Dr. Clayton Frenzel discusses popularity of TUBA breast augmentation on The CW33 News

At his Dallas cosmetic surgery practice, Dr. Clayton Frenzel was recently featured on the CW33 News sharing the secret of a no-scar breast augmentation, otherwise known as trans-umbilical breast augmentation or TUBA.

TUBA Breast Augmentation aka "belly button" breast augmentation

TUBA, often called the “scarless” or even “belly button” breast augmentation, is an effective method of breast implant placement that’s introduced through the navel, and produces attractive results with scars that are literally invisible.

Forest Park Medical Center surgeon Dr. Clayton Frenzel uses an endoscope to guide the empty saline implants through two tunnels into the chest–when in place the implants are filled with sterile saline to the size and shape the patient wants.

Dr. Frenzel performing a TUBA procedure

Implanting around the breast or through the armpit can leave visible scars.

Dr. Frenzel said he used to perform the TUBA procedure as many as twenty times a month in California and now it’s growing in popularity here.

“It’s a lot more popular for the younger girls,” Dr. Frenzel said. “The girls between 18 and 25 or 30, once you get in the girls that are 30, 35 or 40 a lot of those patients are choosing silicone for some reason.”

Dr. Frenzel said the procedure takes about an hour with most patients getting back to normal in about a week.

Watch the full story here.

To setup a one-on-one consultation with Dr. Clayton Frenzel for the TUBA procedure, please call the Advanced Cosmetic Surgery office at (817)342-0232 or click here to schedule online.

While the poll showed that more women planned to choose silicone implants, 2009 statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) showed that women who actually had the surgery in the United States last year were evenly divided on the type of implant, with 50 percent using saline and 50 percent silicone.

However, since the FDA approved silicone breast implants in November 2006, ASPS data has shown that the use of silicone implants has grown each year, gaining on saline:

• In 2007, 65% of total breast implants were saline; 35% were silicone.
• In 2008, 53% of total breast implants were saline; 47% were silicone.
• In 2009, 50% of total breast implants were saline; 50% were silicone.

Implant Differences

Saline breast implants:

• Are filled with saline, usually at the time of surgery, which allows for a smaller incision.
• Are available to women 18 and older for breast augmentation.
• Can be made bigger or smaller without further surgery: the implants have small valves in which a surgeon can insert a needle and either add or remove the liquid to change their size.
• It is easier to detect ruptures in saline implants, because they deflate so the woman notices it almost immediately.

Silicone breast implants:

• Are pre-filled with silicone gel.
• Look and feel more natural, compared to saline implants.
• Are available to women 22 and older for breast augmentation.
• Cannot be changed in size; if a different size is desired at a later point, a surgery must be performed to change the implant.

Both types of breast implants are approved by the FDA, so they have been thoroughly researched and tested and reviewed by an independent panel of physicians for safety.

When a man opened fire in the dental office where Lydia worked last summer, she was shot twice: “The bullet fragments were millimeters from her heart and her vital organs,” said Dr. Ashkan Ghavami.

According to a firearms expert interviewed for the story, what saved Lydia’s life may have been the presence of her saline breast implants.  Of course he advises against getting “breast enhancements as a means to deflect a possible incoming bullet.”

Read more about this story here on NBC Los Angeles