Question: Hi Doctor..
I have a navel piercing which is infected. I have seen my doctor and she prescribed me some anti biotics and she said I should take out the jewellery. But my piecer does not recommend me to remove the navel jewellery for fear that the small bump or abscess under my skin around the jewellery bar will get worse and form an abscess and deep scar tissue. My doctor claims that once a foreign object is out... the infection will heal even if the navel piercing hole has closed and the likelihood of the abscess to get worse is very slim since I am on a course of broad spectrum antibiotics. My doctor also says that with a foreign object in my body.. the infection will be hard to treat and a stronger form of medication will be required. I am torn to whether I should listen to my piercer or doctor. I just don't want the minor abscess or bump under my skin to get worse once I remove the navel jewellery. My health is my first priority.

Thanks you for the fast reply Doctor.
Once the jewellery is taken out by my piercer, there will be an open hole in my navel for the moment. Should I cover up the hole with a band aid or clean gauze after cleaning with the antiseptic solution around the piercing and applying topical antibiotic ointment in he piercing wound and should the piercer try to clean out the pus trapped within the piercing?

Thank you for your reply Doctor. I get the last point you just mentioned. Now the navel jewellery has been removed and the wound is healing. I am taking oral antibiotics and applying topical antibiotics on my wound after cleaning with an antiseptic solution and I would leave the wound exposed. The top wound opening has closed up after a day of the jewellery removal. The cleaning and cream application is done twice a day as per doctors instructions. I just notice that my navel piercing wound is now itchy. I hope it is a good sign of it healing? It is not red and the minor bump under the skin has reduced in size thankfully. Will it also speed up the healing if I did warm sea salt soak on the would with an inverted cup once a day to help the wound dry up? Thank you doctor for your replies.