How Big Is The Incision For Bypass Surgery And How Noticeable Will It Be After Surgery?

Dr. McCarthy answers the question: 'Bypass Incision -- Size And Appearance?'

By
Patrick McCarthy, M.D., Chief, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery; Co-Director, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
December 24, 2008, 1:56 PM ET
1 min read

— -- Question: How big is the incision for bypass surgery and how noticeable will it be after surgery

Answer: Bypass surgery these days is typically performed through an incision down the middle of the chest. It's not the same incision that we used to use 20 years or so ago, when it was really huge. It's not the smallest, minimally invasive incision for most patients anyway, but a kind of standard incision might be about six inches or so.

You can talk to your surgeon about the location of the incision and how much it would show. We can certainly adjust it. Usually we're able to move it down a fair amount. So many women that wear something that's relatively low cut, you may not see it.

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