Pregnancy Changes

Pregnancy Permanent Changes

Pregnancy Changes the Body Forever

During pregnancy extra skin must be made to cover the added volume of the baby and breast milk. After pregnancy and nursing run their course, the extra skin will not go away with dieting or exercise alone. The extra skin that remains behind always causes permanent sagging of the breasts and abdomen. The amount of sagging of these areas depend on a variety of factors including: weight gain during pregnancy, number of children, height of the mother,difficulty of labor, tightness of fascia, etc.

The body’s figure is maintained by fascia, not muscle. Fascia is neither fat or muscle-but the strong fibrous tissue that is responsible for the body’s shape. During pregnancy fascia is permanently loosened (by hormones) to make room for the baby. After pregnancy,fascia is designed to stay permanently loose, to allow the stomach to become double-sized, so the mother can eat for herself and the baby.

Weakened fascia causes the “halo” of the abdomen seen after pregnancy. Diet, exercise, laser tightening and liposuction will not tighten fascia. Only surgical tightening will re-tighten fascia.

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Case 2: The lady shown here had a first trimester miscarriage. Notice that even during the first trimester, the body makes enough excess skin in anticipation of the baby and milk. Dieting, exercise and liposuction alone will not remove the excess skin of pregnancy. Also, even after a first trimester miscarriage, the fascia is loose to make room for the baby.

  • This patient had a Mommy Makeover with silicone implants: Tummy tuck($5,000), liposuction abdomen, flanks, love handles ($2,500) and silicone implants ($7,500). A simultaneous hysterectomy was required, which was paid by her insurance.

  • Total cost of this Mommy Makeover is $15,000 because silicone implants were used. This patient’s Mommy Makeover was $2,000 more than case 1 because of her choice of silicone implants. Silicone implants look the same as saline, but feel different and cost $2,000 more than saline.