Its not a 1 inch cut

They advertise it as "6, 1 inch cuts are better compared to 1, 6 inch cut".. but I am seeing is close to a 4 inch cut in the center.

oh sorry - I was talking about Da Vinci radical prostatectomy.

Yes - I am referring to the cut just above belly button. That one is close to 4 inch. There are 4 more smaller ones - one of which was used for the drain.

James C. said...
Sounds as if they started with the robot but had to change to open to finish. Maybe things were too large to finish that way, or they needed more room because of adhesions. etc. Something to ask the surgeon at the first appointment.

Wow - I am worried - can I securely send a picture without posting it on the internet? The surgeon came out of the surgery and told the family that "everything went fine". Prostate was of normal size (avodart took care of enlargement before the surgery).

Thanks James - and sorry for the confusion guys - it may be less than 4. Probably a little less than 3 inches. I will measure it again tomorrow at the time of dressing.

Desertrat1 said...
I'm glad you clarified that up. I thought they cut 6" off willey. LOL

Happened to me, or seems like it.

I put willey under a vacumm yesterday for the first time and it isn't even close. Luckily my wife said it would work. Haven't tried bumping nasties with it.

Had da Vinci in July 2009
Just measured my (6) scars. (in fact it's the first time I've measured them.)

Bottom left: 0.5 inch
Middle left: 0.4 inch
above navel: 1.3 inch.
bottom right: 0.7 inch
middle right: 0.6 inch
top right:0.4 inch

I reckon that's a total length of only 3.9 inches for all 6 scars added together. And I have quite large scars as a couple of them have turned into keloid scars (but a couple are almost invisible) And if I close my eyes and try to just feel where the scars are, then I can only detect the big one above the navel.
I feel that my scars used to be bigger though, especially the biggest one, so I would not regard what you see in the weeks after surgery is an indication of what will be visible down the line.

Alf

I have two on the left two on the right, vertical one above the belly and one more left of the belly.Ein did you mean "vertical" above the belly?. My scar is vertical above the belly.

ein, my scar starts from right above the belly to about 2 to 3 inches upwards and its left with a little bump.

Size of the hole was neither a deciding factor or selling point for me - less blood loss in surgery and shorter hospital/recovery time were. I had bigger scars already. Then again, I didn't get pushed - rather, the emphasis was on covering all the options, even the ones insurance would not cover - not that dropping $25K on HIFU out of the country seemed like a particularly good deal when I looked into it further.

From DaVinci, I have 5 small scars and a larger (2 inch) belly-button hole (I wonder how large ein's gland was - the bigger hole is, AFAICT, for getting the thing out, as it won't fit though the smaller holes for the surgical arms.) Mine is a vertical that starts in the belly-button, going up. In my case, that one was glued and the others were taped, with all having dissolving sutures inside - no staples. I could see a possibility that making it horizontally may reduce the strain put on it that could lead to opening up and a hernia. Ask the surgeon, but I hardly think it's something to get excited about.