A Mommy Makeover is a plastic surgery procedure designed to restore you to your pre-pregnancy shape. While you still feel young, fit, healthy and active, you are fighting biology. Pregnancy makes us store fat more efficiently for 9 months. That natural increase in body fat fundamentally changes many things about our bodies, from breasts to our bellies, thighs and arms. If you had a c-section, you may be left with a c-section pooch that hangs. A Mommy Makeover targets these areas of frustration.
Motherhood changes the breasts
When it comes to our breasts, pregnancy changes both the shape and the volume. Breasts that were once full, perky and firm can be deflated after pregnancy. They might feel floppy, wide and overstretched. This often happens not just because of breastmilk production and feeding, but can be seen with major weight loss as well. For many women, their breasts become smaller. That volume loss, combined with the stretched out skin, creates breasts we do not recognize as our own. Our clothes and bras fit differently. We fill out our swimsuits (or don’t) differently too.
Motherhood changes the body
In other parts of the body, the belly stretches both internally (loosening your once-tight “six-pack”) and externally. External stretching loosens the skin over the abdominal wall, can cause stretch marks and results in sagging, overhanging skin. You can get this pooch that hangs like a c-section shelf even without the scar from a c-section. This can be frustrating when you can’t decide if you should tuck that shelf into your pants or have it hang over your low rise jeans. Internal stretching can be seen as diastasis recti, weakening your abdominal core and leaving your abdominal muscles separated in the middle.
In other parts of your body like your thighs, arms and bra rolls, fatty deposits may stick around. Even after you lose your baby weight, some of the stretched-out areas do not snap back. Wearing your pre-pregnancy wardrobe may be impossible. Even our best efforts at diet and exercise are sometimes not enough to resolve each of these “problem spots” on our bodies . Thankfully, we can address many of them in one plastic surgery visit with a Mommy Makeover!
Is a Mommy Makeover right for me?
If you are bothered by your appearance on a regular basis, if you are frustrated with how your clothes drape over your body, a Mommy Makeover is worth considering. Women often feel like their blouses are loose up top and don’t fit around their waist because of the imbalance in their bodies after pregnancy and childbirth. The c-section shelf can make your dresses and pants fit completely differently without spanx or body shapers. A Mommy Makeover helps you restore your pre-pregnancy silhouette and the confidence that comes with recognizing your body as your own.
A Mommy Makeover may be right for you if you have lost most of your baby weight, but your exercise routine and healthy diet aren’t achieving the results you want. We recommend waiting until after you have had all your children before undergoing this procedure. You may also want to time when you have your Mommy Makeover done based on the recovery period and the help you will need. Read more about the right time for a Mommy Makeover.
How is a Mommy Makeover performed?
A makeover for moms involves tightening the loose abdominal wall, smoothening the waistline and contour of your belly with a combination of Liposuction and Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty), while also treating other parts of your body. That could mean restoring breast shape with a Breast Lift or a Breast Augmentation. It might also mean Liposuction to the inner and outer thighs, upper arms, or fat under the chin (Submental Liposuction).
During a Breast Lift, we reshape your breasts by removing the extra skin. In many cases, pregnancy causes the breasts to deflate. If you choose to increase the volume with breast implants, Dr. Tannan puts the breast implants in and drapes your breast over the implant to give you a result that appears natural.
Then we perform the Tummy Tuck. Picture a bedsheet, full of wrinkles. To straighten this out, you shake it out, lift up the sheet, and pull it tight across all the edges. Similarly, during a Tummy Tuck, Dr. Tannan places the scar in your underwear line and lifts your abdominal skin above it. She re-drapes the skin over you. Dr. Tannan will then remove the extra skin, and feathers the contour of your waist with Liposuction. Dr. Tannan also repairs the diastasis recti (separation of your abdominal muscles) — tightening your “six-pack.”
All this can be done safely in the same surgical visit by our female board-certified surgeon, Doctor Shruti Tannan, who has extensive experience in this procedure. The Mommy Makeover is performed in our on-site surgery center, which you will see on a tour of the facility during your consultation. These cases are performed under general anesthesia so that you are comfortable, safe and asleep during the procedure.
What is recovery like after a Mommy Makeover?
Recovery from these breast and body procedures is typically straightforward. We recommend that you take it easy from strenuous activity for about six weeks. Young mothers should consider having help at home (family, friends, neighbors) for the first one or two weeks while they are adjusting and healing.
When you come in for your consult, we go over those details. Dr. Tannan gives you recommendations tailored specifically to you. These recommendations are based on the ages of your kids, whether you have a partner who is able to help you versus one who travels and other lifestyle factors. We will plan out a roadmap to a successful procedure and recovery together. To learn more about the Mommy Makeover recovery process and timeline, check out our Plastic Surgery Recovery Calculator.
How much does a Mommy Makeover cost?
A Mommy Makeover typically involves some combination of different procedures like Liposuction, Tummy Tuck, and Breast Lift. Since we personalize the approach to your specific needs it can be challenging to estimate the exact cost. However, the Plastic Surgery Cost Calculator can give you some idea of average prices for most plastic surgery procedures.
Keep in mind, there are savings with a Mommy Makeover by having multiple procedures performed during a single visit. After your consultation, you will receive a personalized quote for the exact surgery combination you are seeking when you meet with the patient care coordinator.
Mommy Makeover – Before and After
Here are before and after pictures for a patient with a Mommy Makeover performed by Dr. Tannan. Slide the cursor to see how a Mommy Makeover can help restore the breasts and body back to your pre-pregnancy shape.
