Cullen's sign

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Cullen's sign, also known as umbilical black eye, is superficial edema and bruising in the subcutaneous fatty tissue around the umbilicus.

It is named for gynecologist Thomas Stephen Cullen (1869–1953),{{WhoNamedIt|synd|1386}} who first described the sign in ruptured ectopic pregnancy in 1916.T.S. Cullen. Embryology, anatomy, and diseases of the umbilicus together with diseases of the urachus. Philadelphia, Saunders, and London, 1916.

This sign takes 24–48 hours to appear and can predict acute pancreatitis, with mortality rising from 8–10% to 40%. It may be accompanied by Grey Turner's sign{{cite journal |vauthors=Bosmann M, Schreiner O, Galle PR |title=Coexistence of Cullen's and Grey Turner's signs in acute pancreatitis |journal=Am. J. Med. |volume=122 |issue=4 |pages=333–4 |date=April 2009 |pmid=19332225 |doi=10.1016/j.amjmed.2008.08.032 }} (bruising of the flank), which may then be indicative of pancreatic necrosis with retroperitoneal or intra-abdominal bleeding.