Thanks to lots of loose skin around my stomach my belly button is infected. Keeping the moisture out is going to be a challenge this summer.

This weekend I got a nasty surprise – a yeast infection in my belly button. I didn’t notice until Saturday morning when my belly became very itchy. When I looked to see what was going on I discovered an infection.

If you have an innie, fungi love them. They provide a warm, moist crevise to grow in.  What they love more is lots of loose skin. Moisture getting trapped between the folds is a big problem. That’s how it start.

Since last summer I’ve dealt with an inflamed belly button a couple of times. After a run, if I forgot to dry it out after a shower, I’d find a very pink belly button in a day or so. This time was different.

After some soap and hot water it was time to dry my belly button. Here’s where I think my problem lies. Simply using a soft towel isn’t working anymore. My belly button is pretty deep and I have a lot more loose skin around my abdomen, making it difficult to get in there with a towel.

So I had a moment of genius. Using one hand to pull back the excess skin; the other held a blow dryer (on low heat) to dry it. After a few minutes no more moisture.

I repeated this ritual in the afternoon and right before bed. Sure enough the next day the redness faded a bit. So that’s my new routine: wash and blow-dry my belly button 3 times a day.

I’m happy to report that I’m doing much better. Most of the redness has faded.

Loose Skin – Running Out Of Options
I’ve written before on what I’m doing to minimize loose skin from all the weight loss. Unfortunately, when you drop over 140 pounds there’s only so much weight training and lotions can do for you.

It’s not just the belly button.

Loose Skin Challenges
I’m having a few challenges with the extra skin.

• My lower back is starting to hurt. I feel it especially when I go walking. What loose skin I have is sagging a lot and I’m starting to wonder if it is triggering my back problems. Certainly all of the excess bouncing up and down around my waist is painful.
• No one tells you shaving your legs is more of a challenge with loose skin around the thigh area. Good lord, no matter how much I pull or tug I’m still left with lots of hairy patches. Something tells me waxing is not an option here either. Ugh!!!
• Wearing clothes can be a challenge. My muffin top now looks like a big belly thanks to the skin around my stomach.
• I’ve never really worried about the extra skin on my upper arms. It just didn’t seem that bad. However when trying on new clothes I can’t go down a size in shirts because of the super tight fit in the arms because of my excess skin (damn batwings!).

When I weighed 325 I really felt the need to wear clothes that hid my shape. Thanks to the extra skin and how I wear it, I feel like I’m back to my old tricks. That’s not a good place to be mentally.

Searching for options
I’ve always kept skin surgery open as an option. But with our upcoming IVF treatments (more on that later this week) it won’t happen anytime soon.

So I started light running again and pushing myself with the weight training. Now that the weather finally turned awesome, I’m  going to pick up some compression shorts and tops. Those seem to do a good job at holding extra skin in place.

And once again I’m back to wearing workout clothes all day long. Bleh!

I see my doctor in a few weeks for my physical. Maybe he’ll have some non surgical ideas for me.

If anything I need to remind myself I’d rather have excess skin than all that weight back.