Giving birth is a life-changing experience in many ways. Unfortunately, one of the ways in which pregnancy can affect your life is by leaving you dissatisfied with the way your body looks. Women in this situation may be good candidates for a mommy makeover–a set of procedures designed to restore your pre-pregnancy appearance. If you have questions about how to achieve your desired cosmetic results, call The Plastic Surgery Center in Sarasota, FL today.
What a Mommy Makeover Includes
A mommy makeover is a combination of cosmetic procedures intended to restore the way your body looked before your pregnancy. The procedures typically focus on the breasts and abdomen and may include a tummy tuck, breast augmentation, and liposuction of the legs, arms, or trunk.
Since mommy makeover is a descriptive term and not a specific procedure in itself, the first thing you should do is consult with your plastic surgeon to decide which procedures are best for you. The following procedures are commonly undergone by patients looking to restore their pre-pregnancy physique.
Tummy Tuck
A flabby abdomen results from excess fat, poor skin elasticity, excess skin, and stretching of both your inner girdle of connective tissue and your abdominal muscles. All of these things can be the result of pregnancy. During pregnancy, the inner girdle of connective tissue that holds your organs in place gets distended, causing your stomach to protrude.
An abdominoplasty removes loose, excess skin and fat and also tightens the over-stretched connective tissue, removing stretch marks and excess skin that sit below the abdomen.
How the Procedure Is Done
Your surgeon will remove most of the skin and fat between the belly button and pubic hair using a horizontal, elliptical shape. Sutures are used to tighten the connective tissue which overlays your abdominal muscles. The skin around your belly button will be repositioned, and the belly button is brought up through a small incision and sutured in its natural position.
The size of the incision varies with each individual and is dependent upon how much skin needs to be removed. The scar falls along the natural crease of your skin within the bikini line.
Liposuction
Liposuction is often used to improve the contour of a patient’s flanks or hips. It is often recommended by surgeons who perform a mommy makeover at the same time that they perform a tummy tuck. Liposuction can also be effective at improving the contours of your chest, thighs, neck, upper arms, and knees.
How Liposuction Is Done
During liposuction, a sterile liquid is injected along with a local anesthetic to control pain and epinephrine to minimize any bleeding. After you are anesthetized, your surgeon will make tiny incisions near the target area from where fat will be removed. A thin, hollow rod known as a cannula will be inserted through the incision and fat will be sucked out.
After the fat has been removed, dressings and a compression garment will be applied.
Breast Lift
A breast lift, or mastopexy, is a procedure used to treat sagging and uneven breasts, decreased breast volume, drooping nipples, and stretched areolas; all of which are common post-pregnancy experiences. The procedure will return a youthful shape and lift to your breasts and can be designed to include breast enlargement or breast reduction.
How a Breast Lift Is Performed
You will receive general anesthesia for this procedure. Your surgeon will make the necessary incisions depending on the amount of excess skin you have, the position of your nipples, your goals, and your surgeon’s suggestions.
Once the incisions are made, your surgeon repositions and reshapes your breast tissue and surgically removes any excess skin. Your nipples and areolas will be repositioned to a more youthful-looking location, and the size of your areolas can be reduced if necessary. Finally, your surgeon will tighten the remaining skin while closing the incisions.
Breast Reduction
Your breasts usually swell to a fuller size and shape during pregnancy. Some women’s breasts maintain their new size and shape while others do not. An increase in size can sometimes be welcome; unless they become disproportionately large and result in pain, poor posture, rashes, breathing problems, skeletal deformities, or low self-esteem. A breast reduction solves these issues by removing fat and glandular tissue while tightening the skin to result in smaller, lighter breasts.
How a Breast Reduction Is Performed
Your surgeon will make incisions on your breasts and surgically remove any excess fat, glandular tissue, and skin. Sometimes excess fat may be removed via liposuction as well as excision. If the size of your breasts is due largely to fatty tissue and not excess skin, liposuction alone may be used. Your surgeon will let you know what the best way forward is based on your body and preferences.
If you and your surgeon decided surgery is necessary, they will make the appropriate incision, reposition the nipple, and reduce the size of your areola if needed. Then they will reduce, lift, and shape the underlying breast tissue and bring the incisions together to reshape what is now a smaller breast. You will have drainage tubes for a short time after surgery. Afterward, your breasts will be wrapped in surgical gauze and you may need to wear a surgical bra.
Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation surgery can be used to increase or restore breast size using silicone gel implants, saline implants, or fat grafting.
How a Breast Augmentation Is Performed
In a breast augmentation that utilizes implants, your surgeon will make an incision, lift the breast tissue, create a pocket in the chest/breast area and place the implant in that pocket. The implants are placed beneath the pectoral muscle or underneath the breast tissue on top of your pectoral muscle. You and your surgeon will discuss the options at your consultation.
Last, you will be wrapped in a gauze bandage or a surgical compression bra.
Breast Lift and Breast Augmentation
If your cosmetic goals include having breasts that are larger as well as breasts that don’t sag or if you desire to maintain projection and roundness of the breast mound, your surgeon may recommend combining a breast lift and breast augmentation. It all depends on the current condition of your body and what you want your results to be.
What Makes Someone a Good Candidate?
The set of procedures included in a mommy makeover are designed to reverse the adverse physical changes that occur during pregnancy. However, some of these changes can also occur as a natural result of aging. Having previously been pregnant is not a necessary prerequisite for undergoing the set of procedures.
Anyone with sagging or uneven breasts, decreased breast volume, a flabby or distended belly, and unwanted pockets of exercise and diet-resistant fat as well as individuals who have lost significant weight can be good candidates. The makeover procedure doesn’t just focus on rejuvenating your chest and breasts. It is meant to target several areas. If your body is negatively affecting your mood and self-esteem, you may be a candidate for a mommy makeover.
What Is the First Step?
The first step in preparing for the set of procedures is to call and schedule an appointment to speak with one of our surgeons. During your consultation, you will have the opportunity to make clear what you want to achieve. You’ll be evaluated as a candidate for the makeover and your surgeon will clarify exactly what procedures may benefit you the most as well as what they can and cannot do.
Once your surgeon has a thorough understanding of your goals, they may recommend additional or related procedures that may better achieve the results you want.
How Should You Prepare for the Procedure?
To begin preparing for the procedure, your surgeon will give you thorough preoperative instructions and answer any remaining questions that may come up regarding the surgery. A detailed medical history will be taken and a physical exam will be performed to ensure you’re healthy enough to undergo the procedure.
Depending on your desired results and your current physical condition, it may be necessary for your surgeon to recommend specific weight benchmarks or lifestyle changes both before and after surgery. Be prepared to follow these instructions, whatever they may be, as your results will be dependent upon how well you adhere to what your surgeon suggests.
Aftercare and Recovery
Your surgeon will explain to you how long it will be before you can return to your normal level of physical activity and work. You will be given detailed instructions regarding your postsurgical care, including information about surgical drains, how to care for yourself, and any normal symptoms of healing you may encounter.
Immediately After Surgery
After your procedure, you’ll be moved to a recovery room where you can be closely monitored by medical professionals as the anesthesia wears off. You can probably expect to be garbed in bandages and wearing compression garments, and you may find some surgical drains.
What Is the Recovery Time Frame Like?
One of the major benefits of a mommy makeover is that multiple procedures are done at once, therefore requiring just one recovery time frame instead of several.
You will need to take it very easy for the first couple of weeks and follow your surgeon’s directions over this period of time. After the first three weeks, you may start feeling much better. It’s important to understand that just because you’re feeling better doesn’t mean you can return to your normal activity levels just yet.
It will be at least six weeks before you can consider yourself fully recovered. However, all bodies heal differently, and your recovery period may be longer. Whatever the case, you’ll be advised on what you can and cannot do during your follow-up appointments.
How Long Will the Results Last?
Provided you do not get pregnant again or undergo any significant change in your weight, the results of your makeover should be permanent. Remember that cosmetic surgery can make a significant difference in your body and your life, but it cannot stop normal aging.
Get Your Makeover
A mommy makeover isn’t one singular procedure; it is a set of several procedures designed to counteract the side effects that pregnancy can produce in your body. These procedures can include a tummy tuck, liposuction, breast lift, breast augmentation/reduction, or implants.
The procedures it includes are designed to restore and rejuvenate your post-pregnancy body into one that is younger-looking and more aesthetically pleasing to you. To schedule an initial consultation, contact The Plastic Surgery Center in Bradenton, FL today and talk to us about how to get back the body you want.
