The Real Reason Your Belly Button Can Be An Innie Or An Outie

Belly buttons are one of the most unique parts of the human body. They come in all different shapes and sizes, and no two people's belly buttons look exactly the same. But why do some people have innie belly buttons while others have outies? Believe it or not, it all comes down to chance (via Healthline).

A belly button is the area on the stomach where the umbilical cord is cut on a newborn baby shortly after birth. After the cord is clamped and cut, a small piece of the cord is left attached to the body. This umbilical cord stump dries up and falls off within a few weeks after birth, leaving behind a belly button. This means that your belly button is essentially a scar on the stomach and abdominal wall where your umbilical cord once was. While more people tend to have innie belly buttons rather than outies, whether or not you have an innie or outie is out of anyone's control.

Although some people believe that innies and outies are a result of how the umbilical cord is cut at birth, this is actually not true. In fact, neither the doctor who cut your cord nor your parents are responsible for the way your belly button forms (via Mental Floss). Whether or not you have an innie or an outie ultimately comes down to how much skin and scar tissue is left behind when your umbilical cord stump falls off.

"You can't do anything to make sure babies have an innie or outie," Dr. Dan Polk, a neonatologist at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, told the Chicago Tribune. "It has to do with how much baby skin leads onto the umbilical cord from the baby's body. Less skin makes an innie; more skin makes an outie." While it is possible to have an outie belly button as a result of an umbilical hernia, most of the time innie and outie formation occurs by chance.