Dr. Cory Goldberg walks through what a mommy makeover includes: tummy tuck, liposuction, mini tummy tuck, and breast work like lifts or implants. It's for people who want to restore their body after having kids.
Mommy makeover is a term that's been applied to some combination of body contouring, usually in the tummy area, and breast enhancement applied to patients who have had children in the tummy area. The most common thing is separation of muscles, extra fat, and extra skin. Generally speaking, I recommend tummy tuck to address all of those issues. Having said that, sometimes patients come to me and don't have a lot of extra skin and don't have a separation of the muscles, and as such, they are good candidates for having a liposuction instead. Liposuction can be performed on patients who don't have the extra skin, don't have the stretch marks that they might want to get rid of, and don't have the separation of the muscle. Liposuction can be done on the tummy and sides as well. And so that's another possible option for body contouring in a mommy makeover. I usually make a recommendation to the patient based on which I think is necessary. There's also an option of something called a mini tummy tuck. A mini tummy tuck is a shorter incision, but has a much less impact on the amount of extra skin and is only applicable to patients who have a small amount of skin and only on the lower portion of their tummy. I'm very cautious about who I recommend this to, and oftentimes patients will ask me for a mini tummy tuck and I'll refuse and recommend a full tummy tuck in order to achieve optimal results. Performing a mini tummy tuck on a bad candidate would result in a poor result and an unhappy patient. With regards to breasts and mommy makeovers, I usually recommend either breast lift, breast implants, or the combination of the two. A breast lift can reduce extra skin, lift the nipple up higher, while a breast implant can restore volume fullness in the upper part of the breast. And the combination of the two offers all of those benefits. Sometimes it's possible to do just a breast augmentation, which involves just putting in a breast implant. So that implant could be saline or silicone gel and can be put in through a variety of incisions, although most commonly it's done from under the breast. I only recommend this to patients who don't have extra skin and don't require any movement of the nipple, because if those things are necessary, a breast lift would be required and a breast implant alone would not be appropriate.
