Mommy Makeovers

Pregnancy and childbirth can wreck havoc on a woman’s body. Few women would cast doubt on a phenomenon that they have probably seen or experienced. Throw in the strain of a few months of breast feeding and a bunch of sleepless nights and a woman’s body is sure to suffer  (not to mention how she may feel).  To reverse some of these changes, plastic surgery has come up with a variety of cosmetic procedures to help restore a woman’s body. Dubbed the “Mommy Makeover”, it has become popular as both a marketing concept and a treatment strategy for the post-pregnancy female body.

A Mommy Makeover is a collection of female body reshaping procedures that focus on the breasts and abdomen- the two body areas that are most affected by pregnancy. These can include breast procedures such as a breast lift to perk up sagging breasts after breast feeding, breast implants to bring back a woman’s cup size or even more, and a breast reduction to reduce breasts that may have become enlarged during pregnancy. Abdominal and waistline options include various forms of tummy tucks  to tighten stretched stomach muscles and remove loose and sagging skin, and liposuction to eliminate unwanted pockets of fat from the stomach, hips and thighs.

None of these plastic surgery procedures are new, but combining them all at once in a single surgery is.  Combining breast and abdominal reshaping can create the most dramatic changes ever seen in a woman between the shoulders and the hips. Some women can never return to exactly the way they looked before children even with the best of plastic surgery, but others can end up looking more shapely than before pregnancy.

While many women get stellar results with a Mommy Makeover, it is not right for everyone. The best candidates are those women who are finished having children and are done with breast feeding. One should have made a good effort with diet and exercise to get the best body possible before surgery, and have sufficient time off and support to allow for an adequate recovery. While some women are anxious to begin the process of a Mommy Makeover shortly after giving birth to their last child, it is often better to wait for at least 6 months to a year.

Most Mommy Makeovers are done on an outpatient basis under general anesthesia. No really significant breast and abdominal changes can be done within the limits of local and sedation anesthesia. Real body changes requires real surgery…and recovery.

While some women bounce back from pregnancy like nothing ever happened, other women struggle with feeling their bodies have been ravaged after pregnancy. Mommy Makeovers can reverse years of damage to a woman’s body in just a few hours.

Dr. Barry Eppley

www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com

Indianapolis, Indiana