After having two babies in the last three years, my body has changed a lot and I wasn’t feeling confident in how I looked anymore. So, after a lot of research and consideration, I decided to get a mommy makeover. Plastic surgery isn’t for everyone and I totally get that. But, it was the right decision for me. So if you want to hear more about my experience and see my answers to my most asked questions about it, read on!
What is a mommy makeover?
A mommy makeover surgery can be a combination of different procedures performed at the same time that address some of the concerns women have after childbirth. My mommy makeover consisted of the following: a tummy tuck, abdominal muscle repair, liposuction, a breast lift, and breast augmentation with silicone implants.
How did you choose your doctor? Why did you go out of state for the surgery?
I spent several months researching plastic surgeons and quickly realized that I’d likely be traveling for my surgery. There are only 3 plastic surgeons within a 60-mile radius of where I live. So, even if I chose a surgeon in Missouri, I was still probably going to have to travel a couple hours to a major city (St. Louis or Kansas City) and spend a week in a hotel near by while recovering. Once I realized that, my search range expanded to pretty much the whole country, because the cost of a hotel in Florida was comparable to one in Missouri.
I used RealSelf to research different doctors and read patients’ reviews. One of the reasons I ultimately chose my doctor was because he had a ton of positive reviews with before and after photos showing the results I could expect. He also does this type of procedure A LOT (like multiple times a week) compared to plastic surgeons I found in the midwest that might only do a couple a month. Because of this, I thought his experience made him a great choice. My surgeon is a board certified plastic surgeon (I can’t stress how important this is!!) and also has a ton of other awards, training, and certifications.
The doctor I chose was Dr. Moises Salama from Elite Plastic Surgery in Hollywood, Florida.
Visit his website here to learn more about him.
(If you end up doing an online consultation with him, let me know and I can get you an extra $250 off whatever you have done!)
How much was it?
Another reason I chose my doctor was because the pricing was much more affordable than the doctors near where I live (I’m talking at least $20,000 cheaper). The Miami area is a very competitive market- it’s considered the plastic surgery capital of the world. He runs different discounts throughout the year too so the price may fluctuate depending on when you have it done. The total price I paid for my surgery was $11,500. This was after a discount of $2,000 due to a promotion that they were running and included the cost of my surgeries, anesthesia fees, facilities fees, one post-op compression garment, and two lymphatic drainage massages. I do want to point out that there were other costs associated with the surgery including additional post-op compression garments, prescriptions, additional lymphatic drainage massages, etc. We also of course had travel costs of airfare and hotel to travel to Florida that totaled around $3,000.
I know this sounds like a lot, but when you compare it to the quotes of $30,000-$40,000 that I received from surgeons closer to home, it made the most sense for us to go this route.
What is recovery like?
Hard. Really hard. A questions I’ve been asked a lot is how does the recovery compare to childbirth? And that’s a hard question to answer since childbirth is different for every woman. I thought it’d be pretty comparable to the c-sections I had and for the most part it is, but even the two c-sections I had were very different from one another. For context, with Kennedy I labored for 28 hours then had an emergency c-section and a really difficult recovery. With Beau, I had a scheduled c-section and a much easier recovery. (Read more about both of their birth stories here) I’d say my experience recovering from the mommy makeover has been pretty similar to my experience recovering after Kennedy’s emergency c-section, but still not exactly the same given how many different areas of my body were operated on during the mommy makeover.
My breasts haven’t really ever been in pain, they’ve just felt really tight and like there’s pressure on my chest. I do feel some pain when I try using my arm/pectoral muscles, but other than that this hasn’t been a difficult part of the recovery process.
The liposuction resulted in a lot of bruising that took a little over a week to heal. During that time, I was very sore and it hurt pretty much anytime I tried to shift my body or move in a different direction. As part of recovery, I do have to wear compression garments and lipo foam for up to 3 months post-op. They are annoying and uncomfortable and restrict my movement a bit, but I’m starting to get used to them.
The tummy tuck has definitely been the most painful part of my recovery. It takes several weeks before you can even stand up fully straight or walk normal due to the tightness of the skin in your abdominal region. You also have to sleep sitting up which can be extremely annoying. Because of all of this, I’ve also had back pain from the hunched over way that I’m walking, so add that to this list of inconveniences.
I’m currently two weeks post-op and I’ve made a lot of progress since I came out of surgery. On the day after surgery, I couldn’t even take two steps without my husband holding my hand and guiding me. I needed help doing practically everything and had to rest a lot because of how exhausted I was those first few days. Now, I’m able to get in and out of bed by myself. I’m able to walk around the house on my own (although I’m still not fully upright). I can go to the bathroom by myself and do other little tasks like make food for myself. I’m still spending most of the day sitting down while working and am still trying to get my energy levels back up. I’ll try to remember to come back in a few weeks and give another update on recovery progress.
Can we see before and after pictures?
Not yet. Or maybe ever haha.
Since I’m still recovering, I’m still pretty swollen so my real results haven’t necessarily kicked in yet (the swelling doesn’t fully go away until around 6 months post-op). I did take some before photos in shorts and a sports bra the night before surgery, but sharing those requires a lot of vulnerability that I don’t know if I’m ready for. However, I do know that seeing real people’s results is what finally convinced me to go through with this. So I’m still undecided on whether or not I’ll share my before and afters in a few months. Stay tuned!
That’s all for now! Let me know in the comments of this post if you’ve ever considered a mommy makeover surgery or if you have any other questions!
