TikToker Flaunts Protruding Belly Button In Body Positive Videos, Followers Speculate Umbilical Hernia

A TikToker who flaunted her protruding belly button in her dance videos as a way of sending body-positive messages to her followers sparked concerns online that the condition could be an umbilical hernia.

The TikTok user, Chi, who goes by @iam_amakae on the video-sharing platform, regularly streams her dance videos wearing crop tops so that her unusual navel is seen, and her effort to build a body-positive image online earned praises from her followers. One of them called her "beautiful in every way," while another said that she's "so pretty."

"Ur beautiful in every way and that navel is the finishing touch of ur beauty," a person said. "Wow, you are so generous," said another.

Many users, however, also pointed to the potentially life-threatening condition, theorizing that it must have been the doctor's fault not to cut her umbilical cord properly at her birth.

"The doctor probably didn’t cut her umbilical cord properly when she was first born so it grew like that, the same happened to my cousin," one user remarked. "Look like umbilical hernia that hasn’t been repaired," another said.

An umbilical hernia occurs when part of the intestine sticks out through the opening of the abdominal muscles near the belly button. Umbilical hernias, which are most commonly seen in infants, cure on their own by the time the child is 4 years old but if it doesn't, the situation calls for medical treatment.

"That umbilical hernia could become life threatening if it twists. It cuts off the supply of blood to the rest of your intestines," a third person wrote.

The popped-out belly button is usually a painless lump and isn't dangerous. But, as a user had pointed out, there are chances the blood flow to tissues is cut off in case it is entrapped--a condition called incarcerated hernia--leading to deadly consequences.

Despite concerns, Chi, who appears to be from Lagos, Nigeria, shared a string of videos wearing a crop top that exposed her stomach. "Body positive. Body perfect," a caption read. She has garnered millions of likes on her TikTok videos with followers running into almost 3 million, according to News.com.au.