Mommy Makeover: Info, Photos, Rewiews, Q&A

A mommy makeover, is a combination of procedures that includes recontouring of the abdomen and the breast. Like all aesthetic surgery, your best results will be achieved when you are at a stable weight.

It is best to put off your mommy makeover until you have lost as much weight as is safe and you have maintained that stable weight for a minimum of 4 to 6 months. (Pat Pazmino, MD, FACS, Miami Plastic Surgeon)

The best thing for you to do is to get down to the desired weight that you are interested in being at. The closer you are to your goal weight the better the result will be. (Steven Wallach, MD, New York Plastic Surgeon)

There is no specific weight that we want you to lose before surgery. Obviously, with a significant amount of weight loss or weight gain the body can change dramatically.

In order to avoid revisionary surgery, I recommend you lose as much weight possible before your surgery date to achieve the best results possible. Usually mommy makeover patients use surgery as their motivator to lose the pounds post-pregnancy to have a better and safer result.

For more information, please check out before and after photos of patients on my website. Find a board certified plastic surgeon to performe your surgery to ensure the safest and best results possible. (Tom J. Pousti, MD, FACS, San Diego Plastic Surgeon)

When I operate on women for tummy tucks they usually are not at their ideal weight but are progressing in the right direction. I have the same results with women who are over weight as women who only have a few pounds to lose.

I show clients my portfolio of women sitting both before and after a tummy tuck and the results are just as dramatic. Of course, we all look good when standing up so it is important to seek photos of clients in the sitting position and less easy to hide your tummy profile. All clients need to be healthy and follow good after habits after surgery. You can also lose weight afterwards and look even better. (John Ward, MD (retired), Phoenix Plastic Surgeon)

The results of liposuction, tummy tuck and breast surgery is best when you are at or near your ideal body weight. Lose the weight first then plan the surgery, you will be more satisfied. (Samir Shureih, MD, Baltimore Plastic Surgeon)

Ideal weight for mommy makeover

My personal preference is that patients reach a stable, realistic, maintainable weight before surgery in order to get the best results.

This is best done through a healthy lifestyle that includes a good diet and regular exercise, not crash dieting.

My recommendation regarding your weight loss would depend on your specific body and bone structure, which I wouldn’t know without examining you personally.

But in general, I would say that you get to a maintainable weight before proceeding with surgery. (Deason Dunagan, MD, Huntsville Plastic Surgeon)

BMI 30 or lower for safety and best result

I understand that sometimes it can become very difficult to reach your ideal weight through diet and exercise alone. Therefore, if your BMI (Body Mass Index) is 30 or below it is often beneficial for a patient to go ahead with the surgery.

I have noticed this allows patients to feel much better about themselves and gives them that extra boost they need to continue with exercise and diet to reach their final goal. If your BMI is currently above 30 your risks increase considerably for complications as well as poor results. Your safety is number one when you should get a mommy makeover. (Renato Saltz, MD, Salt Lake City Plastic Surgeon)

In general prior to undergoing an body contouring procedure you want to be at your best/ideal weight. Once you have acheived that weight you want to be able to maintain it. Operating on a loose abdomen is far better than on heavy/obese abdomen. If you wish to have a “home run” result, lose as much weight as possible and keep it off. (Rady Rahban, MD, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon)

As all the experts state, lose weight. You want to be at least to 15 pounds above ideal weight. This will give you a must better result and aid in the healling process. (Darryl J. Blinski, MD, Miami Plastic Surgeon)

Obesity (BMI of 30 and over) is associated with sub-optimal results and higher surgical complications. While a Mommy Make Over set of operations certainly could be done such operations are associated with more complications and do not yield the results they would if you were closer to your ideal weight. (Peter A. Aldea, MD, Memphis Plastic Surgeon)

Timing mommy makeover abdominoplasty with weight loss

I follow a different school of thought. Your current weight is not so important to me as long as you are not morbidly obese and your weight has been stable for 6 or more months. The doctor needs to operate on you at your baseline because he/she cannot properly plan surgery while your body is in flux.

It is like trying to hit a moving target when you cannot guess its direction of movement or speed. If you go on a diet for surgery, lose the weight and then return to your previous habits after surgery you will ruin the result. More often than not the patient tries to lose weight to have the surgery but never gets to that desired weight.

On the other hand the improved look you get after the mommy makeover can be a major incentive for exercise and dieting because you want to keep or maintain the result of your hard work and money.

You will need liposuction at the same time but be careful about doing too much surgery at one time. Patients closer to ideal body weight can obviously have more procedures done at the same time as abdominoplasty.

Heavier patients may have to stage what they want done in terms of body contouring because safety needs to be your first priority. If you do the liposuction just before the abdominoplasty at the same surgery you can get out more of the excess skin.

Also make sure you are a year or more out from your last pregnancy and/or breast feeding before doing any cosmetic breast surgery to make sure the milk production is completely turned off. (Aaron Stone, MD, Los Angeles Plastic Surgeon)

Mommy makeover – when should I get and what’s the best weight to be at in order to have the surgery?

If you have your goal weight of 120, I would recommend getting as close to it as possible before surgery. This way, all of the excess skin will be removed and if you continue to lose weight you may have more hanging skin.

If you can’t get to 120, I would recommend waiting until your weight is stable for 3 months. Liposuction will work at most weights, but try not to use it as a weight loss treatment.

Instead, follow a good diet and exercise as this will also help you maintain your great results from your mommy makeover. (Jeffrey E. Schreiber, MD, FACS, Baltimore Plastic Surgeon)