Children are an incredible gift (except maybe during the terrible twos), but childbirth can really do a number on a woman’s body. The Mommy Makeover is a combination of procedures designed to restore your body to its pre-pregnancy state or better. The exact recipe of procedures is really going to depend on your individual needs. In general, it will involve some type of breast surgery and a tummy tuck as these are the two main areas that are affected by pregnancy. The skin and tissues can get stretched past the body’s ability to bounce back. But no one part of the body exists in isolation.

Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Bruce Van Natta approaches each Mommy Makeover from a 360° perspective. For example, improving the look of your abdomen may require trimming down the flanks with liposuction. Or, conversely, adding some fat to the upper, outer quadrant of the buttock with a little fat grafting. And let’s not forget the region south of the pubic bone. Your vagina bears a good deal of the brunt of childbirth. In terms of how things look down south, Dr. Van Natta has had great success with fat grafting the outer labia to both help restore balance and proportion aesthetically, but also functionally. When the inner labia hang too low, it can be painful especially during exercise. In fact, vaginal rejuvenation is one of the aspects of a Mommy Makeover that patients find most gratifying.

Mommy Makeover Consultation

Since there are so many different variables when it comes to a Mommy Makeover, it is vital that you be assessed in person. As a world renowned expert in breast surgery, many patients come to see Dr. Van Natta after childbirth and breast feeding complaining of sagging, deflated breasts only to realize that the breasts work in combination with the abdomen. It makes no sense to have youthful, perky breasts if the skin on your stomach is loose and floppy with stretched out ab muscles.

During your Mommy Makeover consultation, Dr. Van Natta will listen closely to what bothers you about your body. Next, he will perform a through physical exam to assess:

• the degree of ptosis or sagging in your breasts
• your skin’s elasticity or “bounce back”
• whether you have areas of excess fat
• the location and amount of sagging abdominal skin
• whether or not your abdominal muscles are also loose

Then, together, you will come up with the combination of procedures that best suits your anatomy, needs and lifestyle.

Mommy Makeover: Breast Surgery Options

There are a number of options when it comes to breast surgery and the Mommy Makeover. Many women lose volume in their breasts after breastfeeding. Your breasts are like balloons that have lost some of their air. The simplest solution for this is a breast augmentation with a breast implant or fat grafting. The latter is really only an option for those patients who desire just a small bump up in size. However, neither a breast implant or fat grafting can lift sagging skin. So, if your nipples hang below the inframammary fold or crease beneath your breasts then you are going to need a breast lift. This can be performed alone in patients who have sufficient native breast volume or in combination with a breast implant for those who don’t. And last, there are some patients who actually wind up with too much breast volume after children. For them, a breast reduction can be a transformative experience.

Mommy Makeover: Body Contouring Options

Besides the breasts, the other “hot spot” for most mothers is the abdominal area. Carrying around 25 plus pounds of baby for 9 months can stretch the skin and tissues of the abdomen to the point where they never return to “normal”, no matter how many crunches you perform or how closely you watch what you eat. An abdominoplasty, or tummy tuck, is a surgical procedure that removes excess skin and fat while also tightening the underlying muscle if necessary. The end result is a smooth, flat stomach. Dr. Van Natta will almost always combine this with some degree of liposuction. He may also take some of that fat and place it in the outer area of the buttocks. This highly personalized adding and subtracting of fat is the best way to sculpt your torso into its ideal proportion.

For those women who don’t need or want a surgical tummy tuck, Dr. Van Natta may recommend liposuction or CoolSculpting combined with the new cutting edge non-surgical skin tightening device, BodyTite™. This can deliver pretty amazing results in the right patient. However, this tends to be someone with only a mild degree of loose skin. During your initial consultation, Dr. Van Natta will be very honest about what can and cannot be achieved with each procedure. His goal is a happy patient. And the only way that you will be happy is if you have realistic expectations about your end results.

Mommy Makeover: Vaginal Rejuvenation Options

Vaginal rejuvenation is the latest component to the Mommy Makeover. And, in many ways, one of the most satisfying. Pushing a 10-pound baby through your vaginal canal can cause some lasting damage such as:

• stretched, droopy skin
• urinary stress incontinence
• inner labia that hang too low or look funny

There are both surgical and non-surgical options for correcting these issues. A labiaplasty is a surgical procedure to reduce the size and/or improve the shape of your labia. Although it’s not as frightening as it sounds, Dr. Van Natta has found that he can often improve the aesthetics down under with fat grafting to the outer labia.

So, if you are done having children yet feel as if you still look pregnant, schedule a consultation to come in and speak with Dr. Van Natta about a Mommy Makeover. Every mom deserves to look and feel her best. That includes you.

To find out more about a Mommy Makeover with Dr. Bruce Van Natta at Meridian Plastic Surgeons in Indianapolis, contact us today or call (317) 575-0330 to schedule a consultation.