Scarless Appendectomies at Progress West

Anyone coming to Progress West HealthCare Center needing an appendectomy won't leave with a constant visible reminder. That's because Carson Agee, MD, board-certified general surgeon, performs single-incision - or single-port -- appendectomies.

"A single-port appendectomy offers significant benefits for the patient. Besides being very safe, there's less pain, recovery time is quicker, and the scar is hidden in the navel," says Dr. Agee. "It's even less invasive than the widely performed three-port laparoscopic appendectomy, which leaves three scars."

Patients who are lean make better candidates for the single-port procedure. Dr. Carson performs the single-port procedure on patients who require gallbladder surgery as well.

About 8 percent of the population has had an appendectomy, usually prompted by acute appendicitis. Before 2000, appendectomies were performed using traditional "open" surgery techniques that required a large incision. For the past decade, appendectomies have more commonly been performed laparoscopically, with surgical instruments and a fiber-optic video camera inserted through three small incisions in the abdomen.

Since 2007, more surgeons are learning the single-port method that involves entering the abdomen, grasping the appendix and removing it through a single, 11-millimeter incision in the navel. "The small incision becomes virtually invisible once the wound has healed," says Dr. Agee. "Because the incision is hidden in the navel, there is tremendous cosmetic benefit for the patient."