Belly-button breast implant surgery leaves minimal scaring

(11/10/06 - KTRK/HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- It's got a weird name, but the surgery is quickly gaining popularity, belly button breast implants.

They do two things women want shrink the incision size and the recovery time.

"After three kids, I wanted to get back to my teenaged days I guess," said patient Pam Viereck.

We met Pam Viereck two weeks after she got the belly-button breast implants.

"I absolutely love it," said Viereck. "I would do it again."

The augmentation procedure is actually named TUBA, transumbilical breast augmentation.

The surgery takes about 30-45 minutes and no incision is made on or around the breast.

An inch to inch and a half incision is made in the belly-button and a small tube is run up to the breast. A deflated breast implant is inserted, and filled with saline. Then the tube is removed.

"You're sore around the breast area, arm movement is limited they tell you and the abdomen," said Viereck.

"The benefit is no scar under the breast, around the breast, or near the breast," said plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Schusterman.

"It felt like I'd been punched in the stomach," said patient Panda Weiser. "I was bruised but not my chest, really just my stomach."

Yet, patients like Panda recovered in two to three days instead of a week.

"I was up and running around with my kids that night,' said Weiser.

The procedure, developed by a Houston surgeon, has been around for a decade, but until lately hasn't been offered by many surgeons.

"When I finally tried it, cut here and saw their results and saw how happy they were I thought that's it we've got to doing this now," said Dr. Schusterman.

A month out, Weiser didn't have much scarring on her belly-button. The cost is about $4,600.

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat," said Weiser.
(Copyright © 2006, KTRK-TV)

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