How did you get that scar?

July 4, 2006 7:49 PM

Please help me identify possible causes of an abdominal scar.

The other day I was in bed with this girl for the first time. I noticed that she has a scar in the middle of her abdomen, over the solar plexus, I think. It looks kind of like an insect, with an elongated "body" and little "legs" coming out of it. (I'm guessing it's the result of some sort of surgery, and the "legs" are from stitches.) The whole thing is maybe an inch long.

I asked her about it. She seemed uncomfortable, and didn't give me a direct answer. So I didn't press the matter further. But, now curiosity is killing me. Any guesses about where it came from?

I'm guessing the answers are going to be along the lines of "it could be anything." But, I figure it's worth a shot.

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (18 comments total)

You're going to have to be way more specific than that. Is the scar vertical or horizontal? Centered or on one side? My sister has a scar similar to the one you describe going straight down from her bellybutton a few inches and it's from the removal of an ovarian cyst, an operation she had when she was 11 or 12.
posted by jessamyn at 7:56 PM on July 4, 2006

A childhood friend of mine had such a scar -- vertical and centered. He'd had open-heart surgery. I have to wonder if such incisions are now smaller, as the 1" scar that you describe, given the great advances in minimally-invasive keyhole surgery.
posted by waldo at 8:29 PM on July 4, 2006

How old is she? If it's something ovarian-related, she might have had one or both removed and she could be reluctant to say that she can't get pregnant or something, for fear it could destroy the relationship. Who knows. (I had an ovarian cyst so large that they had to remove one fallopian tube because it got mangled.)
posted by IndigoRain at 8:37 PM on July 4, 2006

The open type of Gastric Bypass surgery leaves a scar just like what you described. Does she have a lot of loose skin in areas like her tummy and thighs? If so, she may have been much larger at one point and had the surgery to loose weight.
posted by RoseovSharon at 11:06 PM on July 4, 2006

a scar in the middle of her abdomen, over the solar plexus

IANAD ... but ... gall bladder removed...?
posted by frogan at 12:06 AM on July 5, 2006

Hrmm... if it's over the solar plexus, I'm doubting it's an ovarian issue? Unless I'm really confused as to the location of the solar plexus and/or ovaries in the body. My guess as to the type of surgery that could cause this kind of embarrassment, really is only the gastric bypass.
posted by antifuse at 3:59 AM on July 5, 2006

A friend had a very similar scar from having a large suspicious mole removed.
posted by ferociouskitty at 4:04 AM on July 5, 2006

I have a scar like that from when I had my gall bladder removed. It runs horizontal to my rib cage, about and inch or so below the sternum. I have a smaller one at the bottom of my belly button, too, but that one is barely noticeable by now.

Laproscopic surgery leaves small incisions like that.
posted by schnee at 4:05 AM on July 5, 2006

Follow up from the OP:

The scar is centered and horizontal. She is in her late twenties. I would guess it's not Gastric Bypass related - she does not have any loose skin. I neglected to mention that she also pointed out a scar on her lower abdomen, on the left side, but it was barely visible, so I can't give much more detail about it.
posted by jessamyn at 5:14 AM on July 5, 2006

Not an answer but a thought... if she's avoiding the subject then surely the 'gall blader' type answers are less likely.

I'd tend towards:
* an operation from when she was young and she doesn't actually know. (especially if she's adopted)
* it's something that suggests mortality - things like major heart surgery or cancer.
* it's something embarassing - the ovarian options, or the result of something you'd never expect (eg the perfect christian girl who had an eptopic pregnancy at 13)

However, I have to say that trying to guess really won't help you here. You'll either end up on the wrong track entirely, or you'll start worrying about worse case senarios.

Ditch the thoughts completely and come back to it in 3 months when you're both completely relaxed...
posted by twine42 at 5:30 AM on July 5, 2006

I have a scar like that left over from a drain from open heart surgery. Though I'd think she'd have another, bigger scar to indicate some sort of major surgery that would require a drain of that size. I also have two smaller 1/2-inch scars, one under each breast, also from drains.
posted by astruc at 8:19 AM on July 5, 2006

It could be anything. Why don't you wait until she's comfortable talking about it to ask? It seems kind of rude to ask people about their scars upon seeing them for the first time. It could have been from a very painful memory.
posted by agregoli at 9:15 AM on July 5, 2006

agregoli writes "It seems kind of rude to ask people about their scars upon seeing them for the first time."

"The other day I was in bed with this girl for the first time."

They aren't just casual aquaintences.
posted by Mitheral at 9:43 AM on July 5, 2006

There are too many procedures to make a guess at which one it could be just from the information provided. Her discomfort was probably at the idea that you might find her scar un-sexy.
posted by ikkyu2 at 9:46 AM on July 5, 2006

"The other day I was in bed with this girl for the first time."

They aren't just casual aquaintences.


He was in bed with her for the first time - meaning to me, the first time he's seen her naked and he asks her about a scar on her body?

Rude, to me. They obviously don't know each other well enough to ask because she didn't want to talk about it.
posted by agregoli at 10:55 AM on July 5, 2006

Stop speculating. It could be damn near anything, and is likely something totally routine. There's no way to know without her telling you. Scars like that are not specific to any procedure. If you shut up and stick around you'll eventually find out.
posted by docpops at 1:36 PM on July 5, 2006

A guy I dated was abused by his stepfather to the point where his stepfather cut his side with a straight razor one night. He has a scar on his torso now. Originally he told me he cut himself climbing over a fence one night. We were three years into the relationship before he told me the real story.

In other words, I would wait for her to be ready to talk about it.
posted by frecklefaerie at 11:16 AM on July 6, 2006

I was in a similar situation, yet I was less tactful and asked about the scar. His was from a gallbladder removal (when it was a more invasive surgery). His scar was exactly as you described, though I don't know why your particular partner would be uncomfortable about her gallbladder.
posted by Zosia Blue at 6:47 PM on July 6, 2006