Omphalophobia, the Fear of Belly Buttons

We all have them.  As unique as a fingerprint, this scar left behind by the umbilical cord is a source of fear for some people.  What is it about belly buttons that frighten them so much?  Whether you fear belly buttons or not, there are ways you can use this phobia in your writing.

Facts About the Belly Button
Have you ever heard of a Sister Mary Joseph nodule?  This secondary cancer is found in the umbilicus.  Sister Mary Joseph, a surgical assistant in Minnesota between 1890 and 1915, realized this and pointed out to doctors what this particular type of lump in the belly button was.

Believe it or not, breast implants can be inserted through the belly button.  You can look that one up yourself for details on just how it is done.  There are many who prefer this method because it doesn’t leave any scars left around the breasts.

Belly buttons are like fingerprints: no two are alike.  Even when twins are identical, they each have their own unique belly button.

Omphaloskepsis means to contemplate one’s own belly button.  Maybe this is what my granddaughter and all other toddlers who are fascinated with their belly buttons are doing.  Seriously, this has been practiced since the 1920s as an aid in meditation.  Greek monks even used a method of navel contemplation to aid in their enlightenment.

A small amount of the lint that gathers in the belly button is from dead skin cells and strands of stray hair.  Most of it comes from clothing fibers.

It is said that Alfred Hitchcock had no belly button.  He was of course born with one, so how did that happen?  It is believed that during a surgery on his stomach, the doctor stretched some skin over the belly button portion of his stomach, leaving that area smooth.

I have the opposite problem:  It looks like I have two belly buttons.  That is due to emergency surgery that I underwent after a near-fatal car wreck.  I don’t know how they did it, but it looks like a belly button right in the middle of my scar and one to the right of it.

I associate belly buttons with my granddaughter.  Since the day she discovered that she has one, it has kept her fascinated and become almost like a security blanket to her.  When she was around eighteen months old, her little finger would go right for her belly button when she was upset.

The umbilicus or belly button carries blood to and from the placenta.  It is also how the growing fetus receives nourishment.  Without the umbilical cord, the baby would not survive.  Once the baby is born and the umbilical cord cut, there is a stump that remains until it dries and falls off on its own.  A belly button is what remains.

Omphalophobia
The world can be a terrifying place to live for people who have phobias.  A phobia is an extreme dread or fear of something.  When a person encounters the object of his or her fear, he could experience anxiety, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, an irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, etc.  While this person’s phobia may seem outrageous or unreasonable to you, I assure you it is not unreasonable to the person experiencing it.

There are people who fear belly buttons.  I think this would be a horrible phobia to have because you can’t exactly get rid of your navel.  You can cover it up, but you can’t make it go away.

Why would someone fear something left behind by a cord that provided nourishment and life?  Some frightening event probably made those with this phobia fear the belly button, but I’m having issues trying to come up with one.  Some have said though, that they feel a force pulling at them from the inside.  Is it their imagination or is it real?  Some think that their belly button is a knot that could come unraveled at any time.  Many also have trouble cleaning the scar left behind by the umbilical cord.  Maybe these people would just think it is dirty and disgusting?

Some omphalophobics don’t like to have their belly button touched.  Some don’t like to see any belly button, not even their own.  And some don’t like to hear them mentioned.  I’m going to take a wild guess and say that no omphalophobic would ever wear a belly shirt or a bikini.

As a woman who has been pregnant twice, I know that pregnancy, especially the last few months of it, could be rather traumatic for an omphalophobic.  Many times during these last few months, the belly button will pop out, and there is nothing you can do to stop this.  In Motherhood is an Art, you can read what one lady went through during her pregnancy.  How she dealt with her fear when the child became a toddler and discovered the infamous ‘bb’ is also shared.

We all have them. As unique as a fingerprint, this scar left behind by the umbilical cord is a source of fear for some people. What is it about belly buttons that frighten them so much? Whether you fear belly buttons or not, there are ways you can use this phobia in your writing.

Writing Prompts
Write a story about a young child first discovering her belly button.  What does she think it is?  Is she afraid of it, or is it more like a security blanket to her?

I had never heard of Sister Mary Joseph.  Write a story about her and her discovery of the Sister Mary Joseph nodule.

Belly buttons are like fingerprints.  Write a murder mystery that is solved by using a belly button print to find the murderer.

How do you think a pregnant woman with omphalophobia would handle it if her belly button did pop out at the end of her pregnancy?  Write a story about it

Write about a psychopath who has omphalophobia.  Instead of running away or cowering in fear around belly buttons, he does something a bit different.  Determined to overcome this fear, he decides to surround himself with them.  He murders people and takes their belly buttons as souvenirs.  Does this cure him of omphalophobia?  Is he ever caught?

Write a horror story where a lady has omphalophobia.  She has felt a force pulling her inward where her belly button is.  It turns out she has nothing to fear from this monster living inside her, but those who try to do her harm should fear it.