text: WHO, WHAT, WHY? 
   
   The Magazine answers... 
   
   Karolina Kurkova's belly indentation 
   
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   Underwear model Karolina Kurkova has no belly button. Is a barely-there navel for cosmetic or medical reasons? The newspapers call it the "riddle of the £2.5m beauty". The beauty in question is Czech supermodel Karolina Kurkova. The riddle is her non-existent belly button. Its absence was noticed this week when the 24-year-old graced a US catwalk for lingerie giant Victoria Secret. While most of us have an "outie" or an "innie", Ms Kurkova has a smooth indentation (although sometimes a tummy button is airbrushed onto her photos in post-production). Otherwise known as a navel, the belly button is the rounded, knotty depression in the centre of the abdomen caused by the detachment of the umbilical cord that fed you while in the womb. We all have umbilical cords, so why don't we all have a belly button? Ms Kurkova has not spoken publicly about how she came to have a smooth navel, and all her agent will say is "she's not an alien". THE ANSWER May be result of abdominal operation in infancy Or umbilical cord left to detach naturally Adults may have artificial navel after stomach surgery, or cosmetic reshaping But Karolina Kurkova is not saying Some have no belly button as a result of the surgery needed to correct abdominal problems at birth, often either an umbilical hernia, or a condition known as gastroschisis - born with the stomach and intestines poking through a hole in the abdominal wall. This is what happened to Rob Swainson, 26, of Bournemouth, who spent his very first hours in surgery to rectify this unfortunate mistake of anatomy. As a result, he has a cross-shaped scar in the middle of his tummy instead of a belly button. "I thought about having one constructed when I was getting interested in girls, but not for long," he says, adding that people are more surprised by his scar than his lack of a navel. "You only have to look at Michael Jackson to realise it's probably best to live with what you've got." And while it is standard practice to clamp, cut, then seal a newborn's umbilical cord to prevent infection, in lotus births - or umbilical non-severance births - the cord and placenta are left to drop off naturally. "But that's not at all common in this country, and there's always still something there to show where the cord was attached," says a Royal College of Midwives spokesman. Cosmetic surgery Adults, too, may lose their navel after stomach surgery or having skin grafts taken from their tummy. Some may have an artificial belly button made. WHO, WHAT, WHY? A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines And thanks to the trend for midriff-baring tops, cosmetic surgeons have developed an operation called an umbilicoplasty for those who want a more aesthetically pleasing navel. Most procedures involve transforming an outie to an innie, or resizing a large or lop-sided innie to be less obvious. Rajiv Grover, a consultant plastic surgeon and secretary of Baaps (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Sugeons), says it is rare to do this for cosmetic reasons alone, as over time the scar pulls and tightens. However, there are certain procedures during which a new navel may be fashioned. "The two main reasons are, one, they've developed a small hernia - a weakness in the abdominal wall - which needs removing; or two, as part of a tummy tuck. This involves pulling down the extra skin and fat, and to do this the surgeon must cut the belly button free from the muscles underneath, and make and reattach a new one once the loose skin is pulled taut." Ms Kurkova's lack of navel doesn't seem to be hindering her career. Forbes magazine ranked her as the eighth highest paid model in the world last year, with estimated annual earnings of over £2m. What she's got is far more eye-catching than what she hasn't. Below is a selection of your comments. I too was short-changed a navel at birth; although to this day I have no idea why. I suspect being born three months premature via caesarean section may have meant the tissue was pliable enough to gently set into a mild indentation. Any doctors out there who can confirm? I used to tell people I was grown in a vat... Still, no belly-button fluff. 
   
   Riv, High Wycombe I lost my belly button after abdominal surgery five years ago. I've found it very useful on training session icebreakers when we are asked for an unusual fact about ourselves, although I often have to prove it. 
   
   Darren Jalland, Larbert, Scotland I have exactly the same sort of smooth indentation. It's the result of a repair of an umbilical hernia when I was two years old, 65 years ago. For many years now this operation, if done in the UK, would be completed with a cosmetic belly button. Perhaps The Czech republic hadn't caught up with the modern technique 24 years ago. These days very few UK children would have this operation done at all as it is now realised that most childhood umbilical hernias correct themselves by the age of three or four. 
   
   Maureen, Birmingham Sixty years ago I was house-surgeon to a London surgeon, a real Lancelot Spratt character. He thought the umbilicus was a nasty dirty place and when operating on anyone's abdomen he would, without permission or consultation, cut it out. My job was to invent some story to tell the patient why it had been necessary. How times have changed. 
   
   Bill Hunt I too have no belly button, the result of an umbilical hernia operation at the age of two. I have a long scar across my stomach, which meant I felt self-conscious wearing a bikini in my teens. I believe this operation is now performed with keyhole surgery leaving minimal scarring. 
   
   Sarah W, Bournemouth, England British heptathlete Kelly Sotherton Kelly Sotherton, the heptathlete, has a "smoothie" too. 
   
   James, Leamington How the umbilical cord is treated at birth always affects the cosmetic appearance of the umbilicus or tummy button. Long ago in a normal delivery it was the practise to allow the placenta to stay attached, unless the baby's blood group was different to the mother's. How it is treated after birth varies country to country and health service to health service over history. With the advent of sterile plastic clamps, the neat way they were tied before was not allowed as the clamp had to come from a sterilized delivery pack of necessities. This gave a different effect and one could not continue to treat it by retying. There is much more but suffice to say, it is not the person's make-up, or the midwife's fault, or the babies' (though parents can stop babies from crying and coughing or eating too much too soon, as excess protrudes the area). 
   
   Deena Mary Jones, Bromsgrove My dogs have no belly buttons, because their mothers gently chewed the wound from the umbilical chord, and licked them while they were healing. She continued doing so until there was virtually no scar from birth 
   
   Conor, Dublin I am currently working on masters degree in chiropractic. Anatomy is a major part of the course. In the early embryo, the gut actually goes straight through. Differential growth then causes all the folding and rearrangement of the abdominal organs. For quite a while, the umbilicus is relatively large and the gut actually folds into it. As the embryo/foetus grows the umbilicus gets relatively smaller and the gut is pushed into the abdomen. In some cases the gut can get trapped on the outside needing surgery after birth. 
   
   David Elliott, Derby and Pontypridd A lot of premature babies have no or small belly buttons, we call my son's a belly-popper as it looks more like a press stud. 
   
   Jon, Oxford My husband is 37 and he had an umbilical hernia for most of his life, which meant he had no naval because of it. But due to medical reasons he had the hernia removed and now has a belly button which was reconstructed from the tissue left behind. 
   
   Jo Thomas, Preston My cousin has no belly button as his body was attached directly to the wall of his mum's womb during development. No umbilical cord developed but he is fine, he has a line where we have a belly button. 
   
   Sam, London, UK My husband (who may wish to remain nameless) also has a smooth indentation instead of a typical belly button. This is because his mother was a midwife and her colleagues "did a good job on him" apparently. 
   
   Proud Wife, Leeds, UK I put my lack of belly button down to a very precise knot, tied by a perfectionist midwife. Not the experience I had with aliens. 
   
   James, Glasgow Karolina Kurkova does have a belly button. If you look on her own website, there is a picture of her wearing just a bra and pants and she has a very normal navel. Either it's been airbrushed in or airbrushed out in the other photo. 
   
   David, Reading, UK My nephew was born with gastroghesis, a condition that meant all his internal organs are developed outside the body instead of inside. When he was born they operated, and now he is fine, although instead of a belly button, he has a large scar running from one side of him to the other. We call it his smiley belly. 
   
   Terence Turner, Chelmsford, Essex I used to have a boyfriend with a dent of a bellybutton just like Karolina. He joked that it was because he had been made, not born, but I never found out the real reason. 
   
   Amy A childhood friend of mine had no belly button as she was born as a conjoined twin, her brother had a belly button, but she did not. 
   
   Colin Leadbeatter, London, United Kingdom Sorry Colin, but I think your friend was having you on - conjoined twins are always the same sex, so your friend must lack a belly button for some other reason. 
   
   Jan, Redditch, Worcs My mother had no belly button after an operation in her 30s for umbilical hernia. She was left with a scar across her tummy with a small lump at either end and slight indentation in the middle. My father used to say it was her zip fastener for future operations. I reckon that would be a very good idea to save being cut open next time and merely need zipping up afterwards, it would also save the surgeons a lot of time and trouble. 
   
   Marilyn Minnikin, Keighley, Yorkshire, England Adam and Eve didn't have belly buttons either. 
   
   Edward, London I think people with scars or interesting bodies are far more beautiful than supposed perfect ones. There's something lovely about getting to know someone's body for the first time, and growing to love it, warts and all. Scars and oddities can be lovely in themselves, for the story they tell about the person bearing them. 
   
   Jen, York I was impressed by the fact that this "navel-gazing" story appeared on World Philosophy Day! 
   
   Rebecca H, Sunny Eastbourne So there's a global economic crisis, and you're trying to distract us about whether some poor girl has a navel or not. Look, she's drop dead gorgeous! Get over it. Concentrate on the important stuff. 
   
   Peter, Blackpool Lancashire Peter, this article is a fun read. Not only that, it was informative, you learn something new everyday. "Stuff" like this is important, we don't all slouch around looking for doom and gloom - get out more. 
   
   Tina, Blackpool, Lancashire 
   
   
   
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   StumbleUpon What are these? E-mail this to a friend Printable version ||||| The case of the missing belly button is solved! 
   
   Victoria's Secret model Karolina Kurkova- who was voted E! entertainment's World's Sexiest Woman Friday - can finally squash those rumors about her curiously vanishing bellybutton. 
   
   "She had an operation when she was an infant," her rep told the Daily News. "It’s a fact and just thank God she's healthy." 
   
   The mystery of her strangely smooth tummy surfaced again as the Czech supermodel strutted her stuff on the runway in Miami two weeks ago. 
   
   There was simply an indentation where the center "button" should have been. 
   
   And don't be fooled by the glossy magazine spread: though the voluptuous blond seems to have a perfect button in the pages of magazines and catalogs, industry sources have revealed that is usually the result of photo retouching. 
   
   So what belly button condition could baby Kurkova have had? 
   
   Doctors say it was likely an umbilical hernia. 
   
   "It does look like [she may have had] an umbilical hernia as a child that was either fixed or not fixed, which can distort the belly button," said Dr. Matthew Schulman, a plastic surgeon at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Medical Center. 
   
   The condition is a fairly common in infants, Schulman said. Usually a portion of the intestine has popped through the abdominal muscles, causing an oversized "outie." 
   
   "Most people have them fixed, because you should have any hernias fixed," Schulman said. 
   
   That analysis could dispel rumors suggested that Kurkova had a vanity surgery. The media frenzy over the barely-there navel has stoked rumors that run the gamut of stories of a tummy tuck gone awry to suggestions that Kurkova was simply born sans button. 
   
   Dr. Schulman is quick to quash the latter: "It's not accurate to say that someone just does not have a belly button." 
   
   Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| A Houston woman was forced to ask her doctor an unimaginable question -- where's my belly button?"I went in with the belly button and I'd like to know what you did with it? What happened to it? Did you throw it in the trash? Where is it?" Lori Jones asked.The 45-year-old Jones says she finally saved up enough money to get rid of her 'baby pooch' after having C-sections. She wanted to "bring sexy back" and wear a two-piece bathing suit."Yasss, summertime is coming," she said.So she did her research and had several consultations before she decided to go under the knife. Houston plastic surgeon Dr. Younan Nowzardan performed an umbilical hernia removal and tummy tuck surgery in December 2015.You may recognize the doctor. He's world renowned, focusing on gastric bypass surgeries for overweight patients. Dr. Nowzarda is even featured on the TLC show "My 600 Pound Life."Jones says her tummy tuck turned out great."That part of the surgery is fine. Perfect," she added.But the hernia, not so much. She spent weeks not completely seeing her results."Because the surgical tape and the gauze that's underneath I couldn't see the incision so the whole time I'm thinking my belly button is there," Jones said.But when she took off the tape, the belly button was gone."I said well damn. Wait where is my belly button?" she asked.Jones claims before the surgery the doctor did not warn her of the risks of losing her belly button."He said its going to be in place and re-positioned and the hernia was going to be fixed and no not me not having one now because I would've went along with time," Jones said.Eyewitness News caught up with the doctor outside of his Bellaire practice."We did tell her before and she had a previous surgery and she had a scar and there's no way you can save that area. I told her that before surgery and after surgery," Dr. Nowzardan said."We never discussed me not having my belly button. He told me my belly button would be re-sectioned," Jones argued."We can call Hollywood and get a Oscar nomination for her," the doctor replied.The doctor says he can recreate Jones a belly button after six months of healing.She says no, she wants to settle it in court. She's already contacted an attorney."I don't like it and for them to act like it's nothing that's what's really bothering me," Jones added.
target: – "I said, 'Well damn … wait, where is my belly button?'" That's Lori Jones describing her reaction to her post-surgery discovery that her navel was no more. Hoping to don a two-piece bathing suit this summer, the 45-year-old Houston woman in December underwent the removal of an umbilical hernia and had a tummy tuck to get rid of her C-section-related "baby pooch," KTRK reports. A month later it was time to remove the surgical tape. Jones, "thinking my belly button is there," found out that it was not. And she has questions for renowned plastic surgeon Younan Nowzardan, who performed the surgery: "What happened to it? Did you throw it in the trash?" Nowzardan, however, tells KTRK he informed Jones that, because of a preexisting scar, the belly button was going to go. "We can call Hollywood and get an Oscar nomination for her," he says, adding that he can go back in and give Jones a new belly button. But Jones says she has contacted an attorney and wants to settle the issue in court. Her displeasure notwithstanding, Jones is not alone in being belly-button-less. Fashion model Karolina Kurkova, for instance, is lacking a navel because of a surgery she had as an infant, the New York Daily News noted when this odd fact made headlines a few years ago. The BBC also looked into the issue, explaining that in addition to surgery, another factor sometimes at play is a "lotus birth"—in which the umbilical cord and placenta are left to drop off on their own. (Cosmetic surgery turned this woman into a kleptomaniac.)