Why do dog ears occur after tummy tucks?

Thank you for your excellent question. Dog ears are a pucker of excess skin that results when the lengths of two sides of an incision are not equivalent, and either due to physical limitations or a desire to minimize the overall length of a scar, the shorter side can not be lengthened. There are some maneuvers to be able to adjust for small discrepancies in length, but the only real way to prevent dog ears is to lengthen the scar.  Should they develop, most dog ears can be repaired in an office setting Hope this helps.

Dog ears can occur when closing elliptical shaped skin excisions into a line, but measures can usually be taken by the surgeon at the initial surgery to excise these areas. Thank you for your question and I hope that this answer helps.

Skin laxity does not magically end with the TT in many patients. Sometimes, this redundancy or puckering of the tissues at the ends of the incisions creates this appearance. The incision will have to be extended toward the back to remove this.Kenneth Hughes, MD, Board Certified Plastic SurgeonLos Angeles, CA 

Thanks for your questions. Dog ears are not common after tummy tuck surgery (or any other type of surgery), although they can sometimes happen. If this happens, it is a very easy fix that is often done in the office under local anaesthetic alone. Take care. 

Some patients do develop dog ears after a tummy tuck. Sometimes it is due to redundant tissue that may need to be carried out and removed more posteriorly.  

A 'dog ear' is  fullness or bunching that can occur at the end of a surgical scar.  The most common reason for the formation of a dog ear is an unequal length between both sides of a surgical excision, and it frequently occurs when a surgeon is trying to limit the overall length of the final scar.  There are several maneuvers to try and minimize the size of the dog ear which can be performed at the time of surgery, but sometimes a surgeon may accept an initial dog ear because the length of the scar may ultimately be shorter if a dog ear is revised when the scar has healed and settled down.  Such a revision can frequently performed under local anesthesia and does not usually require a significant healing period.  I hope that this answer has helped answer your question.

Thanks for your question. While dogears are not common, they can sometimes occur after a tummy tuck (or in any other body contouring operation). The easiest way to think of it is simply in terms of tailoring. Two areas of different lengths - the bottom of the incision and the top of the incision - are being brought to together. Because the tissue from above is longer than the tissue below (because it is more curved), that difference in length needs to be negotiated. Typically this can be done by extending the incisions out towards the sides until that difference in length can be worked out. Sometimes, on the operating room table, it appears that the difference has been worked out, but later once the swelling has gone away, it is apparent that one side has some more skin than the other side. Fortunately this is an easy fix and can frequently be done under local anesthesia. I should caution that it typically takes a few months to notice the dogears, as often its truly just swelling.
Hope this helps!