Navel piercing almost kills teen in car accident

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts) Oct 4th 2007 5:02PM

Text Size:

I am not a big fan of body-piercing mostly because it looks painful to me. I can see a lovely woman with a beautiful belly decorated with a sparkly stud and all I can think of is "ouch". I am just a wimp that way.

19-year-old Jessica Collins had no problem suffering for beauty and since the age of 15 had a silver colored stud in her own belly. Until that piercing almost killed her in a car accident. Her mother, Amanda Beadle, says that when the car the British girl was riding in crashed, "The seatbelt pushed her stud all the way through her stomach to her spine." As it traveled from the front of her body to the back, the stud caused serious internal injuries. She underwent three hours of surgery and spent five days in intensive care as a result of her injuries.

Jessica is on the mend now, but warning others about navel piercing. She is urging her friends to get rid of their piercings and according to her step-father, Chris Beadle, many of them have. "It was a freak accident. I can't say I've ever heard of anything like this before, but for a decorative bit of jewelery, it's not worth the risk," he said.

This was a freak accident and the odds of it happening are probably quite slim. Even the doctor had never seen anything like it. But the story made me wonder about navel piercings in teenage girls. Would you let your fifteen year old get her navel pierced?

Source

Comments (11)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Amanda 10-04-2007 @ 5:40PM

I don't believe that for a second. unless she had some massive piece of metal in there, probably having her stomach compressed that far in is what caused the injuries!

Anji 10-04-2007 @ 5:42PM

I have a lot of piercings in my face. As in, enough that people stop me on the street to mention it. I am very much pro-piercing and body modification in general.

That said, there is NO way on EARTH I would let my child get a piercing of any kind other than a single hole in each ear lobe. Piercing is something which should be undertaken by adults. A decent piercer won't touch a child with a bargepole anyway, so I wonder where all these kids are getting their holes made?

Joy 10-04-2007 @ 6:09PM

I'll join you in your "wimphood" Sandy. While I think a cute one in the nose or on the eyebrow is "cute" for some, NOT for me. I'm not the type. The question of the day...No I would not allow it for my 15 year old. Ears are one thing but on the body...not until they are an adult.

Meg 10-04-2007 @ 7:00PM

The only way this could've happened is if she were wearing her seatbelt incorrectly. Neither the lap belt nor the shoulder belt should've been anywhere near her naval, if worn correctly. I wouldn't worry about this -- just make sure you keep the lap belt wear it belongs, which is around your hips, not around your stomach!

Michele W 10-04-2007 @ 9:19PM

I would never let my daughter get anything pierced but her ears. I dont know how these kids do it. and as far as the seat belt being in the wr ong postion, now days half of these kids are anorexic looking and when in an accident the seat belt can very well move on you when you are small. I know alot of people who got hurt because of their seat belt because either they shifted or it shifted in the accident. Still no way would I let my kid get a belly button pierced.

Sabrina 10-05-2007 @ 1:22AM

I cannot figure a way in which that's possible. Navel piercings do not look like ear rings. They're not a jewel on the front and a post sticking through a hole! They're either a curved bar with a ball on each end (making both ends completely blunt) or they're a complete circle. Unless she had put an earring through her navel piercing hole (which is NOT ok) and then drove down the road with her seatbelt all the way up by her belly button, I can't figure it, I just can't.

Uly 10-05-2007 @ 7:19PM

If I didn't, it wouldn't be because of this scare story.

Michelle 10-05-2007 @ 10:10AM

Hell to the no!

Nyx 10-05-2007 @ 9:12PM

You may as well tell your child not to wear sunglasses because the airbag could drive them through her skull.

I agree with the other posters - the girl could not possibly have been wearing her seatbelt properly; it goes around the hips, not the belly button, and if she was wearing a stud in it, then she either got it improperly pierced, or she ignored her piercer to put the wrong jewelry in it.

So what we have is a kid not wearing their seatbelt while wearing the wrong kind of jewelry in a piercing who ended up getting injured because her parents didn't take enough interest in her beforehand to help correct her mistakes.

Too bad.

As for letting my own kids get pierced, sure - when their bodies mature and they're ready to make that choice.

Michele W 10-06-2007 @ 9:26PM

Sorry guys but it is possible . I am a little over weight and I am short and when my seat belt goes on it lays right across my belly. If you are over weight, underweight stuff fits differnt. Yes i know you can tuck it under your belly but I only did that when i was pregnant. now it just goes where it comes across. Not all belly button rings are circles either. there are the bell bar ones that are just a staright bar.

Fran 11-18-2007 @ 1:04PM

Any jewelry can cause a freak accident. I have a friend who slipped and fell while she was closing a sliding door, she caught her large wedding ring in a portion of the door as she was falling and the band was so sharp it actually cut her finger off completely at the knuckle. This was DEVASTATING to her and she no longer wears rings. Listen, the same thing could have happened to any type of jewelry that we wear including eyewear. Glasses have been pushed into the eyes of people as well. There are many strange occurrances that can happen.