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Mommy Makeover is a compilation of surgeries often done at the same time which rejuvenates the post pregnancy body, improves one’s self-esteem, and eliminates those debilitating insecurities which prevent many women who have had children from feeling comfortable with their bodies. Pregnancy changes many women’s bodies from that of a young woman to that of an old woman almost overnight.  All young women love their grandmothers, they just don’t want to look like them.

What does pregnancy do to a young woman’s body?

1. The skin of the abdomen gets stretched out.  The skin itself often has stretch marks on it. The abdominal muscles, which normally go straight up and down the abdomen, now become separated, allowing one’s bowels to come forward and cause a pooch.  Since all the skin of the abdomen is stretched out, the vulva tends to move downward which leads, at times, to urinary track incontinence – you laugh, you pee, you cough, you pee.
2. Breasts either shrink up or stretch out.
3. Pregnancy often deposits fat in unusual places that never were fat prior to the pregnancy.
4. The internal labia of the vagina often gets stretched out as does the vaginal opening.
5. Melasma (the mask of pregnancy) often develops in various locations on a woman’s face after delivering children.

What can be done to correct (rejuvenate the post preganancy female?
The Mommy Makeover.

1. Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) tightens the abdominal muscles, gets rid of excess skin, and pulls the vulva back up where it belongs.
2. Breast Augmentations, Breast Lifts (with or without implants) correct the small or stretched out breasts of the post pregnancy female body.
3. Liposuction, sometimes associated with skin resections, can get rid of unwanted fat in thighs, back, knees, and hips.
4. Labiaplasty, especially of the Wedge Resection type, can rejuvenate the appearance of the vagina and also tighten the opening.
5. Melasma Cream available in my Oahu and Kona offices has shown a high success rate at treating the mask of pregnancy.

Most young women are unprepared for the physical changes that occur to their bodies after pregnancy. As I remember from my high school classes in human sexuality, we were all taught about male and female anatomy, about intercourse, and about the fact that it led to pregnancy and some of the bodily changes that would occur during pregnancy.  However, neither I nor any of the females in my class were ever told about the post pregnancy female bodies, what they would have to learn to live with, and some of the emotions they would have to deal with associated with these bodily changes.  As a man, I can only imagine how women feel about the anatomic changes that occur so quickly and may, in fact, be permanent. Some very fortunate women have no long term changes after the first pregnancy. Very few women can have two pregnancies and still have their pre-pregnancy anatomy. However, after three pregnancies, the changes listed above are certainly permanent unless and until plastic surgical intervention.