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Motherhood is a beautiful thing that has undeniable impacts on a woman’s body. Oftentimes, the joys of motherhood come with sagging, loose and excess skin as well as other bodily changes.
A mommy makeover is a treatment that combines different procedures to address these types of changes. The multi-pronged plastic surgery combination procedure addresses common changes brought upon by pregnancy and childbirth and streamlines the process by treating different areas at the same time.
At GraceMed, we offer Mommy Makeovers at our reputable plastic surgery clinic with a high level of expertise in the treatments commonly included.
The best thing about the combination procedure is that it’s customizable. A Mommy Makeover is not one-size-fits-all, but it allows you to decide what related procedures you can combine for cohesive results. When you come to GraceMed for your mommy makeover in Mississauga, we will work with you to identify the best combination to include in your Mommy Makeover.
Learn about the different treatments that are most commonly included in a Mommy Makeover.
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Tummy Tuck
An abdominoplasty — commonly referred to as a “tummy tuck” — is a surgical procedure that removes excess skin and fat from the midsection while tightening the abdominal muscles. The end results should give you a flatter, contoured stomach and a stronger abdominal wall.
If you only have a small amount of excess skin and fat that you want to remove, then you might be better suited for a mini tummy tuck instead of a general abdominoplasty.
You can get a tummy tuck in Mississauga as part of your Mommy Makeover with GraceMed. We also offer tummy tucks at our clinics in Burlington and North York.
There are typically two reasons why you would include this procedure as part of your treatment: it removes excess skin, and it repairs the abdominal wall.
Excess Skin:
One of the many physical impacts giving birth is loose, sagging skin — particularly around the stomach and hips. Your skin on your midsection stretches rapidly during your pregnancy to accommodate your expanding baby bump and, once you give birth, that stretched skin doesn’t have the baby bump to cushion it anymore.
Your skin can retract and go back to its normal state, but it will take time as your body recovers from childbirth. You might notice improvements over the first year with the baby, however, there is a possibility that your skin doesn’t snap back, even after a year.
Abdominal Walls:
A tummy tuck is often included in a mommy makeover because it strengthens the abdominal walls. A large number of pregnant women get a condition called diastasis recti — this is when the abdominal muscles separate. The expanding uterus shifts the rectus muscles and pushes them apart, which leads to a weaker abdominal wall. Women with this condition may also deal with lower back pain, constipation and urinary incontinence.
The condition could disappear a few months after giving birth, but you might find that your abdominal muscles don’t return to their pre-pregnancy strength. A tummy tuck can tighten the abdominal muscles and helps you get that strength and support back.
Pregnancy and Tummy Tucks:
It’s recommended that patients plan their tummy tucks after they’re certain that they don’t want more children. This is not because the results of a tummy tuck will have a negative effect on your pregnancy, but because pregnancy can undo the results of your tummy tuck.
If you want to maintain the results from your surgery, you might want to wait until you know that you’re not planning on expanding your family any further.
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Liposuction
It can be challenging to lose the baby weight after giving birth, even when you adopt a healthy diet and exercise regimen. One thing that can help remove those fat deposits that don’t want to go away is liposuction. Liposuction is a procedure that effectively removes body fat from spots like the thighs, the upper arms and the abdomen.
For liposuction, the surgeon makes incisions in the areas that you want to address. They insert a cannula (a stainless-steel tube) through the incisions and break up the fatty tissue inside, and then suction it out. Once the fatty tissue has been removed, they close the incisions and complete the surgery.
If you’re considering adding this surgery to your mommy makeover, we can provide some insights on liposuction cost and recovery time before you book a consultation. We offer the procedure at our Mississauga, North York and Burlington clinics.
Liposuction and Loose Skin:
Liposuction’s purpose is to remove excess fat — not excess skin. In fact, liposuction can leave you with looser skin if the proper precautions aren’t taken. Here are some things to consider:
- For the sake of your skin, we recommend that you undergo this procedure when you’re within 5-10 pounds of your goal weight. This will limit any puckering or sagging.
- You can choose laser-assisted liposuction techniques like SmartLipo and SlimLipo. These stimulate collagen production during the procedure and tighten up the skin.
- You can pair Renuvion with your liposuction. Renuvion is a minimally invasive skin tightening and rejuvenating treatment.
Breast Lift
Your breasts change a lot after becoming a mom as they tend to swell in size due to hormones and weight gain during pregnancy. The glands that increase your breast size during pregnancy and breastfeeding shrink inward, meaning you lose that fullness.
The skin of your breasts stretches from the rapid increase in volume and weight and might not snap back once you have reverted to a smaller cup size. The more times that you go through pregnancy and breastfeeding, the harder it will be for your breasts to recover.
This is why many will include breast lift surgery in a mommy makeover. A breast lift deals with the excess skin around the breast and moves it to a higher position. It can also reshape the breast, reduce the size of the areola and improve any pre-existing asymmetry.
Breast Augmentation
A breast lift can improve the height and position of your breasts, but it won’t restore the volume. If you want your mommy makeover to do that, you should consider adding breast augmentation to the combination of surgeries. We offer Mississauga breast augmentation treatments to enhance the shape and the volume of breasts, either through implants or fat transfer.
Breast augmentations are popular choices for mommy makeovers as they give moms the opportunity to restore the fullness of their breasts to their pre-pregnancy state.
Breast Implants:
You can choose between two types of implants: saline implants and cohesive silicone gel implants. Saline implants are filled with a saline solution (salt water), require smaller incisions during surgery, and they often cost less than silicone implants. Silicone gel implants typically look more natural and feel softer than their saline counterparts.
The implant material isn’t the only factor you should consider when planning breast augmentation. You should also think about the following:
- Implant volume (how many CCs you want)
- Implant shape (round or teardrop)
- Implant placement (above or below pectoral muscles)
- Location of surgical incisions (around the nipple, under the breast or under the arm)
Fat Transfer:
Inserting breast implants is not the only way to perform an augmentation mammoplasty (breast augmentation). You can also enhance the size and fullness of your breasts through a fat transfer. A surgeon extracts fat through liposuction from another part of the body (for example, your thighs) and then injects that fat into your breasts.
Fat transfers provide natural-looking results. They also give patients the opportunity to deal with two goals at once (fat removal and breast enhancement). Breast augmentation through fat transfer is an ideal option for women looking for a small size increase. If you’re hoping for a significant change in size, breast implants may be a better choice.
Labiaplasty
Childbirth can have a significant impact on your genitalia, especially when you deliver vaginally. These vaginal changes vary from woman to woman. Some find that their vagina is wider than before, while others find that their pelvic floor is weaker, which leads to urinary incontinence. Some even find that their labia look different, or their vaginal folds are longer, sagging or very asymmetrical after giving birth.
Women who are upset about having larger labia can turn to labiaplasty (vaginal rejuvenation) to improve the look and feel of their genitalia. The surgical procedure removes excess skin from the labia minora (inner folds) and then shapes them to be symmetrical to the labia majora (outer lips).
Adding labiaplasty to your Mommy Makeover can do more than improve how you feel about your vagina. It can reduce or eliminate the following problems that longer labia can cause:
- Physical discomfort
- Pain with sexual intercourse
- Friction when exercising
- Irritation after urinating
- Difficulty wearing certain types of clothes
GraceMed offers labiaplasty in the Toronto area at our North York clinic for those looking to incorporate this surgery into their Mommy Makeover.
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Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL)
A Brazilian Butt Lift is a fat transfer procedure where a surgeon removes fatty tissue from areas like the thighs, back, abdomen and hips and then injects that into the buttocks. Not only will this enhance the size and shape of the buttocks, but it will also slim down and contour the surrounding areas. This can help patients achieve a curvier, hourglass figure.
Pregnancy can change the shape and look of your buttocks and give you what’s sometimes called “mom butt.” Several factors contribute to this. Pregnant women tend to jut their hips and lumbar spine forward to accommodate the weight of their belly. This positioning makes your glutes inactive, which results in loss of mass and tone. Your hips widen during pregnancy to prepare for childbirth, which can shift the muscle and tissue in your buttocks. And finally, many women have trouble keeping active throughout their pregnancy — let alone the early months of motherhood. This can take a toll on the strength and definition of the buttocks.
If you want to enhance the size and shape of your buttocks, you should consider a BBL in your mommy makeover. We offer Brazilian Butt Lifts in Mississauga and North York.
Mommy Makeovers at GraceMed Clinics
Mommy makeovers are extremely personal procedures and what’s included in a mommy makeover all depends on the patient. You might want something different than what another mom wants.
Talk to your surgeon about your goals during your consultation and see what plan you can build together! You can also book a consultation at our clinics in Burlington and North York.
