If you have read either of my posts this week (here & here), you likely saw today’s Wonder Why Wednesday coming.
After spending the last two days talking about proverbial innies and outies, I started to wonder about the belly button variety. What causes an innie or an outie? Which is more common? Let’s find out..
What determines whether a person has an innie or outie belly button? Which is more common?
Innies are way more common than outies. According to an NBC News story, roughly 88% of all people have an innie belly button. In case you were curious, I have an innie. Just another reason I am extra ordinary.
Belly buttons are formed when the leftover stalk from the umbilical cord dries up leaving an abdominal scar. Whether we have an innie or an outie has nothing to do with how our doctor cut our umbilical cord at birth or the brand of scissors he/she used. It is all about the healing of that scar.
Most outies are nothing more than extra scar tissue. At our birth there is space between the skin and our abdominal wall. If the muscles in our stomach don’t fuse together properly after the cord stump falls, the result can be an umbilical hernia. Most of these hernias heal within a year, but the result is an outie.
If you happen to have an outie and are not very happy about it, you can actually do something about it. There is a surgery called umbilicoplasty where a plastic surgeon can “sculpt” a new navel for you. It only takes about 45 minutes, but you’ll be out about a few thousand dollars. Sounds kinda like the Blackjack table of surgeries.
Sources: NBC News, Le Bonheur, Parenting
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