post-pregnancy procedures

Over the course of each year, over 4 million babies are born in the United States. During pregnancy, breasts enlarge and stay that way for as long as you continue to breastfeed. The size of your tummy and body size may also expand and take a while to begin returning to its normal state. Oftentimes, women are unable to naturally return to their pre-pregnancy body types due to the extensive stretching of the skin that occurs during the nine months of your pregnancy. I want to assure you this is nothing to be ashamed of—pregnancy is something to be proud of, as is your body for all of its hard work.

When diet and exercise don’t make the desired difference, I often receive questions about cosmetic procedures after pregnancy. In fact, there are a variety of approaches that I take. Facial, breast and body contouring procedures can be combined into one mommy makeover procedure to address the effects of pregnancy.  Common mommy makeover procedures include breast surgeries, abdominoplasty and liposuction united to restore a youthful appearance.  While breast augmentation can be considered if you seek to restore lost volume in your breasts, breast lifts are ideal for sagging breasts after breast feeding or expansion. During a consultation, I will thoroughly discuss your cosmetic desires and realistic expectations to help you achieve the look you most desire.

Body contouring procedures are great options for addressing sagging skin stretched during pregnancy. Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck surgery) can remove excess skin from the abdomen and tighten weakened abdominal muscles that have separated after pregnancy.  Liposuction can also help patients renew tight contours around the hips, legs, buttock and abdomen and eliminate small, persistent pockets of fat.

While you may be understandably eager to renew your body after your first pregnancy, I consistently recommend waiting until you are finished having children, before pursuing cosmetic surgery of the abdomen or breasts. Your body will continue to change with additional pregnancies, and as with post-weight loss procedures, I recommend maintaining a stabilized weight before surgery.

Although recovery can last a bit longer for combined cosmetic procedures, patients can benefit from collective surgical and facility fees as well as total body renewal in one fell swoop. It should be noted that combined procedures offer significantly less recovery time than if you spaced out each procedure separately. If you are interested in combined cosmetic procedures or an individual procedure, please call our office to schedule a consultation. For more plastic and reconstructive news, follow me, Dr. Franklyn Elliott, on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.