2 Belly Buttons. How is This Fixed?

Question

6 weeks Post TT. Just starting SEe new Tummy. However My Old Belly Button Is On My Pubic Line And I Also Have My New One How Is This Fixed

George Bitar, MD · Answer

In some cases, the old belly button hole  is closed above the incision line to make your procedure safer for you. Discuss this matter furher with your surgeon.

Mark D. Epstein, MD, FACS · Answer

Agree with Dr. Hughes. This is a judgment call on the part of your surgeon. I sometimes do this as well. In some cases where there is not enough laxity of skin between the rib cage and the umbilicus (belly button), the hole in the abdominal wall skin created when cutting around the belly button cannot be advanced below the level of resection. In order to keep the waist crease scar low (which is what you want), you need to close this hole.

	This may seem confusing, but below is a web link to a page with great diagrams illustrating this. I encourage you to look at them.

Kenneth Hughes, MD · Answer

If you have a small vertical scar at the center of your tummy tuck scar, then this is the old belly button scar. This was left in an effort to keep the rest of the tummy tuck scar low. If this had been removed, the entire horizontal scar would have been moved up the length of the vertical scar. Kenneth Hughes, MD Los Angeles, CA

Jeffrey Zwiren, MD · Answer

It is possible that you did not have enough skin to remove the entire spot where the old umbilicus was located.  If this scar does not heal well then you may consider a revision in the future.

Barry L. Eppley, MD, DMD · Answer

In some tummy tuck techniques the old belly button ends up low near the incision line in the pubis. This is done in an effort to keep the tummy tuck scar very low or the closure was so tight that all of the old belly button could not be removed without risk of healing problems. Whether the old belly button area can be removed later depends on its location, how tight the area feels, and how far out you are from your original tummy tuck.

Jennifer Harrington, MD · Answer

I think a very important part of doing a good tummy tuck includes making the lower scar across your abdomen VERY low!!! Sometimes this means you will have a vertical scar where we have to close the old belly button hole. I would strongly recommend you discuss your concerns with your Plastic Surgeon so that he or she can explain this to you in greater depth. I always encourage my patients to be patient in the early post-op period as things will change and only get better with time.

	Jennifer L. Harrington MD

Kelly R. Kunkel, MD · Answer

Each surgeon has his or her own idea of what technique is likely to provide the best result for each patient undergoing a tummy tuck. I like to place my incisions very low for most people. One result of this, though, is that some people end up with a smallish (sometimes even a bit longer) vertical scar extending upward from the long low horizontal scar. The vertical scar is the location in the skin where the old belly button was located. Sometimes the skin isn't loose enough to allow us to pull the old belly button site all the way off with a tummy tuck. These vertical scars, like the rest of the scars, are pink and itchy for the first four or five months, then fade and soften. In my experience it is quite rare that someone ends up wanting a revision of the vertical scar. Discuss your concerns with your surgeon. Have patience. Things change over the first 3 - 6 months and most people, even with the low vertical scar, love their results!

Thomas A. Narsete, MD (retired) · Answer

Without a photo and an exam, it is hard to anawer your question. There are times when there is too much tension onthe closure and a Patient ends up with an inverted "T" incision. This a better choice than a wound breakdown. Discuss this with your surgeon. all the best

Ashok Govila, FRCS, MCh, MS - Account Suspended · Answer

I can not imagine that you have two belly buttons.Its common to have a vertical scar joining the supra-pubic horizontal scar in a T shaped manner and this is following the closure of a hole created by relocating the new belly button.If this is the case there is nothing to fix it.Just normally your PS will treat the scar and you should be just fine.Wish you good luck

2 Belly Buttons. How is This Fixed?

Answers (9)

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