About 10 years ago, I thought a pierced naval sounded cool. So, I went to one of the best piercing studios in NYC, and when they showed me the gauge of the wire that would be going through my flesh (10g, which is over 2mms in diameter) I almost fainted. It's not like an earring post. It's bigger than the diameter of a spoke! Yikes!

I asked why it had to be so thick, and they said there's a risk of it "ripping out" if its thinner. Ripped naval?! No, not for me!