Medically reviewed by Dr. John Rosdeutscher – Written by Sine Thieme
When it comes to mommy makeovers, it’s easier to classify them by its various components rather than different types.
There are two main areas of a woman’s body typically worked on during a mommy makeover: The abdomen (tummy), and the breasts. For each of these areas, there are three treatment components to choose from, for a total of six components of a mommy makeover. While it’s unlikely you’ll have all six components, you may end up with 2, 3, or 4 of them – performed all together or on separate dates.
Components of a Mommy Makeover
Abdomen Area Components
- Tummy tuck (surgical)
- Liposuction (minimally-invasive)
- Skin tightening (minimally-invasive)
Breast Area Components
- Breast augmentation (surgical or minimally-invasive)
- Breast lift (surgical)
- Breast reduction (surgical)
Shaping Your Abdomen With a Mommy Makeover
Tummy Tuck
A tummy tuck is the most popular alternative to shape the abdomen as part of a mommy makeover. It yields instant results and is the most effective way to get rid of fat and sagging skin. For patients with a BMI between 30 and 35, a tummy tuck is often the only option to return the figure back to its pre-pregnancy shape.
Liposuction
Liposuction is less invasive than a tummy tuck and may be enough for women with a BMI under 30 who just need to remove smaller pockets of fat resistant to diet and exercise. It works particularly well for younger candidates with elastic skin that will shrink back easily to its pre-pregnancy shape.
Liposuction is often combined with a tummy tuck to achieve both a reduction of excess skin and fat removal in adjoining areas.
Skin Tightening
The latest in radio frequency assisted lipolysis (RFAL) technology allows for a degree of skin contraction previously only seen with surgical procedures like a tummy tuck. If combined with liposuction, it can achieve results that are close to a tummy tuck but without the surgery. It can also be added to a tummy tuck in adjoining areas like bra bulges, hips, or arms to achieve a younger and slimmer look for the entire body.
Shaping Your Breasts With a Mommy Makeover
Breast Augmentation
A breast augmentation is one of the most popular components of a mommy makeover to return a woman’s breasts to their pre-pregnancy shape, or perhaps enhance them even more. In most cases, the breasts are augmented (enlarged) with the help of implants that are surgically placed under the muscle or skin. These implants can be filed with saline or silicone.
Breasts can also be augmented/enlarged with the use of fat transfer (also called fat transfer breast augmentations). In this case, a person’s own fat is removed via minimally-invasive liposuction from the waist or hips and then injected into the breasts to increase volume. This procedure is limited to candidates with the right prerequisites – learn here if you qualify.
Breast Lift
A breast lift can be performed with or without implants. Whether you need implants in addition to a breast lift depends on the size of your breasts. This may not be intuitive, but cup size actually goes down with a breast lift, which needs to be taken into account.
Most women who go through pregnancy and/or breastfeeding will see an increase in breast volume, and then a decrease after weaning their baby. Most often, the resulting breast size is smaller than before, with more sagging. Most women, especially those who have had several children, will need a breast lift rather than implants alone for an effective mommy makeover.
Breast Reduction
Some women, especially those with larger breasts, will not see enough of a reduction in breast size after childbirth and breastfeeding to be satisfied with the shape. Also, sagging can be more pronounced for larger breast sizes. In those cases, a breast reduction may be needed for the most aesthetically pleasing mommy makeover.
Non-Surgical Mommy Makeover
The most popular combination of the above mommy makeover components is the tummy tuck/breast augmentation one, closely followed by tummy tuck/breast lift. Both of these combinations require surgical procedures.
However, if you are trying to avoid surgery, it is still possible to have a mommy makeover. In that case you would simply have liposuction on your lower and/or upper abdomen to harvest fat, and then have a fat transfer to breast procedure to inject that fat into your breasts. You could also combine skin tightening with the liposuction for improved results.
Please note that you’d have to be an ideal candidate for this combination to work. This typically means you are relatively young with elastic skin that will easily shrink back, and your breasts are already relatively pert with just a small boost in volume needed. If you are seeking a large volume increase, or if your breasts are very saggy, a fat transfer will simply not give you the results you’re looking for. And if you have lost a large volume of weight and have a lot of extra saggy skin around your abdomen, liposuction and/or skin tightening will not be enough to flatten your stomach sufficiently.
Do Mommy Makeovers Work?
Again, there aren’t really any better or worse types of mommy makeover. Which type of mommy makeover is best, or rather which combination of procedures you will need in order to achieve the makeover you’re looking for, depends on your aesthetic goals and your body type prior to the procedure.
The first step to get started on your mommy makeover journey is to inform yourself about the alternatives and to then schedule a consultation with a plastic surgeon who can advise you further.
We hope that we’ve shown you all your options for mommy makeover surgery. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions.
If you are ready to get started, use the pink button to schedule a consultation with our board-certified plastic surgeon in Nashville or Memphis.
