Hello! I am booked in to have my lap band surgery this July. I have my tongue, belly button and nose pierced and was wondering if it will be required for me to take them out?

Thanks

It is best to ask your doctor what he prefers. When I had my surgery I took out my belly button ring ( they do the surgery near or in your bb), tongue ring ( a tube goes down your throat) and earrings. I kept my nose ring in.

yes, i had to remove my piercings. i could have put my belly ring back in but my stomach was so bloated and ugly i kept it out. i re-pierced it about a year later though.

Ask your surgeon, he'll let you know if it's ok to leave them in or put a retainer in so they don't close.

Tongue - yes, but they may allow you to replace it with Teflon (visit your local piercing studio to get the right jewelery).

Nose - no, but replace it with Teflon or plastic and tell them that you've done that in case an emergency MRI is required.

Belly Button - yes, and keep it out. They do surgery in that area, and if you get a single incision surgery like I did they go in through your navel so no jewelery is allowed.

My pre-surgery said to remove all jewelry, don't use any hair products and clean any nail polish off fingers. If yours doesn't require removal of jewelry, even the belly button piercing should be fine as long as your doctor isn't doing the incision there. All of my laparascopic incisions are just below the rib cage.

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Yes you have to remove all piercings before surgery. You can not have any jewelry on incase something happens.

I have had several surgeries and have my tongue, nose & ears pierced. I have never been allowed to keep any of them in during surgery or even a plastic retainer. This is for safety reasons. I had surgery just 3 months after getting my tongue pierced and had it out for almost 10 hours and was able to get it back in. I've found it goes better from the bottom of the tongue to the top after it's been out for a while. If you feel some resistance just let your tongue relax in your mouth with it partially in and it'll work through. The nose & ears will last a little longer than the tongue (The tongue is a muscle so it will start to "heal" closed quicker). My suggestion is to keep them in right up until you are about to go into surgery, remove them and then put them back in later that day after you wake up. Within 12 hours you shouldn't have any issues, within 24 hours you may start to close up a little depending on how long you've had them done. They made me take out the plastic retainers too, so I wouldn't waste your time on those either.

I was told to remove all piercings, but some just cannot be removed. I left in my nose piercing and some of my ear hoops. They just covered them with tape. I cannot remove my smiley piercing (oral) or my hoop in my inner labia, but I did tell them about these. No problems resulted in my case. I just looked odd with tape on my nose and ears.