The tube of skin that comes out from this procedure.
That is where that piercing has lived for all those years.
I'm Jaclyn and I'm getting my belly button piercing hole removed today.
I got my belly button pierced when I was 16 years old.
It was the early 2000s and basically, everyone had their belly button pierced.
One night I went to the emergency room with my mom
because I had like a growth inside my belly button hole,
and it ended up being a really bad infection.
So I took it out then and I haven't worn it since and that was 12 years ago.
I am not afraid of needles.
I have actually been battling breast cancer since December of this year.
I have no family history and I do not have the genetic mutation.
So immediately I had a double mastectomy and, followed by a few other things.
And I just finished chemo about a month ago.
A belly button piercing removal, no big deal.
Beauty means confidence, really, feeling good about yourself,
and being happy with yourself.
Hi, I'm Dr. Joubin Gabbay.
I'm a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills.
Belly button piercing removal is something that I've been doing for a while.
And as people realize that it is something you can do something about,
I get calls all the time.
Tell me what, what bugs you about this?
Let's talk about how we can fix it for you.
Well, first of all, the way that it looks, you know,
it's just like an ugly hole in the middle of my stomach.
And second of all, it kind of fills up every once in a while with some stuff.
And I have to squeeze it out and it's really gross,
and I just don't want to worry about it anymore.
Looking at this right now, you can actually see that
the darkness of the top here is part of the shadow.
So I can just get rid of this.
And by itself, it's going to make it look better.
Any questions about any of this?
No.
Alright.
Excited.
Good, well, let's do it.
I am most anxious about seeing any kind of blood.
But if the end result is what I came here for, then it's okay.
I am going to lay down some cleansing agents.
Clean the skin.
Make sure all the bacteria is killed.
I mark out the piercing above and below
so that I know where to cut.
Then I put in some local anesthetic to make sure she doesn't feel a
single thing.
And also, this anesthetic has epinephrine in it,
which squeezes down the blood vessels and prevents bleeding.
A very important thing.
Once I'm ready to start, I begin by making a tiny little incision around
the top of the piercing hole
and the bottom of the piercing hole.
From there, I sort of work my way down and up
and free up that tube of skin that connects the top and bottom of the piercing hole.
Once the tube is freed up completely, I'm able to easily pull it out.
Snip it away and it's gone.
Then I will do my closure in multiple layers.
First, I put a dissolvable suture deep
in the deeper layer of the skin.
And that really is helpful to help take tension off of the top
layers of the skin.
After I put in the deep stitches, I put in a couple of superficial
removable stitches at the top layer of the skin.
Those will stay in for just about a week.
I will cut them out and she is good to go.
The whole thing takes less than half an hour from beginning to end.
Wow.
You see how it just it's smoother now.
So you know the stitches are there.
But when that, you know, when that goes, it's just a straight shot down.
It's going to be invisible.
My initial reaction was that it was so easy.
I didn't feel a thing.
And it was really, really quick.
When you get a belly button piercing, there is a top and a bottom.
The top is sort of above the belly button.
The bottom is, you know, inside of the belly button.
That's where the piercing goes through.
So when I cut this out, I cut around the top.
I cut around the bottom.
There is a, there is literally a tube of skin that
interconnects the top and bottom of that.
And that is where that piercing has lived for all those years.
It has been 10 days since my belly button piercing hole removal.
And honestly, I could not be happier that I did it.
It was so easy.
The healing process was like no pain at all.
It already looks great.
So I'm really looking forward to seeing the results over time.
No more stuff coming out of my belly button hole.
Working with Jaclyn is very special for me.
I've known her for a long time.
She has a very, very powerful background story.
So really, it's funny, every time I see her,
it's really a special experience for me in the office.
And doing this was, you know, even better.
After the year that I've had, this procedure was nothing.
And I'm really excited to see what it looks like in the future.
And I'm so glad that I did it.
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