The Mommy Makeover is one of the most successful concepts plastic surgeons have ever promoted. It resonates instantly with many of today’s moms—women who are proud to be mothers but want to regain their former physiques. Moms who have put their children first and perhaps forgotten the joy of caring for themselves. Women who may want to resume or start a career, or just look their best again.
If the reasons women seek Mommy Makeover plastic surgery are diverse, the mix of procedures they choose are even more varied. In fact, a Mommy Makeover can be just about any combination a woman and her plastic surgeon can design.
Tummy tuck surgery, or abdominoplasty, is usually at the heart of a Mommy Makeover. Pregnancy takes a toll on the female body, stretching both the skin and abdominal muscles. Once the muscles are altered, no amount of sit-ups can restore their old tone. Through an incision low on the tummy, a plastic surgeon can stitch the muscles back together and remove any redundant skin.
Almost every mom gains weight around the hips, thighs and torso during pregnancy. After childbirth, those fat pockets can be frustratingly stubborn to reduce. Many women will choose liposuction to help rid their post-childbirth bodies of love handles or saddlebags that didn’t exist before the kids were born. Liposuction is often performed along with a tummy tuck.
Breast surgery is also a very common component of a Mommy Makeover. Childbearing, along with the simple passage of time, does have an impact on the perky, youthful looking breasts many mothers remember having at one time. Many moms choose to undergo breast lift surgery, some with implants to replace lost volume. Occasionally breast reduction and lift is the surgery of choice.
These three procedures, abdominoplasty, liposuction and breast surgery, are perhaps the classic Mommy Makeover. When a patient is in excellent health and each operation is routine and not terribly extensive, many plastic surgeons will consider performing them at the same time. The key is to limit the amount of general anesthesia time as much as possible. Advantages to combination surgery are obvious, including savings on the anesthesiologist and surgical suite time and recovering all at once.
That said, some women opt for other procedures instead of, or in addition to, these three common choices. For some moms, a facelift helps them feel like a new woman. Others are interested in a thigh lift to elevate and tighten up sagging upper legs. Occasionally a woman will be interested in an arm lift, or brachioplasty. Adding another region of the body to the most common areas of focus usually means adding a second procedure.
One very interesting aspect of Mommy Makeover surgery is the almost universal delight women report with their results. One Web site where patients review the outcomes of their plastic surgery procedures pegs the Mommy Makeover at a 96 percent approval rate! It’s not uncommon to hear women say that the decision is, “The best thing I have ever done for myself!”
Maybe that’s it in a nutshell, the reason behind the joy women seem to feel after their Mommy Makeover surgery. They’ve experienced the happiness of bringing children into the world; now they have the opportunity to take care of themselves and regain self esteem and pride in their looks. What could feel better than that?