# Belly Buttons **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 12, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938 "2017-01-12T03:29:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/1 "2017-01-12T03:29:30Z")
Truly dumb question - do you actually _need_ a belly button or can you have it surgically removed via plastic surgery? Since I have dumped close to 100 pounds, and will eventually end up needing the excess skin dealt with, can one simply have the navel removed? No idea why the idea popped into my head, so I wasn’t sure if this needs to go into GQ or mundane/pointless … ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/2 "2017-01-12T03:43:32Z")
They relocate a navel after a tummy tuck. [http://www.plasticsurgerycorner.com/2012/09/how-to-tell-a-great-tummy-tuck-the-belly-button/](http://www.plasticsurgerycorner.com/2012/09/how-to-tell-a-great-tummy-tuck-the-belly-button/) Whether it can be removed? I dunno. > [@](#): > > , the results of the procedure leave you with a smooth, soft contour around your navel with virtually no trace of the surgery. The technique attaches the lower part of your belly button deep into the abdominal wall. Once the swelling subsides and your recovery progresses, you’re left with a normal-looking, gently rounded navel. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/3 "2017-01-12T03:46:09Z")
I have a friend with no belly button. He lost it as a child in a farm accident. I’m not kidding. He just has a huge skin graft over that area. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/4 "2017-01-12T03:48:20Z")
I’ve heard that belly-button-removal is a popular plastic surgery (well, as popular as any plastic surgery) in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/5 "2017-01-12T05:04:24Z")
Karolina Kurkova is a swimsuit model. When she was a young child she had an operation and, as a result, [she has no belly button](https://i.embed.ly/1/display/resize?key=1e6a1a1efdb011df84894040444cdc60&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.becomegorgeous.com%2Fgallery%2Fpictures%2Fkarolinakurkova-no-belly-button.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/6 "2017-01-12T05:32:26Z")
Nifty information! Can the skin they remove be donated for some sort of grafting? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/7 "2017-01-12T05:47:31Z")
I had a morbidly-obese cousin whose navel became massively infected. It was removed. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/8 "2017-01-12T06:11:17Z")
Clones don’t have belly buttons so they have surgery to create one so people don’t know they’re just a copy of another person. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/9 "2017-01-12T14:07:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Clones don’t have belly buttons so they have surgery to create one so people don’t know they’re just a copy of another person. At our lab, we use a feeding tube to supply nutrients to the clones during the embryonic stage, so that a navel naturally appears. We found that they feel less self conscious during puberty this way. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/10 "2017-01-12T14:58:40Z")
Navel, or umbilicus. “Belly button” sounds silly, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/11 "2017-01-12T15:13:46Z")
But if you don’t have a navel, what do you gaze at when you’re meditating? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/12 "2017-01-12T15:14:58Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Navel, or umbilicus. > > “Belly button” sounds silly, doesn’t it? Omphalos or nothing! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/13 "2017-01-12T15:19:14Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But if you don’t have a navel, what do you gaze at when you’re meditating? Omphalos or nothing! ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/14 "2017-01-12T15:20:08Z")
But where would you store assorted lint and crumbs in case of an emergency? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/15 "2017-01-12T21:55:27Z")
> [@pool](#): > > But where would you store assorted lint and crumbs in case of an emergency? The Navel Reserve? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/16 "2017-01-12T22:22:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Clones don’t have belly buttons . . . Know you were joking…but…clones (to date!) have 'em (if the species does.) Dolly the sheep had one. (A cloned frog wouldn’t.) Much depends on the (futuristic) incubating tech. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/17 "2017-01-12T22:29:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > But if you don’t have a navel, what do you gaze at when you’re meditating? According to the esteemed **Stranger On A Train** there are alternative foci for attention: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19906248&post19906248](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19906248&post19906248) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/18 "2017-01-13T02:28:05Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Know you were joking…but…clones (to date!) have 'em (if the species does.) Dolly the sheep had one. (A cloned frog wouldn’t.) Much depends on the (futuristic) incubating tech. That depends on how you grow the clone. If the clone is a placental animal, and you grow it in a placental situation, yes it will have one, because it’s pretty much required to live to birth. But, if you can come up with a way to assemble and grow the clone and eliminate its need for some kind of tether (I’ve no idea how to pull that off mind you) I am pretty sure there would be no naval, since no umbilical cord. Also, i am not exactly sure on frogs, but chickens do have what i guess you could refer to as a belly button, and frogs are born in a similar fashion. When the chick hatches there is a hole in the belly that the yoke sack is attacked to. When it hacked, it sucks the yoke sac inside and the hole closes. It does not make a big noticeable crater like humans have, but you can still see the very small scar where the yolk sac cord used to come out, which does equate to the same type of scar in humans for the same purpose. Its just very small and not very pronounced ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/19 "2017-01-13T03:13:41Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Truly dumb question - do you actually _need_ a belly button or can you have it surgically removed via plastic surgery? Since I have dumped close to 100 pounds, and will eventually end up needing the excess skin dealt with, can one simply have the navel removed? This is EXACTLY what happened to someone that I’m very close with. The strip of excess skin that the plastic surgeon chose to remove included the navel. More specifically, imagine a dot near the right hip and another near the left hip. Draw an arc from one to the other that reaches above the navel, and another arc lower, near the pubic area. Cut out the skin in the middle, and pull the upper area downwards and connect. The result is a very large scar-free area, and whatever scarring there might be is below the pantyline/underwear area. The plastic surgeon offered to create a fake navel at the appropriate place. It looks fine, but has none of the nerves or sensations usually associated with a navel. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938/20 "2017-01-13T03:24:31Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > … but has none of the nerves or sensations usually associated with a navel. Sensations?? We don’ need no steenkin’ sensations! What I want to know is: can it trap lint like the real thing? 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/belly-buttons/776938.md?page=2)