What is a Mommy Makeover?
Posted on September 01, 2022 in blog by Lewisburg Team
What is a mommy makeover?
Hi, I’m Jordan Thomas. Our goal as with everything we do here at Lewisburg Plastic Surgery is to provide you with the educational resources you need to make the best decision and allow you to feel beautiful, confident, and safe. Today we will be talking with Dr. Normington about a pretty common procedure that we get a lot of questions about from our patients called the Mommy Makeover.
What exactly does that consist of?
“A mommy makeover is not a specific procedure,” Dr. Normington explains. “But really, it’s a series of procedures designed to rejuvenate the breast and the tummy area. We’re changing the things that occur as a woman has children and ages over time so we’re talking about changing the breast and changing the tummy and that’s different for every woman. There’s no specific procedure in the breast area. Mommy Makeover might involve breast augmentation to add some volume that a woman has lost with having kids or it might involve a breast lift to lift the breast back up to more youthful position. Sometimes there’s drooping or sagging that can occur with aging and with breastfeeding, so a Mommy Makeover can get that breast back up to a more youthful position.
“With the changes that can occur to the tummy with childbirth, commonly, a mommy makeover will involve a tummy tuck. The goal of a tummy tuck is to tighten the skin on the tummy and also remove extra fatty tissue and rejuvenate some of the changes that we see from pregnancy. For another woman, it might just involve a little liposuction to improve a little bit of tummy fat that occurs with aging and getting a little bit older. It’s really different for every woman so a Mommy Makeover is customized to the concerns that a woman has with aging and some of the changes from pregnancy. We can customize a plan for every woman. These procedures are commonly performed together, meaning we usually treat the breast area and the tummy at the same time. So we’ll combine a breast lift with a tummy tuck or a breast augmentation with a tummy tuck or liposuction to get that figure back to a more youthful position. Basically, a Mommy Makeover is a customized procedure for every woman designed to improve the changes of pregnancy and aging.”
How long will it take to recover from any of these procedures?
What sort of downtime do patients experience after these procedures?
“All the procedures have at least a little bit of a downtime,” says Dr. Normington. “Breast augmentation, you might be away from work for a few days and a tummy tuck a little bit longer. The nice thing about combining the procedures is that you’re able to combine the recoveries and get them over with all at once. If you’re working from home, quite honestly, you could do a bit of that even the next day. The biggest restriction are vigorous and aerobic activities like the gym or strenuous things around the house. With those activities you might have to refrain for a few weeks.
What is the price range a procedure like this?
For those concerned about the cost of the procedure; this isn’t something that would be covered by insurance, correct?
“Yes, generally these are cosmetic, not insurable procedures and there’s a bit of a range with the costs. For a breast lift, you’re looking in the $8,000 range. A Tummy Tuck is something in the high, $7000 to $8,000, range. When the procedures are combined, we’re able to do a little discounting with combining some anesthesia costs and some operating charges. But generally, those are the costs with this sort of procedure.”
How do I know which procedure is best for me?
What situations make someone more of a candidate for a tummy tuck versus just liposuction?
“The key thing there is the quality of the skin. With liposuction, or even CoolSculpting, a non-surgical approach to reducing fatty tissue in the tummy, both of those processes reduce fatty tissue but they don’t really tighten the skin. If there’s any concerns about the tone of the skin, or we’re having extra skin on the tummy, we would probably steer them towards a tummy tuck because that gives us the ability to tighten that skin up. Most women have had pregnancies to some extent that the tummy skin has been stretched out.”
I’ve heard of muscle tightening being done during a tummy tuck procedure. Is that something that would be possible for someone having a mommy makeover?
“Yes, every woman who has had a pregnancy from what I’ve found, at least to some extent, the muscle layer called the fascia, which holds the muscles in place, that stretches. We can see the skin stretches but on the inside the muscle layer stretches as well. All the sit-ups in the world might build up the muscle, but unfortunately, they can’t really get that fascia back to where it was before you had kids. Typically, during a tummy tuck we will do some muscle tightening to some extent to get the muscles back to where they were before you had kids.”
Does muscle tightening impact my recovery?
For those that do have the muscle tightening done during the procedure, is that something that might affect their recovery time?
“It’s a little bit more of a recovery. There’s a little bit more discomfort and a few more restrictions afterwards. But again the benefit is that you get those muscles rejuvenated back to where they were.”
Conclusion
If anyone has any questions, you can always reach out to one of our staff members here. For more information on Lewisburg Plastic Surgery, please visit us online at Lewisburgplastic.com or find us on Facebook at Lewisburg Plastic Surgery and Dermatology or on Instagram @Lewisburgplastic. We’ll see you next time.