Port below Bikini Line

[mbanja 1]

I guess comfort wise it would depend on how your fat rolls (pardon the pun). I have a muffin top and an apron but I also have a clearly defined waist line if you look in between the rolls of fat. If you have like a beer belly (sorry I dont know how else to describe it) with no defined waistline than it just might work.

Edited May 2, 2008 by mbanja

[1000words 0]

My doctor puts the port on your chest (near you collar bone). It apparently makes the fills super easy. One person that I met has lost 100 lbs and you can't see where the port is, but you can feel it. She said you couldn't feel it until she lost weight.

I personally like where he puts it. It doesn't seem like it would get in the way at all.

[pearlygirl 1]

Ahhh, that does sound much better than what I pictured. When you said "below the bikini line" I thought below the pubic hair line....I'm so glad that isn't what you meant!!!

[mbanja 1]

At the time I got my band I was not aware that you could "choose" the location of your port. Maybe my band doc didn't offer the option, either way it was never really discussed. If I could've choosen my port placement I probably would have chose near the collar bone are too. It might be freaky getting a fill up near my face though. I prefer not to look at the ginormous needle going into me, not that it bothers me all that much but I don't know if I could handle it that close to my face.

[*Love* 2]

I guess comfort wise it would depend on how your fat rolls (pardon the pun). I have a muffin top and an apron but I also have a clearly defined waist line if you look in between the rolls of fat. If you have like a beer belly (sorry I dont know how else to describe it) with no defined waistline than it just might work.

I don't have rolls. I do have more of a pregnant / beer belly shape.

[mbanja 1]

I think this question totally depends on what type of body shape you are. I never thought about it but some places may be better for some than others. If you doc is all for it and doesn't see it posing a problem I'd say go for it. For my body shape though I don't think it would work.

[SanDiegoPhotog 0]

Wow! I am glad you clarified that you meant "port below belt line" rather than "port below bikini line." In the medical world, I believe they consider your bikini line to be right around where your abdomen ends and your pubic hair starts to grow . . . for some of us, that's where the c-section line is (the bikini line) and also where a lot of Tummy Tuck lines are. I definitely would NOT want a port down there! LOL! Even when I get . . . .ahem . . . a wax . . . LOL . . . the bikini line is that same area.

Below the belt or below the waist sounds like a much more logical place. I'm sooooo glad you clarified!

[MacMadame 81]

My understanding is that the port gets anchored to the wall of your stomach. That's got to limit the places they can put it. They also don't make a separate incision for it so it has to be somewhere that's reachable from the main, longer incision.

[tarrn13 1]

macmadam: the port does not get anchored to your stomach (the wall of your stomach would be inside your stomach so obviously that would not really work), it is anchored to your abdominal muscles.

[MacMadame 81]

Oops. That's what I meant.

For example, there aren't any abdominal muscles in your collarbone.

[Kat817 19]

If you are really that concerned about a patruding port you could always get a low profile port. But, I don't think they can do it if you have a huge amount of weight to loose because it would get lost in the fat and be very hard to get a fill.

I was given a low profile port at almost 286 pounds, and most of it belly--- and it is deep----I am having a Tummy Tuck later this month, and you still have to push hard to find it. It has not however been an issue with fills.

So low profile ports CAN be done. Mine is almost centered, just a hair to the left----about 5 inches down from my chest bone---where the ribs separate.

Occasionally, DH will put too much weight on me---and I have to have one of us shift, but not even really change positions, just weight distribution. It is out of the way---and not an issue, it will NEVER be seen by the naked eye--I would have to be decomposing!!! LOL

Kat

[Ang1982 4]

My understanding is that the port gets anchored to the wall of your stomach. That's got to limit the places they can put it. They also don't make a separate incision for it so it has to be somewhere that's reachable from the main, longer incision.

Depends on your surgeon I think... my port is not anchored. It just hangs loose in my belly (to the left of my belly button). He doesnt stitch them in that way if there is a flip or something they can just try to manuever it around w/o having to do surgery...

[Jachut 487]

Oooh yuck - on your COLLAR BONE? Sheesh, I have no fat there whatsoever now, it would look absolutely freakish. Seriously, you can see the ribs in my chest, a port there would look disgusting. And my collar bones has hollows above and below it, I'm not sure where a port could even go?

I like mine where it is - about 2 inches up and across from my belly button. I'm thin, but you cant see it unless you're looking for it and I happen to have a bare stomach, you definitely cant see it under the most fitted of tops. And it is not interfered with my the waist of anything I wear.

[mbanja 1]

Jachut, didn't I read somewhere in one of your posts that your port actually looks like a defined stomach muscle. Almost like you have very defined ab muscles. If so I think it would be good for the OP to know that information. My port is where yours is and hopefully if I get to be as skinny as you my port would look the same!! If you don't mind me asking (Jachut), where did you carry your weight? What did your belly look like before banding? Did you have rolls or did you have like a pregnant belly. I hope I am not being too intrusive, its just that I am now realizing (from this thread) that the end result will look different with different body shapes. I don't want to get my expectations up to high. I know you have kicked you but getting into shape by exercising, I just think I would be intresting to know what you "heavy" body shape was. If it is too personal and you don't want to answer I completely understand. It is just one of those bits of info that would be intresting when comparing results.

[*Love* 2]

Wow! I am glad you clarified that you meant "port below belt line" rather than "port below bikini line." In the medical world, I believe they consider your bikini line to be right around where your abdomen ends and your pubic hair starts to grow . . . for some of us, that's where the c-section line is (the bikini line) and also where a lot of Tummy Tuck lines are. I definitely would NOT want a port down there! LOL! Even when I get . . . .ahem . . . a wax . . . LOL . . . the bikini line is that same area.

Below the belt or below the waist sounds like a much more logical place. I'm sooooo glad you clarified!

I am so sorry that I horrified everyone. :frown:

Below the belt is where the top of my bikini use to sit, so that is what I meant by bikini line. It hadn't even occured to me that it meant something else to all of you.