Mommy makeover combines cosmetic procedures, offering a wide range of benefits to women after pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing. In addition to physical changes, a mommy makeover improves a woman’s self-esteem by eliminating body shaming and other insecurities.
Mommy makeover requires you to prepare for the procedure and follow the pre and postoperative guidelines to achieve your desired results. Today’s article will answer: how to prepare for a mommy makeover? Read on!
Tips for the Surgery Day
There are a few things to consider before undergoing the procedure. Your health provider will perform thorough medical evaluations and lab tests to ensure you are the right candidate for the procedure.
Make sure you adjust your current medications and stop smoking cigarettes and heavy alcohol consumption because these can hinder the procedure. In addition, you must stop taking herbal supplements and anti-inflammatory drugs to reduce the risk of bleeding.
Avoid drinking or eating for at least eight hours before the procedure on the day of surgery. Make sure your body is well-rested the night before the surgery. You can take a shower to wash and clean your body and hair, particularly the area where the surgeon will perform the procedure.
Besides, avoid wearing contact lenses, jewelry, moisturizers, and makeup on the day of surgery. Wear loose and comfortable clothes to ensure everything goes smoothly. We recommend wearing clothes with buttons in the front.
Postoperative Instructions for Mommy Makeover
A mommy makeover is an effective outpatient surgical procedure, allowing you to restore your body’s shape and volume. You can go home the same day after the procedure. Your health provider will ensure you wear appropriate compression clothes or garments to stay comfortable.
Your doctor/surgeon will also prescribe medication for inflammation and pain management. Here are a few instructions you need to follow during the postoperative or rehabilitation period. Keep reading!
Night of Surgery
Mommy makeover involves various procedures, such as breast augmentation and abdominoplasty. For instance, abdominoplasty requires the surgeon to remove abdominal skin to tighten the muscles. Therefore, you will have problems standing up for at least one or two weeks.
So, staying comfortable the night after surgery is essential. After a mommy makeover, the patient’s most significant challenge is to sleep in a better position. Use a pillow or two under your knees to sleep comfortably. Make sure you take shorter walks before going to bed to prevent the risk of blood clots.
Medications
Your health provider will give you prescription pain medications depending on your body’s swelling/inflammation or pain intensity. You may take more than one drug to meet your specific needs and reduce inflammation or discomfort in your breast, abdomen, back, or hips.
Postoperative medications, such as anti-inflammatory Celebrex, muscle relaxants, Valium, and tramadol are excellent options to reduce complications, including inflammation and pain.
However, you must follow your health provider’s instructions and take medications as prescribed. Moreover, you can use traditional methods, such as ice therapy, to decrease swelling in your body.
Nutrition
Mommy makeover is a complicated procedure and requires meticulous postoperative care. Focus on a healthy and balanced diet and include food rich in essential nutrients, such as proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, to speed up the healing process and reduce the risk of infections. We recommend veggies, fruits, lean proteins, whole grains, and yogurt.
Your tissues will regenerate after a mommy makeover, meaning the affected area require proteins to build up cells and tissues optimally. Focus on protein sources like fish, eggs, pork, red meat, and poultry. Dairy products, such as milk and plant proteins from beans can also speed up tissue regeneration.
Besides, you can eat nuts and grains to optimize zinc levels in your blood and body. Remember, zinc is an essential nutrient that plays a critical role in generating and maintaining new cells.
Moreover, drink plenty of liquids, including water and fruit juices, to flush out toxins from your body. The more your drink water, the less you will experience side effects from pain medications.
Activity after Mommy makeover
Mommy makeover surgical procedures, such as tummy tucks, are complicated and uncomfortable, leading to severe discomfort and pain during the first two to three weeks after the procedure. That’s why it is crucial to avoid strenuous activities and heavy exercise for at least four to six weeks.
However, you can resume lighter activities, such as taking shorter walks throughout the day to increase blood circulation and reduce inflammation. Remember, exercising too soon after the procedure can delay the rehabilitation process and prolong inflammation.
You can resume your day-to-day exercise routine after your health provider permits you. Again, following your health provider’s instructions during the postoperative or recovery period is the key to success.
Bathing
Taking a cool shower 24 hours after the procedure is a helpful way to prevent bacterial accumulation on your skin. If you can’t take a shower, make sure to give your body a sponge bath to maintain hygiene.
Use a shower chair to run the water gently to avoid complications. Always wear your binder and bra after drying your body and placing gauze over the wound. Avoid using hot water because it can increase inflammation. Instead, you can use cool or lukewarm water to optimize the process.
Do not put water on body areas with clips, casts, stitches, and dressings. Use a plastic bag or waterproof covering to prevent water from contacting or penetrating the skin. However, you can remove your dressing before taking a shower if your health provider permits.
How to Take Care of Your Incisions
Taking care of your incisions after a mommy makeover is one of the challenges women face. For instance, if your incision has a strip of tape, make sure you don’t remove it. Most health professionals recommend leaving the tape for a week until it falls off.
Anyway, use warm, soapy water to wash the area daily. Avoid using alcohol or hydrogen peroxide to prevent damage to the incisions. These cleaning agents can delay the healing process. Once you have cleaned the area, dry it appropriately according to your health provider’s instructions.
You can use a gauze bandage to cover the incision. That way, you can prevent it from weeping or rubbing against your clothes. Follow the doctor’s instructions to take care of the drain tubes placed under your skin to prevent fluid accumulation.
Sunlight is the enemy of incision marks on your body. Therefore, keep your incision out of direct sunlight, meaning you have to avoid exposing your incision to sunrays before your body has completely healed.
Otherwise, the ultraviolet rays from the sun will damage your incisions, fade your skin color, and lead to scar darkening. So, if you want to achieve your desired results, follow the doctor’s guidelines and avoid sunlight for a few days.
What to Expect after Mommy makeover
Mommy makeover is an effective procedure and leads to optimal results if you take care of your body during rehabilitation. However, you may experience mild to moderate soreness, inflammation, swelling, and pain for a few weeks or months, depending on the procedure you have for the surgery.
Therefore, you must seek support from your family members to speed up the recovery process and streamline the aftercare. Make sure you avoid lifting heavy weights and be careful when cuddling with your children. You can also hire a home health nurse if your family members are busy.
Post Mommy Makeover Supply checklist
Your health provider will give you a complete list of supplies you need for mommy makeover rehabilitation during your preoperative visit. Make sure you focus on the following supplies to streamline the entire process and reduce the risk of complications.
- Compression Garments: use medical quality compression clothes, including surgical bras
- Medications: Use anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, muscle relaxants, and ointments based on your doctor’s instructions
- First-aid Supplies: Invest in dressings, bandages, gauze, and sponges to ensure proper and regular dressings. Other things you need are:
- Toilet seats and stool softeners
- Traction socks
- Water bottles
- Cleansing wipes
- Dry shampoos
- Wearable ice packs
- Reusable straws
- Comfortable shoes
What You Can’t Do
There are certain things and activities you can use or do during the rehabilitation period. Hiring a health nurse is an excellent way to monitor bruising and swelling after the procedure. Although these adverse effects are part of a healing process, make sure you follow the guidelines to optimize the process.
Avoid exercising too soon after the procedure to reduce complications. Otherwise, you may experience prolonged swelling, implant rupture or displacement, pulled-out sutures, infection, and slowed healing. All this translates to undesired cosmetic results.
Moreover, you must avoid a salty and sugary diet, alcohol consumption, caffeinated beverages, and refined carbohydrates for at least four to five weeks. Avoid using smartphones and other electronic devices to prevent eyestrain and melatonin disruption. That way, you can get proper sleep at night.
Signs that You Should See a Doctor
If your medication does not reduce pain, make sure you call your doctor immediately. In addition, loosen stitches and opened incisions are other signs you need to seek help. Call your doctor and schedule an early appointment if you have bleeding from the incision, infection, increased pain, redness, warmth, inflammation, red streaks or pus draining from the incision.
Deep vein thrombosis is a condition characterized by blood clots in your legs, causing discomfort and pain in your calf, groin, thigh, and backside of the knee. Call your health provider immediately if you notice these symptoms or observe redness and swelling in your groin or leg and have a fever.
Final Words
Mommy makeover is a sophisticated procedure, whether you want to undergo liposuction, breast augmentation, tummy tuck, or a combination of these procedures. It can lead to better cosmetic results, making you feel confident about your skin.
Make sure you choose a qualified cosmetic surgeon and follow all the procedures before surgery. Likewise, following your doctor’s postoperative instructions will reduce discomfort/pain and speed up the recovery process.
