Bacterial Infection If you think you have an infection in your belly button, you should call your doctor so that you can have the area cleaned carefully. You may also need prescription antibiotics to kill the bacteria before it spread to other parts of your body.
If you develop redness, swelling, pain, or discharge, your belly button could be infected. This is especially likely if you have a navel piercing. In this case, you may require antibiotics or other treatment and should visit UPMC Urgent Care right away.
Tenderness, yellow, green or bloody foul-smelling discharge, swelling, pain, and a scab or ulcer can develop in the belly button. If deep skin infection occurs, it can lead to cellulitis – a spreading bacterial infection usually caused by staph or strep bacteria.
Bacterial Infection
If you think you have an infection in your belly button, you should call your doctor so that you can have the area cleaned carefully. You may also need prescription antibiotics to kill the bacteria before it spread to other parts of your body.
Your healthcare provider may recommend an antifungal cream, ointment or powder. You'll apply the antifungal directly onto the skin of your belly button. You can find many antifungal creams over the counter. Your healthcare provider may offer a prescription antifungal medicine if necessary.
Treating infections
Share on Pinterest Antibiotic and antifungal ointments or creams may be used to treat belly button discharge. Bacterial infections are usually treated with antibiotic ointments or creams. Fungal or yeast infections are also typically treated with antifungal powders or creams.
Like other areas of your body, your navel naturally contains bacteria and fungi. If you don't clean your belly button regularly and the circumstances are just right, microorganisms can proliferate and cause an infection, Edidiong Kaminska, M.D., a dermatologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, tells SELF.
But if it gets infected, you could have belly button pain, fever, and bloody urine. Your doctor may give you antibiotics, drain or remove the cyst, and possibly repair the area with surgery.
A weakened immune system is another reason why you may be prone to navel fungal infections. If you have an auto-immune disease, or are physically or mentally stressed, it will adversely affect your immune system.
Diabetic patients are prone to infections, and the disease may also prevent rapid healing of infections. Diabetics with belly button infections may suffer from an unpleasant smell emanating from the belly button, as well as oozing of cheese-like fluids.
Your belly button can get a few different things wrong with it, some of which are: Sebaceous Cyst (a liquid filled lump) Umbilical Hernia (soft swelling near navel) Bacterial Infection (crusty, itchy, leaking discharge)
Bacterial infections, fungal infections, and cysts may cause belly button discharge. Belly buttons can become infected if the skin is cracked, overly moist, or pierced. In addition, laparoscopic surgery through the naval may pose a risk for infection. Treatment includes antibiotics, antifungals, or drainage.
This photo shows what the belly button looks like from inside the abdomen. As you can see, it is not attached to anything in the body. The belly button is where the umbilical cord attaches to the fetus, connecting the developing baby to the placenta.
Treatment. Penicillin for 5-7 days remains the antibiotic of choice for umbilical infections.
Umbilical dermatitis is a common condition, with infection common in adults. It is usually associated with inadequate hygiene and deepening of umbilical cord caused by obesity. The condition is really a dermatitis and analogous to intertrigo that often occurs between folds of the skin.
Your belly button is home to many types of bacteria. You may also have fungi (like the yeast called Candida) and other germs in there. Combine that with dead skin cells and the natural oils from your skin and you've got the recipe for an unpleasant odor. Infection.
If your belly button is “leaking” clear or colored discharge or blood, you may have a bacterial, fungal, or yeast infection. Crusty skin, strong odor, itching, and redness are also signs of infection. If discharge and crust stick around after you wash your belly button, you should see your doctor.
Internally the veins and arteries in the cord close up and form ligaments, which are tough connective tissues. These ligaments divide up the liver into sections and remain attached to the inside of the belly button.
Wherever you talk, you point your belly bottom. So if I talk to you over here, I point my belly button. If I move over here, I point my belly button. That's the belly button rule.
Most belly buttons are indented so act as a trap for sweat, dead skin, and dirt. Few people wash the belly button with soap so germs can develop. The most common cause for a belly button smell is poor hygiene.