July 2021 - Krummen Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery

Unique Challenges You May Need to Manage After Your Mommy Makeover

Moms often seem to do it all. They can juggle a home as well as multiple kids while also studying, working, or maintaining their social connections. This is so often seen as the norm that women who visit a plastic surgeon to discuss a Mommy Makeover forget to consider how their normal day-to-day life may be impacted. Here, we discuss the unique challenges that patients with younger children may face after their cosmetic surgery.

Surgical Recovery: An Extended Timeline

When a patient has a single procedure, such as breast augmentation, they generally expect to be back to work and engaged in the majority of their normal activities after two weeks. The same may be true for a patient who has liposuction or a facelift. The magic of a Mommy Makeover, though, is that the surgeon customizes multiple techniques into a single surgery. Doing so achieves maximum results with just one recovery period. What we don’t see is how that recovery period could be extended. This is especially true when abdominoplasty is involved and doubly true when abdominoplasty repairs muscle separation. Women who want to restore their shape through a Mommy Makeover are in good hands with Cincinnati plastic surgeon Dr. Donna Krummen. Here, we discuss all facets of treatment, including how to plan accordingly for a smooth recovery.

Restrictions After a Mommy Makeover

All surgical patients expect some activity restrictions after their procedures. For the woman who gets a Mommy Makeover, these restrictions are very likely going to affect her family life for a few weeks. What patients need to prepare for the most is the fact that they cannot pick up their small children. They cannot run and chase and play in the same ways they did before surgery. For a period of up to 6 weeks, patients will be restricted from lifting heavy objects. They will take showers instead of baths and, due to restrictions in bending, be advised not to bathe small children.

What Can I Do?

Hearing what feels like a long list of “don’ts,” many women ask what they can do after their Mommy Makeover? This is an important question for any mother who has her procedure while her children are still living at home. The younger the children, the more important the question. For mothers with small children, it is essential to get help. A second or third set of hands can significantly reduce unnecessary stress during recovery. While others do the lifting and the playing, mom-in-recovery can read wonderful stories. She can watch movies and play board games. She can prepare healthy meals and school lunches. She can sit with her children at bedtime and hear all about their day. She can make up stories and songs or color imaginative paintings with her children. She can stay engaged even if not physically so, and in so doing, Mom can also ward off some of the post-surgical blues that are common after surgery.

Learn more about the value of a Mommy Makeover. Call 513.985.0850 to schedule your visit with Dr. Krummen.

Resuming Exercise after Liposuction

There are several things to love about liposuction. One of them is how this procedure achieves immediately gratifying results. Even with post-surgical swelling and compression garments, patients can see an improvement in the shape of their body. Also, even with swelling and mild soreness, liposuction recovery is relatively easy. Many patients are ready to go back to work in about a week. That said, work does not equate to exercise. When it comes to resuming your normal workouts, it’s likely that you’ll be advised to wait. When exercise does resume, it should be only at about one-quarter of your norm. This should increase very slowly over several days or weeks to ensure that you do not compromise your surgical recovery.

Exercise is Exercise after Surgery

We often categorize exercise into various boxes. For example, we place cardio exercise into one box, strength training into another. Then, in those boxes, the types of exercise that get the heart pumping or muscles moving vary widely, too. The thing about post-liposuction exercise is that, in terms of timing, they’re all the same. Your surgeon will likely advise you to give your body two weeks to recover. During that time, you may walk. A nice, moderate walk, not a get-your-heart racing power walk. Think circulation more than slimming.

About two weeks after liposuction, you may start to engage in focused exercise again, but not at your usual intensity and frequency. Your cardio may increase from a brief walk around the block to a longer, faster jaunt. You may get on a stationary bike for 30 minutes or so. At this time, you may also begin strength training again, starting light and slow and increasing gradually as your body tolerates. Any sign of discomfort, though, and you should stop for a day or two.

Exercise and liposuction make great partners for a beautiful body. To learn more about this procedure and what to expect during recovery, call our Cincinnati office at 513.985.0850.