Transumbilical Breast Augmentation (TUBA) Part 2

Aften: Well, the reason why I decided to have the procedure in the first place is because I do have a daughter who I breast fed for a year, so my once beautiful, full breasts, were flat, and I really struggled with kind of gaining my persona as a woman back, and part of that had to do with my self-confidence and kind of getting my body back to the way it was. One thing I couldn't change with diet or exercise is the form of my breasts, and so that's when I came to see Dr. Barone and she fixed that. She gave me my confidence back and my husband doesn't think it's too bad either. I don't think it necessarily changes the way they perceive me. I think a lot of them were shocked to see that I actually went through it because it's something that, as girlfriends, you always talk about, 'Well, I wish I had this or I wish I had that.' You always want something you don't have, and I had talked about it ever since I stopped breast feeding, that I really wanted to get my breasts done. I wanted to have my body back. I didn't really say anything when I booked the procedure and then after I had it done and came back home to Fort Worth, around all my girlfriends and family, everybody was just like, 'Oh my gosh. Why you look great. You're fine. There's nothing wrong with you.' I'm, like, 'Yeah. It was pretty easy.' Right before I had the procedure done, actually the weekend before, we went to the beach, to Port Aransas, with a bunch of our mutual friends and I noticed in the pictures, like, when we're all on the beach in our bathing suits, I'm kind of like hunched over. You can tell that I don't have a lot of self-confidence. And then, let's see, I think it was about four weeks later we went back to the beach and you could tell that I was standing up straight and I was more front and center of the pictures and it definitely realigned my confidence and made my posture better. I mean I was just more aware of my body and I guess more confidence in the way that I looked and the way that I walked and talked, stood up straight, and the way that I wore my clothes even. So it definitely brought my woman-ness back. I had the mom part down. That was ingrained in me, but it definitely brought the woman back, the wife back. I would tell them first to do it for you. Don't let anybody else tell you, 'You should get this done.' Or your friends says, 'Well, I go this done and you should do it.' This is only for you. It is your body and you're going to be the one going the recovery. You're going to be the one dealing with the changes, and there is a little bit of psychological issues that go in there. Your clothes are going to fit differently and things are going to be different. So if you know just for yourself that you want to do this, I would say, 'Go for it.' Don't be afraid. Dr. Barone is a wonderful doctor. There is medical advances out there to speed up the recovery time, to ease your pain, and there's follow-ups. There's nothing to worry about in that sense. I think it's just a choice that every woman has to make for herself and not to be peer-pressured by any other outside influence that she has to have this or doesn't have to have it. It's just for you.