Rabbit-Head-Shaped Scar Flap Umbilicoplasty for a Secondary Umbilical Defect After Abdominoplasty

Abstract

Difficulties are sometimes encountered after umbilicoplasty following abdominoplasty for omphalocele. They include a midline abdominal scar, high skin tension because of abdominal plication, and a lack of sufficient subcutaneous fat. It seems that no matter how well the walls of the umbilicus are reconstructed using a skin flap, it is difficult to obtain sufficient depth of the umbilicus. Without enough depth, the umbilicus walls collapse because of the lack of subcutaneous tissue volume. The authors therefore developed a procedure that uses a rabbit-head-shaped flap. The most unique feature of this flap is that it creates sufficient umbilical depression by increasing the subcutaneous fat volume around the umbilicus. Other umbilicoplasty procedures have been suggested to address umbilical defects, including skin grafting, a one-flap method, and a multiple-flaps method, among others. None of these methods, however, created umbilical depth by increasing the subcutaneous fat volume. To date, the authors’ method is thought to be the only one that creates sufficient umbilical depression.