MOMMY MAKEOVER
This 33 year old hard-working mom represents the ideal mommy makeover transformation one year after surgery. She worked hard to lose weight prior to surgery and continued her commitment to mindful diet and fitness – losing an additional 15 pounds after surgery! A small rim of loose skin above her scar was removed in the office 3 months prior to this photo, as evidenced by the redness in the scar, which should fade 12-18 months after surgery. Body contouring surgery, including liposuction and tummy tucks, create an opportunity to work with personal weight loss regimens to restore optimal health. Surgery should not be thought of as a substitute, but rather an important partner to weight loss and fitness.
This patient had taken attempts to regain tone and fitness to the ultimate degree. Her lateral photo demonstrates how centralization of the abdominal muscles helps move the pelvis into a more healthy anatomic alignment with the spine. These photos were taken at 11 months post op. Implant size is 325cc.
This patient had large amounts of excess breast skin, but very little over her own breast tissue, requiring implants to achieve her volume goal. She chose 280cc implants. An extensive amount of central skin damage required some vertical skin excision below the belly button. Scars are depicted at 12 months post op.
This patient underwent abdominoplasty with flank liposuction and breast fat injection. The combination is very dramatic. This result is depicted at 6 months after surgery.
MOMMY MAKEOVER INFORMATION
Mommy makeover is the combination of an abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) with breast surgery. This can be augmentation, a breast lift, or both, depending on what you are unhappy with after childbearing. Pregnancy can stretch breasts, decrease breast tissue and stretch abdomens to the point of no return. Mommy makeovers are best delayed until the decision has been made to have no future pregnancies. You will want someone to take over all mommy duties for the first week after surgery, and you can’t drive as long as you are still on pain medication. The second week after surgery will be tough as well with only about 4 hours of productive energy during the day. Your body really needs rest to recover well, and you probably aren’t used to having any rest! Before this procedure it is best to make sure you have plenty of help for the first two weeks and that the people around you know not to expect you to do anything that will interfere with a very important recover. If it took 9 months to make a baby, you should get at least a 2 week break to recover from the makeover!!
The best candidates for liposuction have subcutaneous fat which is resistant to diet and exercise. It is ideal for people wanting to change the contour of their body. It can be performed on healthy persons of any age. It is always important to plan on being very vigilant about your body weight. Weight gain after liposuction will harm your result and possibly create unnatural appearances.
Liposuction can be used almost anywhere there is excess fat below the skin. The best areas include upper arms, waist (muffin tops), outer hips (saddle bags), inner knees, under the chin, “bra fat”, and sometimes the lower calf and ankle area. Liposuction has been used successfully for male breast reduction and is now being used in some cases of female breast reduction. Liposuction creates a tightening effect below the skin and can create lovely definition around the jaw line or firm areas of loose skin on the lower abdomen and upper back. The best areas for liposuction have loose fat and tight skin. Loose skin can lead to unwanted skin dimples and wrinkles after removal of fat.
Not necessarily. Liposuction can be an excellent operation for people of any weight, however it is not a weight loss procedure. It is used to help create pleasing contours and remove disproportionate areas of fat. If you are generally displeased with your weight and plan to lose weight, I recommend performing liposuction only after your weight loss has plateaued. Of course, maintaining your weight after liposuction is the best way to enjoy the results.
Yes. Liposuction, when performed properly, sculpts fat – it does not completely remove it. However, the improvements in contour and proportion should be permanent. It never good to gain weight after body contouring surgery of any kind. Ideally, all patients lose at least the amount of weight that was surgically removed in order to “stay even.” Weight gain can result in unpredictable contours and amplifications of the types of surgical irregularity which are unavoidable.