abdomen

I have had a colon resection, a hysterectomy, appendectomy, ileostomy and the reversal and a hernia repair.  My stomach is lopsided and a mess and it is very uncomfortable.  Will insurance cover to get this fixed?

[Howard Rosenberg, MD]

Since you hold the contract with your insurance company, you would need to petition them to see if any coverage is available.  In general, however, most companies will pay for problems that are functional, and not just for appearance purposes.

[HELP62]

What are some of the functional problems?  Thank you!

[Howard Rosenberg, MD]

You probably have no functional problems.  These might include frequent breakdown of scars with documented recurrent infections, a documented hernia within a scar, or other problems that create a documented disability other than just appearance of the area.

[HELP62]

I had a hernia underneath my ileostomy (sp?) I have quite a big scar.

[HELP62]

I had a scar revision where my ileostomy was and where my hernia wa.  It made it worse and I was told a scar revision was supposed to make it blend in more with the rest of my stomach.  It also hurts now - which it didn't before.  It used to be indented and now it sticks out a lot...will insurance pay to fix this?  They paid for the initial scar revision.