Mommy Makeover

Get Your Body Back with a Mommy Makeover
Pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding often cause significant changes to a woman’s body that can be devastating, both physically and emotionally. Even with proper diet and exercise, it is often very difficult, if not impossible, to restore one’s body back to pre-pregnancy form.

On average, most women gain 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy. This weight is stored as fatty tissue in the breasts, abdomen, flanks (love-handles), hips, lower back, buttocks and thighs. The breasts also grow due to weight gain and to prepare for nursing. After nursing there is usually involution or shrinking of the breast tissue, which often results in a saggy, empty appearing breast.

Some of these effects include:

• Stretching of the stomach muscles
• Stretching and loosening of the skin in the areas of the breasts, thighs, abdominals
• Excess fat deposits in the abdomen, back, and thighs
• Stretch marks on the breasts, belly and thighs
• Sagging of the breasts

For those mothers out there who want a firmer, tighter body, even after childbirth, there is the Mommy Makeover. This revolutionary cosmetic procedure has been developed by cosmetic surgeons with the needs and desires of mother’s everywhere in mind. This procedure brings together the best of several popular surgical procedures to restore and rejuvenate the mother’s body back to her pre-pregnancy body, as close as possible. Dr. Eric Emerson and Dr. Benson Timmons will work with you to achieve the results that you desire.

What is a Mommy Makeover?
The “makeover” combines different procedures to address the changes that occur with pregnancy, aging, and breast feeding. Each woman will require a specific, personalized set of procedures to help her obtain the shape that she desires. Some of these procedures include:

• Abdominoplasty
• Breast augmentation
• Breast lift
• Liposuction
• Thigh lift, inner and/or outer
• Buttock lift
• Breast reduction

Combinations of these procedures are chosen to help restore your body back toward pre-pregnancy shape. Some women may have developed flattened breasts with little remaining tissue as well as loose abdominal muscles. In addition, they may have fatty deposits around the hips and thighs. This group of changes to your body may benefit from the combination of breast augmentation (with or without a lift), abdominoplasty, and liposuction. During your consultation the surgeons at Southeastern Plastic Surgery will discuss your specific needs and tailor a specific treatment plan for you.

What the Mommy Makeover Won’t Do
This new procedure has yielded amazing results for many mothers, but it is not a replacement for proper diet and exercise. Rather, when the Mommy Makeover is used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise, the results can be both amazing and long-lasting. There are some things you should consider before a Mommy Makeover, however.

Is it right for me?
You should ask yourself some important questions before proceeding with a Mommy Makeover:

Are you done having children?
If you plan to have more children, wait. The vertical muscles in the abdomen (which are tightened during a tummy tuck) can re-separate.

Are you at a stable weight?
Being at a stable weight before surgery can help maximize the results. Lose all your baby weight with diet and exercise before having plastic surgery.

Are you finished breastfeeding?
You should wait until you are finished breastfeeding before having breast surgery because the enlarged ducts and increased blood vessel activity of the breast during nursing increases bleeding and the risk of infection.
Making a decision about cosmetic surgery is a very personal decision. You must decide what your goals and expectations are. You should not undergo a Mommy Makeover—or any other cosmetic procedure– to please anyone but yourself. You must carefully consider your emotions and motivations for any cosmetic procedure. Mothering is perhaps the most important job there is and the sacrifices made by mothers everywhere deserve respect and compassion. It is a very personal matter and any decision for surgery should come after careful consideration of all the facts and emotions involved.

The Mommy Makeover may be a good option for you if you:

• Maintain good physical health and weight
• Don’t smoke
• Have realistic expectations
• Are frustrated by the seemingly irreversible effects of childbirth and your attempts at weight loss and firming of your body with diet and exercise alone
• Have stretch marks
• Have sagging breasts and/or enlarged areolas

Every woman’s body is different and the needs of each woman vary. The surgeons at Southeastern Plastic Surgery can guide you along the right path in deciding which procedures will be right for you.

The Procedures

Tummy Tuck or abdominoplasty with Tumescent Liposuction
Surgeons today have almost perfected the art of the abdominoplasty incision, so that scarring is minimal and is located between the pubic hairline and the belly button where it can be covered by bathing suits or underwear. Of course, the length of the incision will be determined by your surgeon, based on the nature of your individual needs. The incision often extends from hip to hip. The incision itself is the portal through which the surgeon will remove excess fatty tissues and repair sagging, weak abdominal muscles. A second, smaller, vertical incision may be required between the pubic hairline and the belly button to remove excess skin left by the removal of the fatty tissue.

The skin and muscle tissues in the abdominal area stretch during pregnancy and often leave it loose and “flabby.” Even after weight loss, training, and dieting, the skin may remain loose and unsightly. An abdominoplasty can revitalize your abdomen by removing excess skin, tightening the inner walls of your stomach muscles, and removing unwanted fatty deposits through liposuction, producing a tighter, flatter abdominal profile.

Liposuction incisions are small, round incisions that, with time, fade to become almost unnoticeable. Once the incision is made, a sterile saline solution is injected into fatty deposit to loosen the fat and prepare it for abstraction. The excess fat is then suctioned from the body with a surgical vacuum through a thin tube called a cannula.

Breast Lift, Breast Augmentation, and Reduction
The procedure known as mastopexy, or the ‘Breast Lift,’ reconstructs the breast in such a way that excess fat and skin is removed, thus tightening the tissues of the breast, giving it a ‘lifted’ appearance, which restores the breast appearance back toward that of your pre-pregnancy, youthful breast contours. The mastopexy will also address the tissue surrounding the nipple, or areola, which oftentimes becomes stretched due to the same effects.

If you desire fuller, larger breasts, the surgeons at Southeastern Plastic Surgery can perform a Breast Augmentation along with the lift. This cosmetic enhancement procedure uses either saline or silicone breast implants to create a bust line that is, perhaps, larger and fuller than the patients’ pre-pregnancy breast size. Once again, the option of Breast Augmentation should be discussed with your doctor in your consultation prior to surgery to determine the best course of treatment.

The Breast Reduction surgery can be an option for those women who have very large breasts that cause back pain and general discomfort due to childbirth or as a pre-pregnancy condition. The reduction mammaplasty is a procedure designed to reduce the size of the breasts by removing the excess skin, fat and tissues of the breast, alleviating any pain or discomfort. Some women may desire a small reduction during their breast lift.

The Consultation: What to expect

The consultation is the time for you to ask your surgeon any questions that you might have. It is also a time for the surgeons at Southeastern Plastic Surgery to help you evaluate and discuss your desires and expectations. The surgeon will also discuss the technique, possible risks, and potential overall affect on your health, lifestyle, and general well-being. It is a good idea to prepare by considering the following before your consultation:

• General medical history, including the results of laboratory work and past surgeries
• A detailed account of current prescription medications, supplements (vitamins or others) that you take
• Any use of tobacco or other drugs
• What are your motivations for surgery? What are your expectations?
  At the consultation, your surgeon is likely to:
• Evaluate your current health
• Photographically document the areas of concern
• Discuss your surgical and non-surgical options and recommend a course of treatment
• Disclose the risks and common complications associated with mommy makeover surgery and the use of anesthesia
• Cover what to do the day of surgery
• Cover post-operative care and recovery
• Discuss possible operative sites/operating rooms for your procedure
  Preparing for surgery
  In the weeks before surgery, your surgeon may request:
• Further laboratory testing or medical evaluations
• Adjusting current prescriptions
• That you avoid the consumption of alcohol, drugs and abstain from smoking for a certain period surrounding surgery

Finally, your surgeon will go over the options you may have regarding the location of your surgery. Typically, the Mommy Makeover procedure is performed in an accredited surgical center, outpatient ambulatory surgical center or a hospital.

Important facts about the safety and risks of the Mommy Makeover
Ultimately, the decision to undergo the Mommy Makeover procedure is yours alone. After careful consideration of both the risks and benefits of surgery, you’ll have to weigh the risks against the potential benefits to make an informed decision that you can live with. Your surgeon will go over all potential risks of surgery and will make themselves available to answer any and all of your questions.
Here is a listing of some of the risks associated with the Mommy Makeover surgery:

• Adverse scarring
• Excessive bleeding (hematoma)
• Infection
• Complications associated with scar healing, including pain associated with surgery
• Fluids aggregation
• Necrosis of skin or fatty tissues
• Leg swelling that won’t go away
• Skin loosening persists or recurs
• Potential risks of anesthesia use
• Blood clots

Anesthesia
Depending on your individual circumstances, your doctor will suggest either intravenous sedation or general anesthesia. You will not “be awake” for the procedure.

Results and Recovery
The immediate results are sometimes difficult to see because of the swelling and postoperative garments. The swelling from your surgery usually takes several months to go away completely. All patients experience a different timetable in terms of their healing response. You can expect a moderate amount of pain from this operation, although—once again—there is a lot of variability from patient to patient. Most patients will be able to walk standing up fully after one or two weeks. It may take several weeks, however, to really “feel like yourself” again. There is a great variation in the time frame during which patients return to work, but 10 to 20 days is a reasonable expectation. You will need someone to help you at home for the first few days after surgery.

Here are some important questions to ask your doctor before surgery:

• Where will I recover directly after surgery?
• Will I be prescribed any post-surgery medications?
• How often do my bandages need to be changed and when will they be removed permanently?
• When will the drain tubes be removed (when appropriate)?
• How soon will I need to return for a follow-up visit?

How much will the Mommy Makeover cost?

There are several factors that affect the cost of your surgery including the experience of the surgeon and the location of the procedure. The staff and surgeons at Southeastern Plastic Surgery will carefully cover the costs with you during your consultation and preoperative visits. You should know that higher cost is not necessarily an indication of higher quality; be sure that you are comparing “apples to apples” when comparing different surgeons and their quotes. Shop around and do your homework.

Costs you can expect to incur:

• Surgeon’s fee
• Facility fee
• Anesthesiologist
• Medications
• Laboratory tests

In addition, you may finance your surgery, should you desire, through Surgeryloans.com. (We also work with CareCredit)
If you have ANY questions, just ask your surgeon or his staff.