An Athens surgeon is making hysterectomies less painful and less visible using instruments that allow removal of the uterus through a single opening in the naval.

It may sound like a page from science fiction but it isn’t.

Dr. Thomas Pitman performed the procedure about three weeks ago at Athens-Limestone Hospital. He is the first surgeon in North Alabama to do so.

The procedure has two primary benefits over the traditional laparoscopic hysterectomy — it eliminates a visible scar in the abdominal wall, and it is less invasive, which reduces pain and speeds recovery.

Pitman’s patient, Pamela Faulkner, who lives near Ardmore in Giles County, Tenn., recommends the procedure.

“I know people who have had (abdominal) hysterectomies who took two or three months to recover,” Faulkner said.

She also knew women who had opted for the traditional laparoscopic hysterectomy, which requires four small incisions in the abdominal wall.

“At first, that is what I thought I would have,” she said. “People told me to give myself two or three weeks to recover.”

But the single-incision procedure got her on her feet in five days, she said.

“I was totally surprised,” Faulkner said. “On the fifth day I was up and going and I cooked that night. I would get tired and have to sit down sometimes, but it was nothing like I thought it would be. In two weeks, I went on my child’s class trip and I’m still doing fine.”

Lack of a scar was an added benefit.

“There was no scarring, none,” she said.

The surgery — called single incision laparoscopic surgery or SILS — is made possible by using Covidien surgical instruments. Pitman performed the surgery through a single skin incision inside the patient’s umbilicus or bellybutton. Covidien’s articulated instruments gave him better access to the surgical site as well as maneuverability for tissue dissection and retraction.

“What is amazing is the lack of postoperative pain compared to laparoscopic hysterectomies with multiple ports (or openings), ” Pitman said.

The multiple-port procedure is more invasive because openings are made through the side of the belly and through muscles, which swell and bruise, he said.

“This procedure avoids any muscle,” Pitman said.

The SILS port, which has been approved by the FDA, can be used for other types of surgery. However, it may not be workable for hysterectomy patients who are significantly overweight because they have too thick of an abdominal wall, Pitman said.

Pitman delivered his first baby 21 years ago and has been an obstetrical gynecologist for 15 years. In that time, he has delivered about 4,000 babies and performed about 2,000 laparoscopic hysterectomies. He believes more and more surgeons will adopt this minimally invasive technique in the future.

For more information on SILS, go to www.covidien.com.