The Facts and Dangers of Picking Your Belly Button: What You Need to Know

[Voice of Hope April 25, 2023](Editor: Li Wenhan) Don’t some of our friends like to “check” their belly buttons when they take a shower, sleep or watch TV? There is nothing wrong with always looking for something to do when you are bored, but the position of the navel is also learned and should not be touched randomly.

Mr. Wang is used to holding the fishing rod with his right hand and picking his belly button with his left hand when fishing. As a result, a few days ago, he found that his belly button began to appear red, swollen and painful, and it became more and more serious. After going to the hospital for an examination, it was found that I had omphalitis, that is, the belly button was inflamed due to bacterial infection. Now Mr. Wang is still taking antibiotics for treatment.

Omphalitis itself is not serious and should not cause major problems as long as it is treated promptly and cared for properly. Does that mean that the belly button cannot be picked casually? What is the knowledge of the small belly button?

First of all, let’s take a look at how the navel is formed as a part of the body? Why are there different shapes?

There was a time when the belly button suddenly became a hot topic. Some people say that “the person who touches the belly button with his backhand has a good figure”. Once this saying spread, netizens practiced it and posted photos. In fact, touching the belly button with the backhand is not a criterion for judging whether the body is good or not. But we can find that the “appearance” of the belly buttons of netizens is different. Some people’s belly buttons are concave, while others are convex. So why is there such a difference?

Doctors have also heard some strange claims about the factors that affect the shape of the belly button. Because the navel is formed after the umbilical cord is cut after birth, some friends think that the doctor’s technique of handling the umbilical cord affects the shape of the navel.

In fact, this statement is wrong. The belly button can be said to be the first scar in our lives. When we are still in the mother’s womb, we do not have the ability to breathe and eat. We need to rely on an umbilical cord connecting ourselves and the mother to obtain nutrients for growth and development from the mother.

The umbilical cord loses its function after birth, and a part of the umbilical cord will remain outside the body after it is cut. This part of the umbilical cord will be necrotic and fall off after a few days. The hole connecting the umbilical cord in our abdomen, like a scar, will gradually heal, grow new flesh and skin, and then form the navel.

The shape of the navel is mainly affected by your own healing speed. The umbilical cord will fall off soon after the doctor knots it, so the shape of your navel can be said to be determined by yourself, and has nothing to do with the doctor’s treatment.

According to statistics, 90% of people have concave belly buttons, that is, they look inward. If the flesh grows faster during healing, it will form a convex belly button with the belly button facing outward. Moreover, a person’s later body shape will also change the belly button. Usually, the belly button of a fat person is deeper, and the belly button of a thin person is shallower.

Now that we know the reasons for the different shapes of belly buttons, let’s look at another question. Some friends think that picking the belly button randomly will cause stomach pain because the belly button is connected to the intestine. It is true that the belly button cannot be picked randomly, but it is only half true to say that the belly button is connected to the intestine.

There is a folk saying that the navel is the “head of the intestines”. Don’t pick it up if you have nothing to do, otherwise you will poke the intestines out. This is too exaggerated. In fact, this is just to warn future generations not to pick the belly button as much as possible. The old saying that the belly button connects the intestines is actually only half true, because after birth, the “belly button” is no longer connected to the intestines.

In the womb, one end of our umbilical cord is connected to the placenta, and the other end is connected to the intestines and bladder of the fetus. This is to absorb substances through the umbilical cord and transmit them to the intestines and bladder for nutrition absorption and metabolism, and the waste after metabolism can be discharged through the umbilical cord. Shortly after birth, the umbilical cord falls off, and as the baby’s digestive and urinary systems develop, the navel is no longer connected to the bowel and bladder. The passages that connect the navel to the bowel and bladder, the urachal and vitelline ducts, close. So the belly button is not connected to the intestines.

Although the belly button is no longer related to the intestines and bladder, the belly button is not useless. In addition to the location will affect the appearance, there are other effects.

●The original blood vessels on the umbilical cord are still related to the human body. This part of the blood vessels no longer participates in blood circulation and becomes the “hepatic round ligament” connecting the liver, which can play a role in fixing the position of the liver.

●The skin of the navel is the thinnest in the epidermis of the human body, and it is a congenital physiological weak area. Drugs can easily enter the body through the navel and quickly distribute into the blood. Many of these medicine patches for treating diseases will be pasted on the navel, and the effect is very ideal. For example, if ginger is pasted on the navel, it has a good effect on the treatment of enteritis. Moxibustion on the navel can also invigorate the spleen and stomach, and enhance the function of the spleen and stomach.

●In addition, the internal organs of the human body can also obtain part of the oxygen through the navel, which is beneficial to the normal metabolism of the internal organs of the human body.

So the belly button can still play a role. The location of the belly button is hidden, and it is very easy to accumulate dirt. If the belly button is dirty, can I pick it out by myself?

If the navel is dirty, you can clean it yourself, but it is best not to pick it with your hands like Lao Wang. So what’s the harm in picking your belly button?

cause infection

As our congenital physiological weakness, the belly button is our vital gate in martial arts dramas. The skin of the navel is relatively thin. If you pick it with your hands, it is easy to scratch the skin because the nails are relatively sharp and hard. In addition, there is often dirt and bacteria in the navel. If you pick it, it will easily cause infection.

Under normal circumstances, if an infection occurs inside the body, the body’s lymphocytes will play a role in bactericidal immunity. But there are no lymph nodes around the navel, so it is difficult to deal with infection.

If an infection unfortunately occurs, it may cause inflammation of the navel and redness and swelling of the navel. It is not a big problem to deal with it in time. But if the infection is not treated in time, the bacteria may infect the abdominal cavity or liver along the blood vessels left by the umbilical cord, and the matter will be serious. It is likely to cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, abdominal muscle tension and other digestive and abdominal symptoms, and may even lead to more serious inflammation of the body.

easy to catch cold

In many cases, the stomach pain caused by picking the navel is not caused by infection, but because the stomach is cold. Randomly picking the belly button for cleaning can easily cause the navel to get cold, and the stomach will also be stimulated by the cold, which can easily cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, and even gastroenteritis. If you have a stomachache when picking your belly button, and the belly button is not red and swollen, it is likely that the stomach pain is caused by cold.

If you have stomach pain and no symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, you can try to use a hot water bottle to compress the abdomen to relieve the pain, but you need to pay attention to protecting the skin, because the skin at the navel is relatively thin and easily injured. If the abdominal pain is obvious, you need to go to the hospital for examination and treatment in time to avoid delaying the condition.

Nervous

Because there are many skin nerves in the belly button and the epidermis is relatively weak, the process of picking by hand may cause nerve sensitivity and local pain. The navel is also relatively close to the organs in the abdominal cavity, and it is the connection point of multiple nerve centers, so picking the navel with your hands at will can easily stimulate the nerves.

Picking the belly button stimulates the nerves, which will cause adverse reactions, such as stomach pain. Stomach pain caused by nerve stimulation generally does not last for too long. As long as you stop picking your belly button, the pain will gradually reduce or disappear. There are also nerves around the navel that control urination, so picking the navel may also stimulate these nerves and produce the urge to urinate.

So, even if the navel is not connected to the intestines, don’t pick it if you have nothing to do. Pay attention to keeping the abdomen warm and avoid catching cold. The secretions and dirt in the belly button should be cleaned up carefully to avoid infection. In the end, the doctor will share the precautions for cleaning the belly button, and we must pay more attention to our life gate – the belly button. You can bookmark or repost to let more friends know.

Since we want to clean up our navel, we need to clean it up comprehensively. For the superficial navel, it is also relatively simple to clean. We can use a clean cotton swab to wipe iodine or saline to gently wipe off the dirt and clean it up.

For the deeper dirt in the navel, it is relatively more complicated to clean. You can use non-irritating olive oil, sesame oil or universal saline to soak and soak the dirt in the navel first. After the dirty things are soaked, gently wipe off the dirty things with a cotton swab. If it is relatively large, you can choose to clean it out gently with tweezers.

Pay attention to the cleaning process, try to be as careful as possible, be careful not to break the skin of the navel, so as not to cause navel infection. Remember to sterilize with povidone iodine after cleaning.

In fact, there is no rule on how often to clean it. When you take a bath, you can wipe it with a towel to ensure the cleanliness of the navel. Because the secretions in the navel can still protect the navel. Cleaning the belly button should not be very frequent, twice a week is enough. If you haven’t paid attention to cleaning for a long time, remember to moisten it with normal saline or sesame oil first.

Although the stomach is not connected to the intestinal tract, random digging can also cause some troubles. In less serious cases, it may only be stomach pain and nerve irritation. In severe cases, it may cause infection and cause digestive diseases. In addition to being careful not to pick your belly button randomly and keeping your belly button clean and dry, you should also pay attention to keeping your abdomen warm, strengthen your physical exercise, improve your resistance, eat more fruits and vegetables, and eat less raw, cold, spicy and greasy food.

Editor in charge: Li Zhi

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