Anatomy and positioning
Navel piercing is among the most requested body piercings worldwide, but it's also one of the most demanding in terms of anatomy. At Funky Tattoo in Piața Romană, Bucharest, we evaluate before each procedure whether the client's anatomy allows a long-term stable navel piercing — not everyone has a sufficiently pronounced upper "lip" to support the jewellery without migration risk.
The top navel is the classic variant — the perforation enters through the skin above the navel and exits through the inside of the umbilical cavity. It requires a sufficiently pronounced upper fold (minimum 5 mm of skin that can be pinched between fingers). Healing takes 16-32 weeks — longer than most other piercings, since the area is subject to permanent motion (breathing, bending, sitting) and friction from clothes. Pain is low (2/5), but managing healing is what makes the difference between a successful piercing and a rejected one.
The bottom navel is the mirror variant — the perforation enters through the skin below the navel and exits through the lower cavity of the umbilicus. Anatomically, it's more rarely feasible, since few people have a sufficient lower fold. At Funky Tattoo we recommend bottom navel only after careful evaluation. Inverse navel is a combination that combines top and bottom on the same jewellery (usually a long banana barbell), creating a distinctive visual effect, but with increased migration risk and longer healing.
The initial jewellery is always a banana barbell (curved barbell) made of implant-grade titanium, with a long 10-12 mm post to accommodate initial swelling. The back disc is flat and sits in the umbilical cavity, while the front ball can be plain or decorated with a stone. For clients who spend a lot of time sitting (office, driving), we recommend variants with a small ball (3 mm) to reduce pressure on the jewellery in the seated position.
Factors influencing long-term success include: body weight (people with BMI over 30 have increased rejection risk), posture (excessive thoracic kyphosis presses the navel when bending), and clothing type (low-waist jeans are friendly; high-waist ones press on the piercing). For clients who do intense sports (crossfit, yoga, dance), we recommend a flexible silicone ball for the first 3 months, to reduce mechanical shocks.