An apron belly, also called mother’s apron or pannus stomach, can occur in people of all colors, shapes, sizes, and genders. It is not exclusive to women or others with excess weight.
An apron belly can develop after pregnancy or weight gain as a result of fat deposited in the abdomen. This excess fat causes the skin around your abdomen to stretch and sag downwards, creating an apron-like flap.
Apart from the effect on one’s physical health, an apron belly can also affect the emotional well-being of a person. It may ruin your self-confidence or self-esteem. It can, and often does, cause more emotional than physical distress.
If you have this condition and are wondering what you can do, it is important to note that this can be remedied through diet, exercise, surgical procedures or other methods that help ease discomfort. Something can be done about it.
How To Tell if You Have an Apron Belly
You are able to find out on your own if you have an apron belly without visiting a doctor. Just check for the following signs:
Sagging Skin in Your Lower Abdomen
In the mirror, you see sagging skin on the lower parts of your abdomen. The skin usually droops, forming an apron-like flap in front of your intestines and below the abdominal muscles, which creates a visible crease in the skin at the bottom.
Pinchable Fat
You can hold the apron-like flap comfortably with your fingers. The fat that you can hold with your fingers is called subcutaneous fat (fat deposited under the skin as opposed to in and around your organs) and when it accumulates to that level, it poses quite a few health risks to your body.
Just because you can pinch fat doesn’t mean you have an apron belly. However, if you have a flap of skin hanging over and coming into contact with skin below that, you most likely have an apron belly.
Discomfort
Discomfort can come with other health conditions, but, if you are feeling discomfort in the lower abdomen and you can see the sagging skin, then it is likely a pannus stomach.
In addition, with a pannus stomach, you may have difficulty walking around, exercising, or performing your day-to-day activities. You could also experience back pain and a change in posture – one that leans backward to compensate for the excess weight in front.
Skin Irritation and Moisture
Chafing on the underside of your belly when it sags may cause irritation due to skin-to-skin contact. Also, the hanging or sagging skin makes it difficult for air to access the skin underneath, so moisture tends to collect in the area. In extreme cases, a person cannot access the area below the sagging skin, and even cleaning becomes difficult. Lack of cleaning can also lead to odor, irritation, and infection. Check out our helpful products for managing an apron belly for more information.
Is an Apron Belly Composed of Fat or Skin?
An apron belly is a combination of both skin and fat. The accumulation of fat in the abdomen (specifically within the omentum) causes the skin to stretch and/or sag.
The condition is an internal issue, which means that it develops inside your body due to different factors that follow herein.
What Causes an Apron Belly?
An apron belly, or pannus stomach, may be caused by any of the following factors:
Obesity
Obesity results from consuming more calories than your body can use. Your body then stores the excess fat. The fat deposited in and around the abdomen causes tissues in that region to stretch and expand (abdominal wall, skin, etc.) and can ultimately lead to an apron belly.
This is what causes pannus stomach in both men and women. Anyone can gain weight and it is normally attributed to lifestyle habits. The fat stored in the lower abdomen is what causes the expansion of tissues, resulting in a saggy belly.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy is one of the main causes of apron belly in women. After pregnancy, some women experience changes in their bodies such as weight gain, along with other changes in their hormones. Some hormonal changes are responsible for the accumulation of belly fat and subcutaneous fat that can then cause the skin to drop around the lower abdomen.
Excessive Weight Loss
Excessive weight loss can result in skin hanging from the stomach. Weight loss may be a result of gastric bypass surgery, sickness, diet and exercise, or any other situation that involves weight loss. Weight loss isn’t necessarily a problem. Whether or not you get an apron belly is determined by how much excess weight you had, how long you had it, your age and other variables. Some people who experience excessive weight loss may end up with some loose skin and not develop a pannus stomach.
Genetics and Lifestyle
Some people may get this condition through genes inherited from their parents. We all store fat differently. You’ve seen some people who store it all around their belly and others who store excess weight around their legs and rear end. As I noted earlier, an apron belly may result from extra fat being deposited in the lower parts of the belly or the areas around the abdomen. With the excess fat deposits, the tissues around your internal organs and those surrounding the abdomen (or rather in the omentum) expand or grow.
Apron belly studies reveal that 17.9% of belly fat is linked to or influenced by genes. Therefore, genetics also play a part in why some individuals acquire this condition.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle is also a factor to blame. When you eat more calories than your body needs, the excess is stored as fat, which leads to the build-up of fat around the belly and abdomen region. With time, this can make the tissues and organs in that region expand, pushing and stretching the skin down below the abdomen.
Can An Apron Belly Cause Pain?
An apron belly can cause considerable emotional and physical pain. This can arise from the distress that comes from the sight of having a sagging belly, the weight that comes with it, as well as hygiene considerations. The weight of the belly hanging down your lower abdomen can have an impact on your posture, causing you to have to lean backward as you move around, which can lead to back pain.
A research finding published by Obesity Surgery links excessive abdominal fat (that is responsible for apron belly) to excessive inward curving of the spine and causes a significant change in posture and an increase in back pain. It also suggests that the excess weight can damage the discs in between your vertebrae – the spinal shock absorbers – and cause compressed, or pinched, nerves.
Men with Apron Belly
The fact that it is sometimes called a mother’s apron may seem like it only affects mothers or women. It is, however, not the case since it can affect both men and women.
The statistics of men affected by apron bellies differ by age because muscle mass typically reduces as we grow older, which causes fat to increase. This process of gaining fat usually means your lower abdomen expands, which increases your risk of getting an apron belly.
Studies show that apron belly is more prevalent in older men over 40 years of age, and also in the ages between 30 and 35 years.
Other studies also reveal that men who are above the age of 40 years or in their 50s tend to need fewer calories than the men in their 20s and 30s. At this age when the body needs fewer calories, you may be eating the same as you’ve always eaten – which is now too much – and not engaging in enough physical exercise to burn the excess calories. The imbalance contributes to a build-up of subcutaneous fat.
Women With Apron Belly
The two main causes – pregnancy and weight gain – may cause apron belly to be more prevalent in women since before and after giving birth, most women tend to gain weight and this typically is accompanied with fat accumulation in the omentum.
However, it is not exclusively for women who have given birth. Women who have never been pregnant can also get a mother’s apron. For example, if you gain a lot of weight or lose a lot of weight, then you are likely to have this condition regardless of whether you have ever been pregnant or not.
What Are the Risks?
Apron belly is not a friendly condition. When it is present, it can indicate other health issues. A pannus stomach can come with other dangerous diseases or illnesses including the following:
Risk of cancer
The research that was conducted by the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC) shows the relationship between belly fat and ovarian cancer and it concludes that the ovarian cancer cells thrive on fat in the omentum and the surrounding belly fat.
The same research also indicates that cells in the omentum are the responsible catalysts since they act as fuel and speed the growth of ovarian cancer cells. The omentum cells feed the cancer cells making them multiply faster. In addition, fat metabolism in the omentum may also lead to other cancer types such as colon, breast, and gastric cancer.
Type 2 Diabetes
There is a direct link between excessive belly fat and diabetes. People with excessive belly fat have a greater risk of type 2 diabetes according to research conducted at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC).
The study also reveals that the build-up of fats in the belly or deep in the abdomen can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, as it causes insulin resistance. It, therefore, concludes that excess subcutaneous or abdominal fat poses great risks to the body from the increase in resistance to insulin.
Other Chronic Diseases and Complications
A big protruding and hanging stomach may cause discomfort and difficulty when walking, and especially during exercise. If you don’t exercise, then your belly may continue to increase, inviting more complications and potential heart disease down the road.
There is also a likelihood of contracting infection since cleaning can be difficult in between where the sagging belly meets your other skin. Lack of cleaning can cause the area of the pannus stomach to stink, swell or develop ulcers.
Some health issues that you may experience as a result of apron belly include constant irritation, back pains due to changes in posture and disruption in spinal alignment, skin rashes, infections, increased sweating, and physical discomfort.
An apron belly may also affect you emotionally as you struggle with emotional distress, anxiety, self-esteem issues, and depression.
Final Thoughts
Studies find that abdominal exercises may not yield a significant change in the abdominal fat that is responsible for an apron belly. Therefore, you may need to find other natural or surgical ways of eliminating it. You can learn more about this in the post “how do you get rid of an apron belly.”
As you have now learned, an apron belly, also known as pannus stomach or mother’s apron, is a serious condition, but you can reduce the chances of getting it by eating low-calorie foods, doing regular exercises, and eating a nutritious diet.