Pregnancy is a beautiful time — it’s known as the “miracle of life” for a reason.
But it can be hard to completely enjoy motherhood when you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror.
Although it is a beautiful thing, pregnancy can wreak havoc on a woman’s body. At Burt & Will Plastic Surgery and Dermatology, we offer the complete mommy makeover to help postpartum clients recontour their figures.
What procedures make up a mommy makeover?
Breast Enhancement
Breast enhancements are some of the most common procedures included in a mommy makeover.
Due to fluctuations in hormone levels, breast shape and volume tend to change over the course of pregnancy and breastfeeding.
If you have returned to your prepregnancy weight, your breasts have likely reverted to their baseline volume. However, many women experience long-term changes to the shape or volume of their breasts.
Whether your baby was bottle- or breast-fed, your breasts might have experienced some loss of volume. Breast enhancement procedures to correct this concern include breast augmentations and breast lifts.
Breast Augmentation
A breast augmentation is a surgery that increases your breast size.
During a breast augmentation, implants are placed under the breast tissue or the chest muscles. These implants are made of either saline or silicone.
A breast augmentation can enhance your breasts’ fullness, shape, and contours according to your desired aesthetic goals. This is an outpatient surgery that usually requires general anesthesia.
Breast implants last, on average, about ten years.
Breast Lift
Mastopexy is the formal name for a breast lift. This procedure involves raising the breasts by removing any excess skin and tightening the surrounding tissue.
Breast lifts last, on average, between 10 and 15 years before a revision is needed to maintain results.
Breast Augmentation vs. Breast Lift
Is an augmentation or breast lift better for you? The answer depends on your goals.
Breast augmentations focus mainly on:
- Creating volume
- Molding ideal shape
The main goals of a breast lift include:
- Eliminating sagging breast tissue
- Improving breast location
During your consultation, we will help you understand which procedure makes the most sense for you, given your body and your desired results.
In some cases, clients get both an augmentation and a breast lift. Augmentations combined with mastopexies allow for fuller, perkier, and rounder-looking breasts.
Breast Enhancement Downtime
With breast enhancement surgery, your full recovery period will likely last between four and six weeks.
During recovery, it’s crucial that you avoid intense physical activity (walks are fine), lifting anything heavy, or overworking yourself.
Tummy Tuck
Another frequent part of a mommy makeover procedure is the tummy tuck. This surgical procedure shapes and alters the appearance of the abdomen.
A tummy tuck is also called an abdominoplasty. Along with removing excess skin and fat from the abdomen, we can also restore weakened or separated muscles during the procedure.
Benefits of a Tummy Tuck
There are numerous benefits of a tummy tuck beyond the cosmetic ones.
Cosmetic benefits of a tummy tuck include:
- Removal of loose, sagging, excess skin
- A firmer, more contoured appearance
- Elimination of a lower abdomen bulge
The health benefits of a tummy tuck include:
- Restoration of a core weakened by pregnancy
- Strengthened abdominal muscles
- Improvement to your overall flexibility
By strengthening your core, a tummy tuck might also help relieve some lower back pain while improving your posture.
Not every client will need muscle repair as part of their tummy tuck, but this is a beneficial post-pregnancy procedure that could offer more support to your spine.
How a Tummy Tuck Works
During a tummy tuck, any sagging, loose skin is removed from your abdomen.
The fascia, which is the connective tissue in your abdomen, is tightened using sutures. The remaining skin is repositioned to facilitate a tighter and more toned appearance.
Tummy Tuck Downtime
A tummy tuck, like any other invasive surgery, requires downtime. On average, you should anticipate between two and three weeks of recovery time from your tummy tuck.
Within a few days of your surgery, you should add in movement like slow walks. Moderate activity helps keep your blood moving and can facilitate your recovery. You can expect to return to work after a week, but vigorous physical activities will need to hold off for about three weeks.
Liposuction
The tummy tuck helps eliminate sagging skin and improve the contour of your abdomen, but it isn’t considered an optimal fat removal procedure.
This is where liposuction comes in as the last traditional pillar of the mommy makeover.
Liposuction is a minimally invasive procedure that involves using suction technology to permanently remove fat cells from the treatment site.
We can perform liposuction on many areas of the body, including the abdomen, love handles, back, arms, thighs, and even under the chin.
How Liposuction Works
During liposuction, we make small incisions in targeted areas. Then, we insert a medical device called a cannula. The cannula is connected to a special type of vacuum that sucks out fat cells.
These fat cells are permanently removed, which means that the same fat cells will not reoccur. However, to maintain your results, you should complement your liposuction procedure with a balanced diet and exercise routine.
Liposuction Downtime
Everybody is different, so depending on how many areas you have treated with liposuction, your downtime could be anywhere from ten days to a few weeks.
Some clients have multiple areas of the body treated at once with liposuction, which requires more rest and recuperation.
Usually, clients return to work within three to five days.
Getting Started with a Mommy Makeover
The mommy makeover can help you achieve your pre pregnancy body or your ideal aesthetic goals faster than diet and exercise alone. And by combining these procedures into one surgery, you can shorten your overall recovery time by weeks.
At Burt & Will Plastic Surgery and Dermatology in Burr Ridge, IL, we bring informed, professional, and compassionate care to moms who are ready to practice a little self-care. Contact us online or call us at (815) 267-0231 to schedule a consultation.