TUBA or Transumbilical Incision (also known as a Naval Incision)
TUBA stands for Trans Umbilical Breast Augmentation. This is a highly specialized breast implant placement method in which your plastic surgeon makes the incision in your naval. He/she inserts the breast implant through this naval incision, slides it up to the chest area, then places it in its correct position. Your plastic surgeon will use an instrument called an endoscope to help him or her in this procedure. The endoscope is connected to a monitor so your plastic surgeon can view where he or she places the implant.
TUBA can be used to place breast implants either above or below the muscle. The primary benefit of TUBA is that it leaves no visible scar near the breast. One risks is the posibility of having to make a different breast incision if the placement is not working out during surgery. Some plastic surgeons have claimed there is a risk of poor placement using TUBA because the incision site is far from the area of implant placement. Plastic surgeons who perform TUBA claim that others who are critical of the TUBA incision are just not experienced in it. If you want to use TUBA, you must find a surgeon who specializes in this method. Most surgeons that perform this method can only place the implants over the muscle. There are doctors who do perform this surgery with subpectoral placement, but there are fewer such surgeons.
At this time, we do not know of any surgeons using this method to place silicone gel breast implants.