this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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Today I Learned

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I guess it makes sense, but I've never thought of it like that before.

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[–] Murse@slrpnk.net 26 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

unfair we can’t have smooth, holeless abdomens too.

Gonna throw this upfront: Don't image search this unless you're prepared to see some seriously mutilated babies on the brink of, or in some cases shortly after their death. This is close to the top of the worst NSFL shit on the internet.

Anyway, gastroschesis. Birth defect in which the intestines are outside of the body at birth. The fix is to basically cut a new hole and shove them back in, with the resulting wound being kinda at the doctor's / parent's discretion: they can immitate a natural belly button, or just say fuck it and give it a clean closure line, the resulting scar from which can heal with virtually no visible scar tissue. I think it's more common for there to be -some- disfigurement from the scarring, but babies have fucking super powers when it comes to healing, and a wound that would give you or me a ropy, nasty scar, would look like a little scratch on them.

So, not quite smooth/holeless in the way you're probably thinking, but potentially not far off from it - all you need to do is be born with a condition that's likely to kill you!

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 4 points 11 hours ago

Thank you for the nsfl warning, I will NOT be googling that. Interesting to read though.

[–] shoe@feddit.uk 1 points 8 hours ago

My niece had this! Her parents elected to leave her without a belly button and, yep, no visible scar tissue :). Pretty incredible, given how dire things looked when she was born.

[–] lb_o@lemmy.world 18 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

On the bright side - 95% survival rate.

Thanks for sharing, was a strange read, but made me fear less essentially.

[–] Murse@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 hours ago

95% survival rate

Oh, I had no idea it was that high! I had ~50% on my brain. That's pretty incredible looking at some of these - crazy portions of their abdominal contents are just hanging out.