Why some incisions are vertical and some horizontal?

Hi

I am scheduled for a LSH on March 31st. Both a specialist and my reg. OB/GYN will be working together on me. If they get in there and can't do the LSH then it will be done abdominally. I had a full tummy tuck last May. They reassured me that if they had to go the abdominal hyster. route, my tummy wouldn't be affected, they would use my tuck incision line.

I've seen on here that sometimes they do a vertical incision during hysterectomies. Why is that? Just curious. Thank you.

My doctor said if the fibroids were too big he'd have to do a vertical but I ended up with a bikini cut. My sister had a HUGE tumor so hers had to be vertical.

Vertical incisions are most commonly used for women with very large fibroids as well as women with cancer and/or endo, in which case the DR needs to be able to explore the whole pelvic region and remove any traces of "bad" stuff.

s,
-Linda

That's interesting and certainly makes sense - but - I have two very large fibroids (not sure of actual size but my uterus is enlarged to a 14 to 16 week pregnancy) and I've been told by my DR that I require an abdominal hyst and that he would go over the incision line that he did when I had a CS 18 years ago - my fibroids are big but not as big I would imagine as the 10 lb baby that was delivered via that incision. I'm not keen on a vertical so I hope he's true to his word!