Will This "Rope" Incision Ever Go Flat and Should I Have "Gathering" at the Ends of my Incision? (photo)

Docs, my ps told me that this "rope" style incision was done intentionally. I have never seen anyone on this site with a ROPE stitch incision. So at the ends of my cut on both sides are "gathered" is any of this NORMAL and will it look normal? How is either expectable as to b proud of your work?

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7 Doctor Answers | Asked by Friscospeach in Richardson, Tx

Doctor Answers (7)
Community Comments (4)

Rope appearance to incision

Many plastic surgeons will try to raise the wound edges initially during surgery so that as the wounds heal and scar contraction occurs, the scar tends to flatten. The gathering at the ends of your incision was designed to limit the length of the scar. Both should improve with time. If for any reason they do not, they can easily be touched up in the office. Good luck.

Incision May Need More Work

This incision looks a bit extreme in my opinion. Some of the pleating will improve but the everted incision line is over done. A slight amount of eversion is welcomed because this will flattened but not become depressed. You will probably need some revision of this incision. Dr. ES

Suture indentation and "pleats" will improve with time

Hello, Thank you for the question and photos. The indentations associated with the deeper tissue closure will improve as the dissolvable sutures or internal staples go away. The "pleats" are a result of advancing your incision to keep the incision shorter but also to prevent large lateral dog ears. The "pleats" also will improve with time. At this stage I would take some comfort in that it is early in your recovery period and some of the issues that you are seeing... more

Tummy tuck SCAR

Hi, It appears to me that your surgeon used a staple suture on the deep tissue. This is about the only approach that will give this initial presentation. The stretch marks and the fact that you are obviously early in the post op course do aggrivate the appearance at this time. Time will do wonders with your incision. As the deeper sutures absorb (they are quite thick as they come from a special applier), then your incision should start getting smoother... more

Will This "Rope" Incision Ever Go Flat and Should I Have "Gathering" at the Ends of my Incision?

At the expense of a shorten scar/incision the surgeon chose this method in hopes of a good result. I believe that hope will be a failure. Plus seeing the ;lateral "dog ear" residual. Sorry.

Don't be alarmed by an unsightly skin repair shortly after surgery.

The skin in the picture shows a gathering as part of the suturing process. The appearance is aggravated by stretch marks and the presence of the suture itself. This will improve with time is not predictive of a scar revision in the future.

Rope Incision after Tummy Tuck

If you are early in healing, the gathering and dimpling will likely improve. Everyone has a different preoperative anatomy, and it is hard for me to evaluate the result with pictures included. There may have been an attempt on the part of the surgeon to reduce the length of the scar by gathering the skin.

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Comments (4)

Friscospeach 11 Jan 2013

I appreciate each of you taking the time to evaluate my pics and express your opinions. You guys and gals are the professionals the ones we look to, to bring us our lives back.

suzig united kingdom 11 Jan 2013

Oh my goodness. Although I am not medically qualified I have never seen a "rope" scar like this before. Like you I would be very worried about my long term scar results. However, looking at the comments made by the professionals perhaps it is a case of waiting a while until your healing has completed, swelling gone down and then re-evaulate and to not panic too much at the moment. It does however seem a rather extreme scar to me. I am assuming your surgeon was a board qualified surgeon ? I truely hope you get the result you so richly deserve and I am sorry that you are having this extra stress to worry about. Having a TT in itself can be pretty traumatic without now having to worry about the resultant scar. Good luck my friend. Suzi PS. Are you using any scar therapy on it, ie. silicon massage oil, bio oil or an alternative. Regular massage of the scar really does help. (Soz if you are already doing this but thought I would mention it)

anon8673 10 Jan 2013

OMG...where did you have that TT done. I had a TT done 2 years ago..my stomach is flat and hardly a sign of the scar..I have had 5 children so lots of excess skin..doesnt look like he has taken enough skin and just stiched it up like he didnt know what to do with it. I had my surgery in Thailand with a fantastic surgeon that did my face lift 6 years ago...also had breasts done.TT and breasts cost me 4k AU including 5 night stay in private hospital then moved upstairs to their private hotel for another 4 nights.I would be getting a second opinion about that scar before you have to have major surgery to repair it. Im not a doctor but i take people overseas for surgery and i have never seen anything like that...even from doctors on my "dont go near them" list. Hope you recover well...Dennyboo