“Menopause makeovers” are too. As estrogen dips, “many ladies are likely to placed on a bit of little bit of weight within the higher chest, in entrance of the armpits, and within the higher arms—there’s a thickening of the torso, even in girls who’re persevering with the identical eating regimen and train routines,” Steven Teitelbaum, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Los Angeles has instructed Attract. These sufferers might get a breast elevate or discount with liposuction across the decrease again, higher arms, and/or abdomen, except they’ve had youngsters, through which case they’d in all probability get a tummy tuck to handle extra pores and skin. Combining these procedures for a affected person who’s a decade or so older than the standard “mommy” is more and more frequent as Gen Xers expertise menopause. They’re proving way more more likely to do one thing about its bodily adjustments than previous generations, who went via menopause when each “the change” and cosmetic surgery had been extra hush-hush.
Whether or not you name them mommy makeovers or Ozempic makeovers or menopause makeovers, there’s quite a lot of curiosity round bundled cosmetic surgery in the mean time. And the sufferers we’ve spoken to are right here to fulfill it, sharing all the issues that they need somebody had instructed them earlier than they signed up for their very own specific package deal of physique surgical procedures. Right here, 13 truths of a multi-prong physique makeover that may show you how to determine if it’s best for you—and learn how to navigate the expertise.
Fact #1: You might want to separate up your surgical procedures.
A elevate right here, a tuck there—getting a number of totally different procedures accomplished on the identical time is a no brainer from a gross sales and advertising and marketing perspective. You’re already beneath anesthesia, and who wouldn’t need a one-stop-shop for restoring their pre-pregnancy physique? Financially, it is sensible, slicing down on anesthesia charges, facility charges, and time spent within the hospital or clinic. Plus, there’s all that adulting to cope with—the child care, the canine walker, the family chores. It is usually simpler to rearrange your life for a single restoration interval. Nonetheless, some folks select to depart time between the totally different surgical procedures that, when put collectively, make up a “mommy makeover.”
Kathleen G.,* age 46, had lipo—on her stomach, hips, flank, and again—a number of months earlier than getting the remainder of her mommy makeover (a breast lift and implants, and a tummy tuck). “It was an excessive amount of directly. [Otherwise,] you’re not giving your physique time to heal,” she says. “The factor that sucks with lipo is the swelling—a really uncomfortable, tight feeling. I had some numbness, too, [for about] three months.” She was relieved to have time to recuperate between procedures. Dr. Redman has another excuse why he generally advises sufferers to separate up their surgical procedures: “An excessive amount of time [under general anesthesia] will increase the chance of blood clots, infections, and problems from anesthesia.”
Your surgeon can also select to not ebook one mammoth surgical procedure as a result of they wish to ensure that they’re acting at their greatest. “I am used to doing these massive, massive procedures, so I’ve constructed up a stamina for doing that,” says Dr. Rednam. “Different folks can solely [operate for] two or three hours earlier than they begin feeling drained. It depends upon the consolation stage of the surgeon.” And naturally, there’s scheduling: Having a number of procedures directly requires an extended restoration time and generally that’s not within the playing cards. “ I took 10 days off work after my breast augmentation, and two and a half weeks off after the stomach tuck,” says Hailey H.,* age 50, of her expertise getting the 2 surgical procedures on totally different days. If she had accomplished each procedures on the identical day, she may need had a lengthier, extra painful restoration.
Fact #2: You’re going to get a brand new stomach button.
Effectively, technically, it’s the identical belly button—however it will likely be in a brand new, flatter location. Throughout a tummy tuck, the surgeon cuts across the belly button, leaving it linked to the muscle beneath. After eradicating the surplus pores and skin within the space, they create a brand new gap, “pop the stomach button again via and stitch it into place, sort of like if you happen to undid a button in your shirt, moved it down one buttonhole, after which pushed it via the following buttonhole down,” says David Shafer, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York Metropolis.