Surgeons often avoid the belly button (umbilicus) in general abdominal surgery due to its high risk of infection from trapped bacteria, poor healing, and potential for poor cosmetic outcomes, though modern techniques and specific procedures (like laparoscopic access) sometimes utilize it, while in tummy tucks, it's carefully repositioned to maintain natural appearance, requiring meticulous hygiene to avoid complications like infection or "donut deformities".
The main reason for this is that the belly button provides the shortest distance from the skin to the inside of the abdominal cavity. Additionally, it is relatively easy to hide the incision inside the belly button.
Umbilectomy or belly button removal
Umbilectomy is belly button removal surgery, often used for medical reasons, such as to remove an umbilical hernia to treat cancer or frequent infections.
Touching the belly button can trigger the body to start contracting the intestines and ripping muscles or worse the intestines.
Your belly button marks the spot where your umbilical (say: um-BIL-ih-kul) cord was once attached. This cord is a soft, bendable tube that carried nutrients — vitamins and minerals — from your mother to you, back when you were in her belly (womb). A belly button is also called a navel.
Overview of Belly Button Problems
If you've noticed discharge, a strong smell, pain, or another change in your belly button, you may need to see a doctor. If your belly button leaks discharge or blood, you may have a bacterial, fungal, or yeast infection.
7 Parts Of Your Body You Shouldn't Touch With Your Hands
Your belly button can collect lint, or fibers, from clothing and towels that rub against your skin. Bacteria can also grow in your navel. It's fine to gently remove belly-button fuzz with your finger and clean it with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, but in general, it's best to leave your navel alone.
Umbilicoplasty permanently changes the shape of your belly button. However this can change due to large fluctuations in weight, muscle tone or by pregnancy. If you look after your body and maintain a steady weight through diet and exercise, you can enjoy the results of your belly button surgery for many years to come.
Small bowel resection is a major surgery for issues like obstruction or Crohn's disease. It requires careful care after surgery, often for two weeks in the hospital. This surgery removes part of the small intestine due to damage or blockage.
The Hidden Scar Advantage
The biggest plus of belly button hysterectomy is the hidden scar. The incision is made in the navel, so the scar is mostly hidden. This is a big plus compared to traditional surgeries with larger, more visible scars.
It can be utilized for damage control with later closure, to facilitate re-exploration or enable additional surgical debridement, or to provide definitive surgery once the patient has stabilized.
Laparoscopy is a procedure a doctor uses to look inside the abdomen (belly) and pelvis. This is done with a laparoscope, a thin, flexible tube with a light and a small video camera on the end. The tube is put in a small cut made through the abdominal wall near the navel (belly button).
Conclusions: Based on these results, the term "major abdominal surgery" should be defined as an intra-peritoneal operation with no primary involvement of the thorax, involving either luminal resection and/or resection of a solid organ associated with the gastrointestinal tract.
Belly button: Again, no amount of time you spend in the shower can help you clean the belly button completely. It has about 2000 plus varieties of bacteria and given its hidden and warm nature (compared to the rest of the body temperature), they are ideal for bacterial growth.
Clitoris. It's common knowledge that the clitoris is one of the most sensitive spots on a woman's body. The clitoris is the most powerful of all female erogenous zones. It has 8,000 nerve endings that ultimately make it the powerhouse of pleasure.
Body parts to avoid touching:
The intestines are the internal organs that lie directly behind the navel. The abdominal organs have a protective fat layer called the omentum draped over them. The abdominal cavity is covered by peritoneum, with the muscles, fascia, fat, and subcutaneous tissue forming the other layers beneath the skin.
What causes a belly button to smell? Most belly buttons are indented and act as a trap for sweat, dead skin, and dirt. Few people wash their belly button with soap, so germs can develop. The presence of dirt and bacteria in the belly button is the most common cause of a belly button smell.
Without getting in there and cleaning your belly button on the regular, the lingering gunk — e.g. dirt, sweat, dead skin cells, clothing fabric, and bacteria — can collect and "cause odor or even an infection," says Dr. Goldberg.
It's a useful landmark: The navel marks the center of your abdomen. Healthcare experts use it as a reference point during physical exams. It can show symptoms: Conditions that affect your abdomen often change how your navel looks.
The three main red flags for abdominal pain needing urgent care are severe, unrelenting pain (especially with fever/rigidity), vomiting blood or black material, and blood in the stool (bright red or tarry black), all signaling potential serious issues like appendicitis, obstruction, or bleeding that require immediate medical evaluation. Other major flags include inability to pass gas/stool, jaundice, significant weight loss, or pain radiating to the back.
Your belly button is a sensitive area that contains a lot of small folds. “These fold areas can trap moisture, dirt and debris,” said Samia Kadri, a family nurse practitioner with Banner Health.