Karolina Kurkova's 'missing' belly button mystery solved

New York, Nov 22 : After appearing at a shoot for Victoria's Secret in Miami Beach, Karolina Kurkova became the talk of the town, thanks to her looks, curves - and a missing belly button. Now the 'navel' case has been solved.

According to the stunner's rep, the missing body part is because of an infant surgery.

"She had an operation when she was an infant," the New York Daily News quoted the rep, as saying.

"It's a fact and just thank God she's healthy," the rep added.

The mystery of strangely smooth tummy of Karolina, who was recently voted E! entertainment's World's Sexiest Woman title, surfaced as the Czech supermodel strutted her stuff on the runway in Miami two weeks ago.

There was simply an indentation where the center "button" should have been.

According to doctors, it was likely an umbilical hernia.

"It does look like [she may have had] an umbilical hernia as a child that was either fixed or not fixed, which can distort the belly button," said Dr. Matthew Schulman, a plastic surgeon at Manhattan's Mount Sinai Medical Center.

The condition is a fairly common in infants, Schulman said.

Usually a portion of the intestine has popped through the abdominal muscles, causing an oversized "outie."

"Most people have them fixed, because you should have any hernias fixed," Schulman said.

ANI