Why Transumbilical Breast Augmentation May Not be the Best Idea

Transumbilical Breast Augmentation, also known as its achronym TUBA, is one of those ideas that seems to good to be true.

Many women all over the world are drawn to the idea of breast augmentation, but are deterred by the idea of the scarring that inevitably takes place during the breast implant procedure.

Recent developments, however, allow cosmetic breast surgeons to insert the implants without creating any scarring to the breasts at all.

The technique that makes this possible is Transumbilical Breast Augmentation. Instead of the normal procedure, where incisions are made to the underside of the breast, at the natural crease, or around the areola, the only incision to be made is at the belly button. Due to the location, scarring is virtually invisible, and it is this that makes the idea so appealing to many women.

The TUBA technique is a very modern way of performing a breast augmentation procedure. Through the small incision at the navel, tunnel is created in the subcutanous fat, right the way up to the breast region. This is done using an endoscope, a tube with a light and a camera attached, so that the surgeon can watch the procedure on a monitor as it is performed.

It is this passageway through which the breast implants are inserted.

There are, however, several disadvantages to Transumbilical Breast Augmentation, that may cause you to rethink, and get a more conventional method of breast enhancement. One of these is that due to the method of inserting the breast implants, there is less choice of types of implant. A cohesive silicone gel implant is out of the question, as they are pre-filled, and would be to large for the apperture in the navel. This means that you are limited to getting saline implants, which often have a shorter lifespan, and can have a less realistic feel and appearance. Certainly, most cosmetic surgeons regard the cohesive silicone gel implant as the gold standard.

More worryingly, it seems that there is a far higher chance of the implants not being placed correctly, due to the way the the operation is performed remotely. It appears that a far higher proportion of implants placed transumbilically end up requiring revision work. This revision work all too frequently cannot be performed through the original incisions in the navel, and the end result is the same scarring to the breasts as would have occurred using normal incision techniques.

The same applies if the the implant is rejected by the body. The implants will have to be removed via incisions to the breasts.

There is an argument that these kinds of complications are more the result of less competent surgeons attempting Transumbilical Breast Augmentation, and this may be correct to an extent. Whenever you get any form of surgery, it is essential that the surgeon is experienced in that exact operation procedure. But it is also a fact that many reputable cosmetic surgeons who experimented with this technique have since stopped offering this option to their patients, believing the disadvantages to outweigh the benefits.

A golden rule, when considering cosmetic surgery is that the first priority is function, and then form. Scarring should come a distant third. So although the idea of breast augmentation without scarring may sound ideal, you should really think it through. Transumbilical Breast Augmentation may end up being more trouble than it is worth!