During pregnancy, your body works tirelessly to build a 9-month home for your future bundle of joy. Nature’s deepest drives reshape your mood, your energy level, your cravings — and your profile. Fat accumulates in key areas to provide a cushion for the developing baby. Breasts get larger and heavier due to milk production.
When it’s all over, you’re left with much more than a boisterous, fussy, loud and irrepressibly cute newborn: You may have also acquired excess weight, surprising new body proportions, stretched or folded skin, and deflated breasts.
The good news is that Louisville plastic surgeon Dr. Sean Maguire of the Physician’s Center for Beauty has the experience and artistic skill to turn the clock back to a time when your body was firm and your sleep was tranquil.
Restoring Proportions
Women can expect to gain 25 to 35 pounds when pregnant. Most of the added weight is fat that accumulates in the abdomen, hips, thighs, buttocks and breasts. As your stomach expands, the abdominal muscles stretch and may even separate. This loss of integrity in the abdominal wall creates a bulge that weight loss alone cannot eliminate.
Meanwhile, the skin gives way to accommodate the expanding abdomen, breaking down collagen and creating stretch marks. Once your 7- or 8-pound package has been delivered, your body will begin to lose much of the weight you gained, but fat will often stubbornly linger in areas that were once trim and fit. Rapid weight loss in the breasts may actually lead to sagging or an unwanted “pancake” look.
Nurture vs. Nature
Fortunately, nature doesn’t always have the last word. Dr. Sean Maguire of the Physician’s Center for Beauty in Louisville provides proven, comfortable and convenient answers to each of these common post-pregnancy issues. Dr. Maguire’s Mommy Makeover arsenal includes liposuction, to target specific areas of stubborn fat; abdominoplasty, or tummy tuck, to repair the abdominal wall and pare away excess folds of skin; breast lift to restore the natural profile and firmness to breasts; and a breast augmentation to add shape and volume to the breasts.
Time Will Tell
For new moms, the first step in deciding which procedure may be right for you is to focus — on your newborn, that is. Dr. Maguire recommends waiting at least 6 months after childbirth to see how much of the weight and shape of pregnancy was temporary, and how much might need a surgical solution.
If you would like to schedule a relaxed, personal consultation with Dr. Maguire, we invite you to contact the Physician’s Center for Beauty, at your convenience.
