A ^Retired Plastic Surgeon's Notebook

Do I get a new belly button?

Seattle Plastic Surgeon blogs about a common tummy tuck question.

The belly button does not move, but everything around it does.

I do alot of tummy tucks and patients often have questions about what happens to their belly button.  There is a common misperception that somehow we “move” it.    We don’t “move” the belly button but we move everything else.

At the beginning of a tummy tuck, and incision is made around the belly button and it is released from the skin and fat that surrounds it.  It remains attached to a stong band that runs between the two rectus muscles.   That means that NO, I can’t drop it on the floor!  (A common worry with tummy tuck patients).

Then the lower incision is made and the abdominal fat and skin is peeled up to and beyond the belly button.  Then the fat and skin is pulled down with the patient flexed a bit at the waist and the excess is excised, usually the fat roll between the pubis and the belly button.

The belly button is then brought out through a little incision in the remaining fat and skin and stitched into place.   Then the lower incision is closed. 

So the belly button see’s very little action during a tummy tuck.  It just sits there awaiting its new home while everything else is being thinned,  tightened and excisied. 

Thanks for reading!  Dr. Lisa Lynn Sowder

 

Category: Body Contouring, Tummy Tuck | Tags: , , , , , , ,

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