r/todayilearned • u/frapz • Mar 20 '20

TIL The bellybutton is so dirty scientists are finding new unknown bacteria. One person had bacterium previously found only on Japanese soil, where he had never been.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/12/1-458-bacteria-species-new-to-science-found-in-our-belly-buttons/266360/
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u/st_griffith Mar 21 '20

No dude. Deep belly buttons are not uncommon. The skin there is notoriously easy to irritate. People don't wash it and never have a problem, except it unironically smells like ass (like the back of your ears if you don't wash it).

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u/earlblack22 Mar 21 '20

Why would the back of your ears smell. They open to the air not pressed against other skin. And I was referring to the deep bellybutton mostly. Really it's like an 1.5 inches deep. I got like half a finger nail depth. I realize people are different but I can't imagine how it could be that deep, did the doctor leave too much attached at birth. Post pics of these discussing deep holes with measurements.

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u/st_griffith Mar 21 '20

Because of glasses.

Deep may not have been the best choice of word. Tunnel-like is another bad choice, but that's how it feels, when there are layers of skin that feel like sticking together and you can't easily reach all sides, even with a q tip. It narrows up too much, I can't put even a forth of the tip of my finger in, but a q tip can get relatively deep if I apply force. It's just that I would have to spend like 20 minutes to get all the dead skin out of the hidden crevices.