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General Category, Tummy Tuck

A Week-By-Week Look at Tummy Tuck Recovery

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August Blog - Tummy Tuck Recovery

You’ve chosen a surgeon and done your research. You may have even scheduled your surgery. But do you know what to expect after your tummy tuck? It’s one of the most common questions I hear from my tummy tuck patients in Montreal. Let’s break down the tummy tuck recovery week by week so you can make precise plans.

If you’re normally an active person, as many of my tummy tuck patients are, it can be difficult to settle down after surgery and give yourself the rest you need. However, listening to your body—and following your surgeon’s instructions—is imperative to achieving good results and minimizing the risk of complications.

Week 1

This is the primary recuperation period and the time when slowing down and taking it easy is most important. You can expect to spend much of your surgery day napping, resting, and taking occasional short walks around the house to maintain your mobility. As the days progress, you’ll find yourself moving about more and more. Movement is important to maintain blood flow and reduce the risk of certain complications.

During the first week, pain and discomfort tend to be at their most significant. However, these symptoms are manageable with prescribed medications and activity restrictions. Tightness in the abdomen, especially near the incision, is common. This symptom will fade with time. It’s important to restrict your activities to light movements around the house. If you are using opioid medicine, it is not safe to drive. You should also avoid bending, stretching, or lifting any items more than a few pounds.

Week 2

Patients will notice their physical discomfort beginning to fade quite a bit by the second week after surgery. However, residual swelling and tightness will still be present. Maintain the activity restrictions you were given during your first week. You may be able to take short walks around the neighborhood or run simple errands, especially if you are no longer using pain medication. Depending on the type of work you do, you may be able to return to the office.

Week 3

During this time, swelling and soreness will continue to dissipate. You should have a good sense of what your ultimate results will look like, as your abdomen will be closer adopting its permanent shape by week 3. By now, you may begin engaging in very light exercises. However, it is still important to refrain from strength training and any activity that requires you to lift or strain your core muscles.

Week 4 and Beyond

You’ve reached the home stretch of your tummy tuck recuperation. By the 4th week of your recovery, it is safe to return to mild exercise, but keep strain off of your abdomen until at least 8 weeks after surgery. Keep in mind that you may have lost some strength and stamina during your recuperation period. Try to slowly ease back into your normal workout routine, listening to your body along the way.

Do you think a tummy tuck is the right choice for you? Please contact my office to learn more about the results you can expect.

 

 

Mommy Makeover©

Mommy Makeovers: How to Balance Kids and Recovery

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Recovering from cosmetic surgery can be challenging if, in addition to taking time to heal properly, you also have to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of children.

Post Surgery

The challenge becomes exponentially greater if your recovery post-surgery lasts weeks rather than days. As a patient, you owe it to yourself to know ahead of time how to do the juggling act of recovering from the surgery while ensuring that your children’s needs are adequately met.

What is a Mommy Makeover?

A mommy makeover is made up of a number of different surgical procedures that can help you to regain the figure you had before you had children. In terms of popular mommy makeover surgical procedures, the ones that most women are interested in include breast augmentation, breast lift, and tummy tuck.

Recovery Time

Since a mommy makeover will consist of numerous cosmetic surgeries, you won’t be able to get a precise idea of how long recovery will take until you consult with a professional who can factor in the various procedures and arrive at a number you can work with. If you get breast surgery, you might have to wear a surgical bra during the recovery period, and a tummy tuck procedure might necessitate that you use an abdominal binder to provide support and keep swelling in check.

While different cosmetic surgery procedures might require that you use or wear certain items, you can expect to fully recover within about a month and a half, and you may be able to get back to your regular routine within a few weeks. However, it’s important to be sure to honor your doctor’s instructions in order to avoid unnecessary complications.

Taking Care of Kids

Recovering and taking care of children is a daunting task. While you might not be able to lift up your little ones during the recovery stage, there are lots of things you can still do, such as provide emotional support to them in their daily activities. However, it is essential that you have help available and ready at all points of the day.

You’ll be unable to lift the children, bathe them, and do other tasks that take physical mobility and energy. Plan to have people you trust pick up your children from school, give them their baths, and fill in in other areas when you can’t. This takes planning ahead of time, preparing what is necessary, and having great communication with your temporary caregiver.

Also, ensure that your kids (particularly the older ones) understand the situation and realize that they may have to exert some independence during your recovery period. You might be surprised to see how responsible they are when given the chance.

You can definitely have a mommy makeover and, post-procedure, take care of your kids. With some planning and a little bit of outside help, your little ones will be well cared for while mommy recovers from her procedure!

Plastic Surgery

How Long Do Plastic Surgery Results Last?

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The cosmetic industry has picked up over the last few years. People no longer accept the effects of aging and other natural life occurrences on the body as an inevitable fact of life. Plastic surgery in Montreal offers hope to achieve something that many of us want badly –  eternal youth. But is that hope justified? We see celebrities who seem to never age, and many of them have gone under the knife. But does plastic surgery last forever? The reality is, many of these celebrities have had repeat procedures in order to maintain their good looks, because contrary to what you may want to believe, plastic surgery’s effects do not necessarily last a lifetime. It is worth looking at some of those procedures:

Plastic Surgery

Breast Enhancement

Breast enhancement is ideal for women who have completed breastfeeding. The average breast implant today lasts from 12-15 years. After that period, the implant begins to harden and replacements are required.

Breast Reduction

Women with exceedingly large breasts are good candidates for breast reduction. The ideal ages are between 18-25, or over 40. However, the effects of breast reduction are not permanent in all women. Some women may have to return for a second procedure in about 7 years.

Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck)

In this procedure, women undergo the knife to have excess belly fat removed. Women who have given birth and are not planning on having more children are the best candidates for a tummy tuck procedure. This is one procedure where the effects are permanent, but it must be maintained with a healthy lifestyle.

Cheek Enhancement

Special gels are added to the face to give the cheeks a rounder and fuller look. The best candidates are women who, after around the age of 37, have begun to lose collagen in their cheeks. These fillers usually last between 12-18 months, after which you will need to have more procedures.

Eye enhancement

Eye enhancement procedures may reverse the aging process, but the effects are temporary. Even when excess fat and tissue are removed from the eyes, your body will develop more loose skin in time due to aging. There are some eye enhancement procedures that may actually give you more wrinkles after the initial ones have been removed. However, the results vary from patient to patient, and a patient’s hereditary background plays some role. New laser treatments are also being developed to give patients an alternative to surgery.

Patients need to be aware that most procedures may last anywhere from a few months to a number of years, but eventually, they will have to return for more sessions. Also, a healthy lifestyle is important in maintaining your results.

Body Procedures

How to Choose Between a Body Lift and Tummy Tuck

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Choosing between getting a body lift and a tummy tuck is a decision Montreal patients should make in consultation with a plastic surgeon. The answer will depend on your cosmetic needs, medical history, and your budget. That said, if you want a rough guide to when most surgeons will recommend each, here are the situations for which each procedure is used:

Deciding Between Body Lift And Tummy Tuck

Tummy Tuck

Tummy tucks are the best way to contour the stomach after weight loss. In addition to removing excess skin and fat, they tighten the muscle wall, making abs permanently tighter.

A tummy tuck is most useful when weight loss is concentrated in the stomach. Concentrated weight loss tends to leave much looser skin than general weight loss. A common cliché among surgeons is that 100 lbs of weight loss over the whole body leaves less looseness than 50 lbs of weight loss in the stomach area. A tummy tuck is the least invasive way to handle extra loose skin up front. Furthermore, it can affect the appearance of the groin, bust, and lower back.

Many surgeons recommend starting with a tummy tuck and then adding more procedures if you feel you need them. This approach has its disadvantages, though. Adding surgeries, such as a thigh tuck or buttocks enhancement will require additional incisions and scars. Three surgeries will be much harder on the body than just a lower body lift. If you have multiple problem areas and know you will need to deal with them eventually, a tummy tuck is probably not your best option.

One final consideration: tummy tucks should only be done if you know you will not become pregnant again. The tight ab lines look great but can be quickly broken apart during a pregnancy. If pregnancy is on the table, a lower body lift is much safer.

Lower Body Lift

Lower body lifts are more invasive and leave more scars than tummy tucks, but are less invasive and produce less scarring than multiple surgeries. A lower body lift will tighten the skin of the stomach, back, buttocks, and thighs. It may even cause a slight firming of the bust.

Along with these benefits come additional risks. The incision for a lower body lift circles around the body, removing much more tissue than a tummy tuck. In some cases, a second incision around the lower buttocks may be needed. As with all surgery, these incisions carry risks of infection and scarring. They also cause trauma to the underlying tissue, leading to longer recovery times.

In a Nutshell

Most surgeons will recommend you start with a tummy tuck and add additional surgeries as needed. However, if you already know you want to seriously firm up your whole lower body, pursuing a lower body lift will ultimately be less of a hassle than multiple surgeries.

Body Procedures

Getting Your Pre-Baby Body Back

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Becoming a mother can have a significant impact not just on your day-to-day life but also on your body. The changes in hormones that occur during pregnancy can alter the overall shape and tone of your body, increasing skin and fat in the abdominal and thigh areas while causing breast tissue to sag and more fat to stick to the back and sides, creating unsightly love handles.

Pre-Baby Body

Thankfully, these changes do not have to be forever. Through a combination of healthy living, exercise, and cosmetic treatments, it is possible to get back your pre-baby body. The key to getting back in shape is remembering to maintain a healthy diet even when you are tired and overwhelmed.

Get up and move around when possible, and slowly work an exercise routine back into your schedule. Breastfeeding burns a lot of calories, so be sure to compensate for this when counting your calories for the day and remember to reduce your calorie consumption when you stop breastfeeding to avoid gaining excess weight.

Still, even with a healthy diet and proper exercise, it can be difficult to get your pre-pregnancy body back without help from a surgical professional. If you’re looking to get your body in perfect condition, this list provides your best options for doing so.

Mommy Makeover

One of the most popular cosmetic procedures for mothers in Montreal and around the world is the mommy makeover. This procedure combines a tummy tuck, liposuction, and breast enhancement to help mothers lose their extra fat pockets, remove sagging skin, and lift the breast tissue.

Tummy Tuck

One of the biggest complaints from recent mothers is the loss of tone and firmness in the abdominal area following childbirth. Unfortunately, this often cannot be corrected through exercise and diet alone.

A tummy tuck can help mothers achieve the results they desire. Depending on the needs of each mom and her desired recovery time, there are different variations on this procedure that can be utilized. The traditional or full abdominoplasty targets loose skin and excess fat throughout the region, while the extended tummy tuck also encompasses the region around and above the belly button.

Breast Enhancement

Hormonal changes during pregnancy and breastfeeding can also have a significant effect on the shape and firmness of a mother’s breasts, leaving them sagging and deflated looking. Depending on the desired results, a mother can choose to have her breasts lifted to reduce excess skin and remodel the breast tissue, or she can choose to get implants. Both of these options will help restore the firmness and size of the breasts but many women opt for a breast lift, a long-lasting solution to their loss of volume.

Liposuction

For stubborn fat pockets left behind by pregnancy, there is little that can be done through simple exercise and healthy eating. In fact, most women find that this fat can be even more stubborn following pregnancy than before due to changes in their hormones. Because of this, many mommy makeovers in Montreal include targeted liposuction to remove the worst offenders and create a more youthful, toned appearance.