Mommy Makeovers: Get Rid of Everything But the Baby

Predictably, the popularity of mommy makeovers has risen recently. A couple of years ago, everyone was enthusiastic about pregnancies. As if testing the water, Weather Channel meteorologists went first with their public pregnancies, then the entire celebrity body as a whole began having children. There was enthusiasm in the media about Britney Spears, Katie Holmes, Demi Moore, etc. The list went on and on, and the phenomenon became so prevalent that Maxim magazine for men ran a story on the "Hottest Moms." It even became part of the storyline of the popular movie Knocked Up.

Now, things have changed, and gotten, well, ugly. Starting with the death of Anna Nicole Smith, there's been a decided turn against motherhood in the media.

For Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, the anti-maternal propaganda focused on speculated or imagined tensions over the father's Scientology religion, but placed blame on Katie for letting him control their baby's birth and upbringing. And while Britney Spears' ill-advised partying has led the court to decide she was an unfit mother, the court of public opinion had already spoken out fiercely against her "overweight" appearance on MTV's music awards, a criticism that she has apparently taken to heart. All around, it seems that the natural consequences of pregnancy have become suddenly, horribly apparent to all those who so eagerly rushed in to meet the call of maternal duty.

Some of these consequences cannot be avoided. Once you have a baby, you have a baby to raise for the next 18 years. But some of these consequences are reversible. All those who found themselves unwittingly swept up in the mommy wave, can now be swept up by the mommy makeover wave.

In general, a woman's body suffers several major transformations during pregnancy. Her breasts swell, her abdomen expands, and she gains weight in a number of locations dependent on her personal genetics. After pregnancy, these changes, and the physical and emotional stress of child-rearing, leave their mark. A woman's breasts sag, and her stretched skin is permanently marked. She may be unable to lose the weight gained, and, even if she is, she is often left with sagging skin that is no longer sufficiently elastic to shrink back onto her restored frame.

In response to these difficulties, many plastic surgeons are offering what they call "mommy makeover" packages. These packages are a combination of body contouring to counteract the changes caused by the physical stresses of childbirth, and facial improvement to counteract the effects of the more emotional stresses.

The body contouring packages are a broad spectrum, as they have to be. For women who cannot lose their baby weight in certain areas, liposuction can provide a solution. Often, though liposuction is not enough to provide sufficient contouring, because after pregnancy many women's skin is no longer sufficiently elastic to retract even after the fat has been removed, meaning that abdominoplasties and thigh lifts may be necessary. For some women, though, the problem may be a disproportionate loss of fat, leading them to feel that they need a Brazillian butt fill to complete their figure. On the other hand, many women find the swelling of their breasts with pregnancy and breast feeding to be very positive, but afterwards find their breasts are shrunken and ptotic (sagging). For these women, breast lifts can counter the sagging, and if too much shrinking has occurred, breast augmentation is a good option.

In the facial area, there are a number of things that can be done to counteract the stereotypical "housewife horror" face. Around the eyes, a combination of eyelid surgery and fat transplantation can counteract the perpetually tired face and the dark hollows under the eyes. Botox injections can help to remove some of the frown lines and crow's feet that come from stressing over a child's first months. A facelift can counteract some of the haggard appearance around the mouth and chin. In addition, laser resurfacing can make a woman's skin look young and taut, even if they have not had enough time to properly maintain it for a year or so.

All in all, even though a woman may be committed to being a mother for the rest of her life once she has made the decision, she doesn't have to look like one.