Breast augmentation
The modern prosthetic breast was invented in 1961, by the American plastic surgeons Thomas Cronin and Frank Gerow, and manufactured by the Dow Corning Corporation; in due course, the first augmentation mammoplasty was performed in 1962. There are five generations of medical device technology for the breast-implant models filled with silicone gel; each generation of breast prosthesis is defined by common model-manufacturing techniques.
Trans-umbilical breast augmentation
A trans-umbilical breast augmentation is a breast prosthesis insertion technique wherein the incision is at the umbilicus (navel), which dissection then tunnels superiorly, to facilitate emplacing the breast prosthesis to the implant pocket without producing visible surgical scars upon the breast hemisphere; but it makes appropriate dissection and device-emplacement more technically difficult. A TUBA procedure is performed bluntly (without endoscopic assistance), and is inapplicable to emplacing (pre-filled) silicone-gel implants, because of the great potential for damaging the elastomer silicone shell of the breast-implant device during its manual insertion through the short, two-centimetre (~2.0 cm), incision at the navel, and because pre-filled silicone-gel implants are incompressible, and cannot be inserted through so small an incision.