Not happy with belly button after robotic laparoscopy :(

[Anna606]

A bit about me... so I had a robotic laparoscopy on March 4th, almost 3 weeks ago now. I went in for a myomectomy for a large 8cm fibroid tumor, but when the doctor was in there she also found a moderate amount of endo on my left ovary and Fallopian tube. I always had very bad cramps the first couple days of my period which I thought was from the fibroid but I'm not surprised they found the endo too! I've also been trying (unsuccessfully) to conceive for the past 3 years or so, so I'm hoping maybe the endo was the cause of my infertility?

Anyway, about my belly button: I just took the steri-strips off this past Saturday, and I was not expecting my belly button to look like what it does now! It's really small now, which I'm pretty upset about. But then also there is a large scar horizontally beneath it?!? In all the pre-op appointments the doctor said the scar would be small and hidden in my belly button, so I'm wondering if something went wrong during the surgery? She didn't mention anything to me when I saw her a few days post-op. Does anyone have any idea about what could have happened? Or does anyone have a similar experience?

I have attached a before and after photo of my belly button. I miss my old one

[luthien]

It looks like your belly button is swollen, so the tissue around it is sticking out a bit more hence the scar may look like it's on the outside. Some innies go a bit shallow after a lap, while all the skin is stretched. Hopefully when it heals it'll be a more in and the scar will go inside too. Hope that makes sense.

It'll take about two months for it all to settle. In the mean time think of it as your battle wounds for what you have to go through rather than trying to worry about them. I've come to love my surgery scars and to me they are my strength; how much I've been through!

[Afrohair]

I don’t think you have given it enough time to heal.its normal to have these feelings about your body after an operation you must understand it will never be perfect again !not to put a downer on it but you’ve had a lot done.I’ve had 2 open abdominal surgeries the first one was awful from hip to hip I was cut open and developed a keloid type scar which thickened on the next open surgery I had to have it cut out but still wasn’t stiched up right my vagina looks like it’s higher up than it was and I hate it I think your belly scar is like that because they had to do more work than they thought and if you read the paperwork you would have agreed for them to do it.Please try and relax and have some time to heal .

I hope other than this you are feeling much better?you could ring and find out more about what happened in the lap if you feel necessary and ask about the scar hope you feel better soon x

[Need2kno]

Don’t worry about the shape. I was convinced mine had been sown up wonkily but it ended up just being all the swelling. It actually took a couple of months for it to go down and completely back to normal. All the best for your recovery xx

[AwfulLapGirl]

Hi Anna, did your belly button ever return to normal? My bellybutton is horrifically 2 inches wide now with a flap and I am pretty devastated.