Belly Button Surgery Comes to the UK

The belly button, perhaps one of the body's quirkiest features, has now been deemed a 'single access port'. Mr. Barry Paraskeva, of Imperial College London Healthcare NHS Trust, recently became the first surgeon in the UK to remove an appendix and gall bladder through that most mysterious of orifices. This new technique, known as single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS), greatly reduces surgery time and scarring. It can also transform the unpopular 'outie' into the increasingly trendy 'innie.' Apparently, SILS is one step towards other techniques that would also help reduce scarring and ease the healing process. One such technique would allow organs to be removed via the rectum. (Image/internets_dairy)