Post Baby Belly

Body Contouring and Correction

The right body procedure for you depends on what issues you have and where they are. The three basic factors are fat, muscle separation, and skin tone.

Everyone hears about watching weight gain with pregnancy. I do think there is a correlation between gaining more than just “baby weight” and having a higher permanent weight after pregnancy. I hear many women say, “After my children I went back to exercising and eating well. I just can’t lose the last 10 pounds.” For many of these women, surgery can help them regain their pre-pregnancy baseline.

Another issue after having children is loosening of the abdominal muscles. The muscle loosening, called diastasis, happens along the center of the abdomen. It is the reason you can’t “suck it in” as tightly as you used to before pregnancy. You may notice your belly is flat when you lay down, but pooches out when you stand up or after a large meal.

• Some of this muscle loosening can be corrected with sit-ups and other abdominal exercise. If you haven’t tried to focus on your core, do so. Pilates, sit ups, and the barre courses are good places to start.
• For many the separation can’t be fixed no matter how many sit ups you do, as the muscles are not touching. During a tummy tuck I corset these muscles back together.
• Insurance may cover part of your surgery if your diastasis is severe. These are women who look six months pregnant all the time.
• You may have an actual hernia particularly in the belly button which accompanies the diastasis, where a hole in the abdominal fascia exists. We fix hernias frequently when doing a tummy tuck.

The degree of skin loosening depends on genetic skin tone, how big you got, how many times you’ve been pregnant, and other factors. This results in hanging skin, stretch-marks, or just stretchy loose skin. Many call the loose skin “the muffin top.” It is the annoying skin hanging over the waist of your jeans, even though your jeans are not too tight. This happens in thin women as well as more full-figured ones. The issue is one of poor skin tone. As you age, particularly in perimenopause, your skin elasticity worsens. Unfortunately there is no cream or exercise to improve skin tone or elasticity. The only way we currently have to tighten skin is to cut away the excess.