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