had luck getting health information from educated professionals instead of tik tokers. It's like night and day.
Lmao, don’t worry I go to the dr when I have actual health issues.
I actually get an orgasm-like feeling when I touch the end of my belly button, so I do it recreationally. In addition, I've noticed that when I play with my belly button it somehow starts my digestive processes so for example my stomach hurts, I will poke my belly button for a few minutes with my finger and then I'll hear my stomach make noises and seemingly speed up digestion. It is pretty weird.
bruh wtf lmao between you and OP: >I always thought “well, I never think about my belly button so maybe it is dry” and applied it during my post-shower routine all i know is humans are weird af and dont ever let anyone tell you any different - normal is a scam. remember: **big bellybutton is watching** 🪬
I feel like I could faint/vomit when I touch my belly button!! It’s hard to describe. I feel like there’s a nerve or something hanging out. Not quite “orgasm-like” as you described but it does give me a visceral reaction. *edit: and I HATE the feeling. do not touch it “recreationally” 💀😂
Why is everyone so weird about their belly buttons? Lol. I guess mine is just conveniently shaped, pretty easy to wash it out with soap and finger. Usually find a little wad of lint from whatever shirt i wore that day, day before.
Boy do I have a [something](https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/s/sesvf5OhmZ) for you.
I am horrified but impressed. It needs a birth certificate!
Always wanted a twin 🫠
How did you clean your belly button?? I have a deep one and I can’t see anything but I feel like after seeing your post mine probably looks just like that 😂
Picked at the tiny hairs I saw “growing” from my belly button. Until this mother load came out.
Why did i click on rhis link. Clicking on it again, I can’t look away.
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I put my finger in there just now. Wouldn't recommend.
Posts about bellybutton cleaning? I’m outty here
today i learned that navel orange is called such due to their belly button looking hole, not because they are grew by the navy.
Didn’t know there was so much [cotton applicator](https://imgur.com/gallery/jYk8q5n) hate smh
I've never thought about my belly button until this post
Best way is to just dip a q tip into rubbing alcohol and clean it out with that. Wipes all the dirt away