A study of
the Aesthetic Patterns of the Umbilicus among Egyptians with A New
Technique for Umbilical Reconstruction de novo
Ahmed G. El-Sharkawy, MD, Tarek A.
Said, MD, Ismail A. Shafik, MD, & Heba A. Khalifa, MSc
Department
of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine , Cairo University
Kasr El-Aini Journal of Surgery,
2004; 5 (3) September: 87-99
The umbilicus is an anatomical and aesthetic
landmark in the middle of the abdomen. Modern plastic surgery of the abdominal
wall is usually concerned with preservation of this landmark to achieve
the best esthetic results. Preserving the umbilicus could be reached either
by transposition or creation of a new umbilicus in cases with large hernias
where the umbilicus is sacrificed to ensure proper hernial repair. In this
work an anatomical study of the position, shape and dimensions of the umbilicus
in normal Egyptian male and female volunteers of young age was done and
different methods to locate the position of the umbilicus were evaluated.
Four forms of umbilical shapes are prevalent among Egyptians; the rounded,
the rounded hooded, vertical, and transverse. Measuring umbilical position
from the two anterior superior iliac spines was found to be most accurate.
Moreover, the ASIS are easily located even in obese patients so, they should
be used as reference points while relocating the umbilicus. A new
technique for creation of new umbilicus is here described which proved
simple, easy, reliable and with low rate of complications
