Dog ears after a tummy tuck refers to flaps of skin at either end of the incision that stick out. While rare when a tummy tuck is performed by a qualified surgeon, they are luckily easy to avoid and correct. To initially prevent dog ears, Dr. B ensures that enough skin is removed because leaving extra skin behind is a common cause of dog ears.
Additionally, sometimes dog ears appear due to inadequate or incorrect suturing. Dr. B uses stitching techniques, including internal stitches that make dog ears much less likely. If a patient comes in with dog ears, correction involves slightly extending each end of the tummy tuck incision to remove the extra skin.