One of the dumbest things I have seen in breast augmentation

Dr. Pasquale thinks this is Dumb

Transumbilcal Breast Augmentation Hype without Sanity

A blog like this is more casual and of course , these are opinions of one Plastic Surgeon. Although  in a different forum I may be demonized and my argument rebutted profusely, here I take the liberty to say what I want.  This is definitely not  a scientific forum,  thus I can mutter under my breath very effectively and without fear.  I recall when I hear about placing a breast implant through an incision at the belly button.  Like many at first I thought how clever and how technology has advanced.

Then after seeing this procedure and trying two myself  ( on patients not me)  I realized that this is the dumbest operation in cosmetic plastic surgery.  I mean the entire argument used to promote the procedure is a falacy. The central theme of those who claim this to be the greatest idea since adding creamer to Starbucks coffee is patently absurd.  They claim it is “scarless” . Well this is a bold lie. As anyone with a small amount of surgical knowledge knows it is impossible to cut any skin without leaving a scar. Yes its true it is far away from the breast, but there is still a scar and also a scar inside the tissues which were transversed with the pipe used to insert the implant.  Those who promote the procedure also fail or withhold the information that a properly executed breast augmentation procedure through the axillary or para-areola (around the nipple) scar should be practically invisible as well. 

The other fact that I realized is that when we as plastic surgeons try to create a beautiful breast for our patients its much like an artist or sculpture.  One does not create art working as far away from the art work as possible. I mean how stupid would you think someone was who tried to sculpt a statue 20 feet away from the stone. Same principle applies here. Why would someone want to create a breast from 1 foot away when they could do so right at the previous breast area?  Well i think anyone who stops and thinks for minute could easily conclude the obvious.

All this rambling does not mean that it is impossible nor have many patients had nice outcome from a the belly button approach. Yet just because something is possible does not mean we should do it. I mean it is easier to walk up one flight of steps to the second floor than it is to scale a the wall with a pick and ropes.  You could do that but why would you want to?

Finally another point I find silly about this belly button approach is the concept of placing a silicone shell implant through a metal tube. Then  pushing it thorugh with another metal tube to the position a foot away. Plastic Surgeons  are taught to minimize the amount of touching of the implant when they place it in the tissue which is known as a “no touch technique”. This is thought to prevent micro scratches or contamination of the implant. Well how many scratches on the implant do you think are made when we shove it through a metal tube for distnace of  over one foot. This could lead to early deflation as thsoe micro scratches leave potential weak points in the shell of the implant. Hmmm does this make since to you?

If you want to see a more formal opinion please see my newsletter here : http://www.nerve.org   there are some great photos of the result of this  approach as well.

So these are my ramblings on this procedure as one of the dumbest things I have seen.