Lap vs Open DS.

Okay.  Horizontal scar for me.  (Dr. Ungson and all)

At the time of surgery, I wanted him to have the best possible visibility of my guts, so was happy to have an open scar.  And it was, I would guess, a foot from end to end.  That was on a belly that was attached to a 310 pound woman.

That same scar is MAJORLY faded now.  And about 6 inches long.  Actually, I can feel it, more than see it.  My body did a funky scar tissue thing on the inside, so, there are a couple of things that feel like marbles, but that's it.

Love your analogy.......

 My scar was the least of my concerns. Dr. Peters was more comfortable doing it open and that made me more comfortable. Once I was at goal and the skin had done all of the shrinking it was going to do my open incision ended up being about 4 inches long. It's of course longer now that I had the Fleur-de-Lis tummy tuck, but I'll take this scar for my results any day!

I've had 4 abdominal surgeries....2 open, 2 laparoscopic.  For me personally, my lap procedures were a much easier recovery and less painful than my open procedures.  I also had to wear an abdominal binder for one of my open procedures.  I still took it easy for several weeks post-op regardless of the procedure.  

I do agree some people may over-do it too soon if they have a lap procedure...but I think it depends on the person and their knowledge of the risks.  As Julie mentioned, the risk for an incisional hernia is higher with an open procedure.  It's higher because the length of the incision is longer, so there's more of a weakened area that can separate internally and cause a protrusion.  However, you are at risk for a hernia with any procedure that creates an opening in the abdominal wall.

I preferred open bc I wanted him to see what he was doing. Now I know a horizontal open scar totally complicates a tummy tuck. So there are down sides. I don't believe open is harder to recover from .I only took off 9 days.

 I had mine done lap.  I made the decision mostly because I didn't want to deal with muscle healing on the large incision from open.  That said, the "big" incision from the lap is about 4-5 inches extending below my belly button.  The surgeon called this a "hand port".  I jokingly told him that had I known there would be a "hand port" I would have picked a small asian woman to do my DS.  My recovery has been amazing.  I feel great, I'm losing weight, and other than the fact that I don't sleep well I am pretty much back to normal except that I seem to be shrinking for some reason ;-) 

Mine was done lap. 5 hours long. I developed rhabdomyolysis and I'm currently still suffering peripheral neuropathy due to it.

I've had both open and lap abdominal procedures... and, I would probably go with lap again... if I had a different surgeon...

I made the best decision for myself at the time (having it lap... considering that I had a horrible open surgery recovery a few years prior)

**** happens

I've had three open abdominal surgeries in my life.  2 c-sections and 1 appendectomy. My DS was lap.  I think I healed quicker with the c-sections, granted the last one was 11 years ago so I may not be remembering correctly.  Muscle wise of course.  The DS had other stuff other than just the abdominal wall and skin to heal.  The DS has been the hardest and most painful recovery out of all my surgeries.  I'm two weeks out and I still sleep propped up and I'm just now able to kind of sleep on my side.

I don't really care about scars.  IF I ever get a tummy tuck, it'll be an anchor cut so the scar would be the same.

I figure by next week I'll be back to normal.

My c-section was easier than my lapband.

The DS took me eleven weeks before *I* was convinced I'd survive...and that's because it also took that long for my esophagus to start working again.