Some people think is superficial but it's much deeper than that.
Before my surgery, I didn't wear bathing suits at all.
I had stretch marks, and loose skin. I just felt deflated.
I wore hoodies and sweat pants all the time.
I felt like I was trapped in someone elses body.
My name is Karen.
My name is Diane.
My name is Krista and I had a Mommy Makeover one year ago.
I'm Dr. Matthew Shulman. I'm a board certified plastic surgeon
in New York City.
So a mommy makeover is just a general term for
any operation that restores the body to its
pre-pregnancy state.
It's not a specific operation. A Mommy Makeover is differnet for every person.
So it really just means we are combining multiple procedures
into one single operation.
A Mommy Makeover usually involves some sort of abdominal contouring procedure
like a tummy tuck. Often some liposuction
which is fat removal.
Sometimes a breast procedure like a breast lift, breast augmentation,
even a breast reduction.
So shopping, clothing; it's pretty much my life before I had kids.
Before kids, I would just like to go party,
have fun with my friends.
I always worked so I pretty much worked so that I could shop.
Fun for me was shopping.
I was so into fashion, showing skin of course,
especially my belly.
I was more into my stomach, I used to have a small little waist.
That was me.
My boobs were nice, my stomach was flat,
my butt was good, everything was
where it should be.
The year before I got pregnant with my daughter,
I was glowing all around, like I looked good.
I had an amazing body, I could pretty much wear anything I wanted.
Then I had kids and everything changed.
I had my first daughter when I was 22
and I bounced back pretty easily from that pregnancy
because I was in my 20s
so I lost the weight pretty quickly.
During pregnancy, I was enjoying being pregnant.
I wasn't paying attention to my body. It was after the baby.
I was thinking, I just have to work out,
eat healthy and everything will go back to normal.
It did go back to normal my first time.
I just had a big belly right here the whole time.
I loved it. I loved the glow. I was the perfect pregnant girl.
Really honestly.
How I felt about my body afterwards, I didn't feel that good about it,
'cause now the babies gone and I still have the belly
and I had stretch marks and loose skin and
I just felt deflated.
And as the time progressed, she never came off. It just stuck there.
I didn't have my second child until I was 34.
I was put on bed rest so then the weight started piling on
and then my third pregnancy was four months after
after my son was born and
more weight piled on.
I had gained probably 40 pounds
between the two pregnancies that I just couldn't get rid of.
Then I got pregnant again.
I thought that I would do the same thing that I did.
I would work out and start eating healthy again.
It didn't work.
Pregnancy changes the body. A lot of things happen.
People put on wight in places they didn't have before,
skin stretches.
You still look pregnant when you leave the hospital.
I tried to eat as healthy as I could and it
still wasnt working.
My body did not recover.
I didn't bounce back like I'd seen a lot of people
or celebrities bounce back.
It was kind of disheartening.
I didn't really like leaving the house.
I wore hoodies and sweatpants all the time and
I just didn't feel like myself. I felt like I was trapped in someone elses body.
I decided it was time to get healthy so I got really into fitness.
I was able to change my diet
and I actually dropped 30 pounds in a month.
So when you drop weight so rapidly you end up with loose skin
and I really didn't feel goo about myself
so I went off the diet and then everything started to come back.
Exercise and diet is obviously a good way to get your body back
to looking better however there are some changes that you
can't diet and exercise away
and when you get pregnant and your skin stretches,
The skin doesnt always go back to the way it was before.
And no amount of exercises and no amount of dieting can
make that skin shrink and the only way to make it better is to
physically cut off the skin.
I had thought about surgery
when I lost the first 30 pounds because the skin just hung
but now I've got to tone this stuff up.
Yeah I need to do something with my body, I don't like the way it looks.
I enjoyed the gym. I loved it.
I lost a lot of weight, I got toned
but the belly was still loose.
I didn't like that.
And then one day I was coming out to get the mail from my mail lady
who I've known for years. She asked me,
"Oh are you having another one?"
I was not pregnant and I went in the house and cried.
When I got to the point where I didn't really feel like a girl
that when I really started contemplating plastic surgery.
One day, my husband and I were sitting on the couch
My husband came up with this idea.
And I basically just broke down in tears
and said, "I can't do this anymore. I can't live in this body."
Did you ever think about having a surgery?
I'd really like a Mommy Makeover.
That would be great but it was just a dream.
We started talking about it and he was more open about it then I though he would be.
If you really want it and you're not happy, we can make it work.
that's how the whole thing started.
Today we are able to combine more surgeries into one operation.
This whole idea of a mommy makeover where we do multiple operations in one procedure
is increasing because technology has increased so it's now safer to do it.
I had a couple doctors in mind
and I ended up finding Dr. Khonig through
Thrill Self App and
I had a couple consults with other doctors and he was the one I ended up
going with.
Plastic surgery is not anything to be taken lightly.
I had put enough effort into researching my diet
as I did my plastic surgeon.
Like a lot of people think it can be a quick lifestyle change
and you do need to know who your surgeon is.
I went for two consults
and the first consult, I did not vibe with the plastic surgeon so
I waited a little bit longer, I thought maybe it was a sign
and it was, I ended up losing more weight
I was down a hundred and fifteen pounds
and I decided alright, let's go
try again. When I met him
it felt right.
I did my research two years before.
My husband told me, look for the best doctor
Finally, I found Dr. Shulman.
I was reading reviews and something inside of me told me he was the one.
My doctor said you needed to be within ten percent of of your goal weight
or he won't operate on you.
You have to live a healthy lifestyle and you have to maintain a healthy lifestyle afterwards.
Before my surgical consult, I started going to the gym.
I started cleaning up my diet, I lost
thirty pounds on my own.
The other thing that happens with pregnancy
particularly in the abdomen is the muscle stretches.
So the muscle separates and you get a separation of the abdominal muscles.
You can't exercise those muscles back together.
So during a tummy tuck, one of the key
components is to sow those muscles together.
I had the full Mommy Makeover.
I had a breast lift, with augmentation.
Liposuction, the flank liposuction to give sort of that hourgalss figure.
I also had the abdominal plasty or the tummy tuck.
I just had a tummy tuck with the lipo 360.
Front and back.
When a mom comes to me for a procedure,
she doesn't want three operations, she wants it all done in one operation.
I never thought it would be possible to have a full body surgery in one day.
I left at 6 in the morning and I got home at 3 o'clock.
My kids, they were in school and we got there at the same time.
Yeah I was a little in pain and
And they said, "Mommy what's wrong with you?" and I said,
"Mommy had back pain."
They were fine.
The next day I started feeling like the swelling and the pressure-
Like your boobs feel like you have an elephant sitting on your chest.
The breasts were probably the most uncomfortable.
Just because they're tight and because they're under the muscle.
I mean you're uncomfortable and sleeping is a little bit difficult because you can't use your
your core at all, like you're not supposed to bend.
And then I would always have to ice things.
They sow your insides.
It's almost like an internal corset, like they sow your muscles back together.
Thank god, I'm very healthy.
It took me three weeks to get back to normal.
Probably within ten days I was back at the gym just doing like
cardio and I could do anything with core. No heavy lifting.
The recovery I would say is unpleasant. I wouldnt say its terrible
but it was totally worth it.
I was back in the gym, probably a week later.
I went back to work after 8 weeks.
In general, a Mommy Makeover
is a very satisfying operation. The patients are happy.
I think the overwhelming amount of patients see the improvement and are happy with the results.
So part of my consultation is giving them realistic expectations
and telling them exactly what I can do for them.
The results of any cosmetic surgery lasts forever, however
the aging process still continues
so we don't stop the aging clock.
We just turn it back.
Dr. Khonig, he actually gave me my freedom back.
I can't even believe how much its changed and how much
better I feel about myself.
Everything's falling into place like with how much I've changed my body
with the muscle groups and things like that.
Everything looks the way it's supposed to
It's quite the shocker.
I can dress how I want to dress, I don't have to dress like a frumpy
mom. I don't have to wear like baggy hoodies.
I can wear more form fitting clothes.
I feel more confident. I'm more outgoing.
Now every time I go to the stores, I'm very happy.
I don't even have to try like ten to twenty outfits.
I try the first one and I say, I love it.
I feel good, I feel like my life changed a lot.
I feel like I have to look good.
Not only just for me but for like
for my kids, for my husband.
now that I'm smaller, I can buy the smaller clothes,
things that are a little bit mroe risky.
Definitely attention seeking or grabbing for sure.
Afterwards I was kind of like hey, look at me how
I cried after the first time I saw myself after the surgery.
Like in tears, I couldnt believe that that was me.
Like that this was my body. I could finally live the life that I wanted.
Now I own 20 bathing suits.
I just got back from vacation
and I was wearing a different bathing suit
everyday, two pieces.
I am not shy about telling people
about how hard I work but I'm also not going to mislead people that
I did all this on my own.
That this is just diet and exercise cause its not.
Some people think it's superficial but its
much deeper than that. You can really be the person
you want to be when you're trapped in a body that
doesn't feel like its yours.
If I had to do it again, I would do it again.
I would tell any mom out there that is unhappy with what happened to their body
during their pregnancy,
to go see a plastic surgeon.
It doesn't hurt to get a consultation.
you want to find a board certified plastic surgeon
that is experienced with these operations
and go for a consult.
When I look in the mirror, I am blown away with what I see.
I know that i paid for it but I also know that if I didnt put in
the hard work, I never would've made it here.
To be able to do this.
Plastic surgery give people back the confidence
to be who they were before
when they don't understand how to feel inside
when you look a certain way
like when you don't like the person you see in the mirror.
Mom's can be sexy, they don't have to be like sexy sexy
but you have to be your own kind of sexy.
To have a smile that goes from cheek to cheek
can be just as sexy
and some people really like that.