Cosmetic Surgery Procedures After Pregnancy

Question:
What kind of cosmetic procedures are best for me after a pregnancy?

Answer:
Everyone is an individual and must be evaluated in person; however, many women have deflated and saggy breasts after breastfeeding. Breast augmentation for Fresno-area women can restore the original contours or even create a contour that the patient enjoyed during her breastfeeding days. Many times, no cutting is necessary on the skin of the breast, and the implant can be inserted through the bellybutton without cutting the surface breast tissue to any significant degree or disturbing the nerves to the breast.

Most implants are inserted under the pectoralis muscle. They do well because there is a natural drainage of any slight bleeding into the fat of the abdomen rather than the blood staying in the area around the implant. This bruising on the abdomen rather that around the implant helps decrease the chance of scarring around the implant (capsular contracture). This scarring around the implant can make an implant quite firm and sometimes even painful, but a qualified surgeon will be able to explain what techniques he or she will use to minimize this risk.
For more information, please visit my Los Angeles cosmetic surgery website

Another common procedure performed after pregnancy is liposuction. This procedure is very helpful for women who have exercised enough and have had good enough muscle tone of their abdomen. Skin sagging that occurred after the baby was born can often be improved with liposuction alone if it is not too extreme. The liposuction disrupts the skin tissues underneath the surface, which causes them to contract. As surgeons know, skin contraction occurs in every direction for several weeks after any injury and sometimes for longer. In the case of liposuction the damage is minimal and internal, and the skin is allowed to contract back towards the muscle wall. In the best case, smooth, tighter, natural-looking skin can be produced by liposuction alone.

For those women whose muscle walls do not recover from the stretch of having that extra 20 to 30 pounds of baby and baby support system, muscle wall tightening can be performed. The “ Los Angeles tummy tuck” consists of making an incision from hip to hip and then making a passageway right next to the muscle all the way up to the ribs. In this passageway, the muscle wall is sewn to itself in a sort of pleating process which tightens the muscle. Then the skin is pulled down, extra skin is trimmed away, a new bellybutton is shaped, and the skin is sewn along the lower abdomen. Unfortunately, this method does produce long scars. Also, unless great care is exercised, some of the belly buttons are not very natural-looking. However, a qualified Fresno area cosmetic surgeon should be able to create a result that looks and feels natural.

Another way to tighten the muscle wall - if the skin is not tremendously loose - is to do it through the bellybutton. In this method, a bit of liposuction might be performed on the front of the abdomen, and then a little circular cut is made around the bellybutton. After this, passageways are made in the midline above and below the bellybutton and again the muscle covering is stitched to itself with permanent sutures. This procedure cannot tighten the skin, but the skin often will shrink fairly well later on if the muscle wall is tightened. This avoids the long scar of the tummy tuck, but again care must be taken with the bellybutton or unnatural bellybuttons with scarring right on the surface can result.

Please visit my liposuction Los Angeles website for before and after photos and information about these and other cosmetic surgery procedures.