Can my flat belly button be fixed with the marble trick after tummy tuck and 2 revisions? (photos)

Question

I had abdomnoplasty a year and a half ago. My BB ended up flat with a large circular stretched scar. 8 months postop I had a revision on my BB. It looked great directly after, but within days it was flat and stretched again. Even with limited movement. 8 months later, 5 days ago, I had another BB revision and it has returned flat and stretched. Would the marble trick deepen my BB? How and when would I use it?

Dallas Buchanan, MD · Answer

Thank you for your pictures and questions. Sorry to hear about this problem. Once the skin around the belly button has been removed, this is a hard problem to fix. You have a lack of skin at this spot, so likely revisions are also going to result in failure and further stretching. You could get further involution of the belly button by tacking it back down from the inside, but this is not going to change the size and shape of it. You really need to bring more skin to the area and one idea to do this is to tissue expand this area, excise the belly button all together and once that heals, re-create a new belly button. This would be quite an undertaking and would result in some additional scarring. Tough problem....no easy solutions.Best of luck!

Gerald Minniti, MD, FACS · Answer

Hello,
No, a marble won't work. The problem is that the 'hole' that was made in your belly skin for your belly button to be attached to is too big, and your skin is too tight; any attempt at reducing it will fail. This is also the same reason why trying to lower your horizontal scar into a more reasonable location is not going to be fruitful either. The only option is a staged procedure with tissue expanders and a revision tummy tuck. I'm terribly sorry.

Curtis Wong, MD · Answer

and being as thin as you are does not help.  I'm not really sure anything can help at this point.  Hind sight is 20/20 they say and I would not have done a tummy tuck as you had, preferring instead to resect your belly button with the tummy tuck, leaving a vertical scar then later, do a reconstruction creating a shallower, more aesthetic belly button later on.  It does produce a more predictable result and has developed over years of experience, but most surgeons don't want to do this... but I would never have the problem you are experiencing now with my approach.

Richard J. Brown, MD · Answer

Well I personally have never heard of the marble tick but I do understand what you are saying. No, I do not feel that will fix your belly button at all. Just being honest. Usually to get the belly button to be inward it needs to be sutured down from the inside. Even then not everyone will have one that is in vs out and more flap. I would seek another opinion from another well respected board certified plastic surgeon just to have another person lay eyes on this and give you their opinion. DrRickAZ

Can my flat belly button be fixed with the marble trick after tummy tuck and 2 revisions? (photos)

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