Congratulations on achieving your goal, whether it is having a baby or getting back to a manageable weight.

As you have discovered, having babies or substantial weight loss, can take a toll on your body, particularly on the abdomen and breasts. Helping patients regain their pre-pregnancy body or a tighter shape is an area of particular interest for me. Time, gravity, and life have resulted in patients, both men and women from their 30s to early 60s, who present with empty sagging breast tissue and skin folds on the abdomen, buttock, inner thighs, and upper arms. This results from the loss of tone or elasticity from the skin and muscle deterioration either after having babies, especially at an older age, or from the drive to lose weight. It is nevertheless important for our health to avoid obesity when we are facing mid life with excess weight. The body has less chance to repair or spring back as we age and some clients consider the surgical options to help regain their confidence.

Breasts
Post-pregnancy surgery should not be done until you have allowed time for your body to fully recover and ideally have stopped having babies. It is amazing to see what time, exercise and healthy habits can do to improve things, and running around after a baby can keep you active. However, many women who have breastfed or who have had a substantial weight loss will have breasts vastly different to the ones they had pre-baby or pre diet, where the breasts present as empty pockets, either flattened, elongated or drooping downwards.

Breast augmentation is the ideal choice for this situation. Implants are a great way to return volume to the breasts as they provide fullness at the top and underneath, giving the effect of a lift and a greater degree of tone to the breast. In some cases, a breast implant may not correct the drooping by itself. We may need to do a breast lift, or mastopexy to tighten the skin and breast tissue. Some scarring will be evident either around the areola or from the base of the breast to the areola in a lollipop shape.

Abdomen
The other issue that worries patients after weight loss and after having children is loosening of the abdominal skin and muscles. Some loosening can be corrected with sit-ups and other abdominal exercise, however some cannot be corrected without surgery. The degree of skin loosening depends on genetic skin tone, how big you became and the speed of weight loss, how many times you’ve been pregnant, and other factors. These can result in hanging skin, stretch marks, or just stretched loose skin. This is because the fascia (tissue holding the muscles, particularly the muscles of the abdomen) has been stretched. No amount of exercise or sit-ups will return this skin to normal.
Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck) and mini-abdominoplasty offer solutions to each of these problems. This procedure realigns the tissues and muscle, securing them in place before trimming the excess skin. This can be combined with liposuction of fat deposits in localised areas to give a better overall contour.

Full Body / Thighs / Buttocks
In the case of extreme weight loss, a body lift procedure combines a tummy tuck and outer thigh/buttock lift to create a circumferential tightening of skin for people who have loose skin all around the body. These larger operations do have resulting scars which are discussed at length at the consultation with your surgeon, along with the risks of surgery. Patients can then realistically weigh up what they are prepared to live with for the benefit of looking better in their clothes and the feeling of a firmer physique.

Upper Arms
Excessive, flabby skin underneath the upper arm is a real problem area for many people, and is almost impossible to tone with exercise. Due to rapid weight loss or ageing, it is a cause of much self consciousness, for women in particular. Arm lift, also known as Brachioplasty, involves removing excessive skin and tissue and tightening the skin of the upper arms. Scarring will be visible under the arm, but the extent depends upon individual skin elasticity and size of the incisions.

For many, surgery is an option that allows them to reclaim their body after having babies or working so hard with weight loss. The benefits to self-esteem and sexuality can be great.
As this is elective surgery, it should only be done safely. With some larger surgeries an overnight stay is recommended, and for some a two-stage procedure may be necessary. There can also be some medical tests required pre-surgery particularly if you have health concerns.
My goal is to help you evaluate your choices and we will determine your best option together.