Cosmetic In Search of the Ideal Female Umbilicus

The umbilicus is essential to the aesthetic appearance of the abdomen. However, little research exists on what characterizes an aesthetically pleasing umbilicus. Often, the plastic surgeon is called on to reconstruct the umbi-licus. Although a variety of reconstructive methods are available, no real standards define the appearance of an aesthetically pleasing umbilicus. To ascertain the charac-teristics of an aesthetically pleasing umbilicus, a photo-graphic analysis was undertaken using 147 female partic-ipants between the ages of 18 and 62 years. Each subject’s age, height, and weight were recorded. Photographs of each participant’s umbilicus were then taken from 30 cm and 50 cm away. The photographs were reviewed by the authors, and each umbilicus was catego-rized on the basis of size, shape, hooding, or protrusion