Abstract Forty infants with infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis had a Ramstedt pyloromyotomy through a circumumbilical incision. Delivery of the pylorus was relatively easy. Mild wound infection occurred in three infants and a further child developed a purulent discharge. There was one instance of abdominal wall dehiscence and all the resultant scars were hardly visible, thus achieving an apparently unscarred abdomen.