What’s Involved in a Mommy Makeover?

Pregnancy can be a beautiful experience as you bring a new life into the world. It can also do a number on your body, as during the nine months you carry the child, your skin expands and your muscles and other soft tissues adjust to carry the additional weight. Post-delivery, you may find that you now have a flatter backside; larger hips; a softer, sagging belly; drooping breasts; and a host of stretch marks snaking across your skin.

In addition, more than 60% of women suffer from a separation of their “six-pack” abdominal muscles. A healthy diet and exercise can help with losing additional weight, but they can’t undo the myriad changes you’ve undergone, and you may be left with a body with which you’re no longer happy.

You do have options, though. At Meridian Plastic Surgery in Meridian, Mississippi, board-certified plastic surgeons Dr. Lee Thornton and Dr. Mark Elliott help you reverse the effects of childbearing and age with a mommy makeover. This series of procedures addresses the many changes your body has undergone, restoring — or augmenting — what you once had and want to have again. Here’s what’s involved.

What is a mommy makeover?

Every woman is different, so each mommy makeover is tailored to the individual’s needs. The goal is always to give you back your pre-baby body, but which procedures you want or need may be different from another person’s.

That also means there’s no set timeline for completing the restoration, though we try to combine procedures to reduce the amount of time you need to recover. After all, you’re a new mommy, so your time is better spent with your child than recuperating from surgery.

Meridian Plastic Surgery is a multi-specialty plastic surgery practice that offers you every surgical option needed to meet your aesthetic goals. During your consultation, we review your health history and note the specific areas you want to address. Then, we draw up an individualized treatment plan and a timeline for achieving the work.

What are my options for a mommy makeover?

A number of procedures can be performed as part of a mommy makeover.

Breast surgery

Meridian Plastic Surgery performs many types of breast surgery, including breast augmentation, lifting, reshaping and reduction. While augmentation can help increase the size of your breasts, a breast lift helps shape and firm the breast tissue, which can sag after pregnancy and nursing. If you feel your breasts are too big or heavy, a breast reduction removes extra skin and fat to make your breasts fit more proportionately with the rest of your body.

Butt lift or augmentation

Pregnancy and childbirth can affect the size and shape of your backside. A butt lift, like a breast lift, can shape and firm the tissue to restore a more pleasing aspect. If you’re interested in augmenting the size and shape of your butt, we can do that as well.

Liposuction

When you were pregnant, you had to eat for two, and you gained weight. That doesn’t mean, though, that you’ll lose the weight, or lose it easily, once you’ve delivered. Sometimes, even diet and exercise aren’t enough to remove stubborn pockets of fat that are no longer necessary. Liposuction can permanently remove these pockets, improving your contours and proportions. 

Tummy tuck

Shifting hormones and a nine-month front-heavy load take a toll on your skin and abdominal muscles, and it may not be possible to regain your flat, toned tummy with diet and exercise alone. Tummy tuck surgery, also called abdominoplasty, removes excess skin and abdominal fat, as well as repairs and tightens your abs, trimming down your midsection and restoring a pleasing shape.

Labiaplasty   

Pregnancy and childbirth can cause vaginal laxity and the development of excess skin in your labia. A labiaplasty tightens and tones the skin, reducing the size of your inner and outer labia.

If you’ve recently had a child and aren’t happy with the way your body looks and feels after giving birth, a mommy makeover may be just the thing for you. Give Meridian Plastic Surgery a call at 601-693-7742 to set up a consultation with our plastic surgery team, or book online with us today. We can help.