Women everywhere know the physical toll a pregnancy can have on the body. Carrying a child for 9 months and breastfeeding can lead to a variety of physical changes, most of which will remain with the mother for the rest of her life. Dr. Simeon Wall Jr., of Shreveport, Louisiana discusses the “Mommy Makeover” and how it can positively rebound a mother’s body back to where it used to be.
The Effects of Pregnancy on the Body
The creation of a child is a beautiful, miraculous event for every mother. With such a powerful experience comes a physical toll that can forever change the physique of a woman. Pregnancy can lead to stretch marks, sagging skin around the midsection and loose, deflated breasts. While diet and exercise will return women back to their original weight and strength capacities, these cosmetic issues will remain in place due to the way the body changed to accommodate a child. Stretched muscles in the midsection may remain that way even after diet and exercise, leaving the midsection and love handle regions relatively untouched. Without a surgical procedure, a woman’s figure may never return to what it was before pregnancy.
Lipo/Tummy Tuck before and after
The Mommy Makeover
Patients looking to correct issues from pregnancy have plastic surgery options; notably a group of procedures known collectively as a “Mommy Makeover.” The Mommy Makeover involves any combination of breast augmentation, breast lift, tummy tuck, butt lift and liposuction procedures. The idea of the mommy makeover is to perform these procedures in one surgery setting. It’s geared to the woman who has done everything in her power to bring her body back to the way it looked before pregnancy, but are still struggling with certain areas.
How to Deal with the Fright of Major Surgery
Dr. Wall is committed to informing his patients about the entirety of a procedure, from possible complications to pain tolerance. When it comes to the Mommy Makeover, he begins by reassuring patients that, “the procedure is not without discomfort, but that’s where it ends. Even though it’s major surgery, we have powerful tools to ensure patients deal only with some discomfort, as opposed to full blown pain.”
Specifically, a new medicine called Exparel is utilized by many board certified plastic surgeons, including Wall, to further eliminate pain felt by mothers recovering from a Mommy Makeover. “When patients ask about the pain prior to a procedure, I tell them not to expect pain, but a discomfort very similar to the one felt a few days after a really hard work out. Your body will be sore and uncomfortable, but strict pain will not be present.”
With the use of Exparel, surgeons are able to target specific areas where pain receptors will be most responsive to the procedure. The medicine lasts from 3 to 5 days, by which time the patient will already have recovered beyond the point of post-operative pain. In addition to blocking pain, Exparel is also adept at reducing muscular reactions that can cause a ripple of pain through recovering patients. The medicine greatly reduces the ability of muscles to “fire”, allowing patients who may accidentally twist or sit up quickly to not feel a flash of pain from involuntary muscle reactions. By the time Exparel begins to wear off, the areas affected are already well on their way to recovery.
Is the procedure worth it?
The answer is a resounding YES! “The vast majority of my patients are too frightened to wear bikinis, or go to the beach due to the affects of pregnancy,” says Wall. “Even after I explain the procedures and their positive outcomes, patients still believe, even with a completely successful surgery, that they will never be in the position to do the things they used to do. There is nothing better than to talk to a patient months after the procedure and hear them say, ‘Dr. Wall, I’ve been in a bikini, at the beach, at the pool and I feel great!’ This is the case with the vast majority of Mommy Makeover procedures; a restoration of self-confidence.”