Death Rate of Mommy Makeover Procedure
Childbirth is a miracle of life, and women go through several changes before, during, and after childbirth. It can alter your body and physique completely, which is a source of concern for many women.
This is because the body cannot always bounce back after pregnancy and childbirth, eventually leading to low self-esteem and decreased overall confidence.
New advances in the technology and techniques of postpartum plastic surgery have now made restoring your pre-pregnancy body an easy and accessible possibility.
Known as a mommy makeover, it targets problem areas of your body post-pregnancy and childbirth.
What is Mommy Makeover?
The surgical procedure is usually performed as a single-stage procedure that is performed to improve and enhance the appearance of your breast, buttocks, abdomen or tummy, and, in some cases, vagina.
Depending on the amount of restoration required and the parts of the body most affected by your pregnancy, your specialist plastic surgeon may recommend the best procedures for you.
Several procedures are usually performed under this umbrella term, namely:
- Breast Augmentation Procedure: This specific procedure is recommended if, after pregnancy, your breasts have lost a significant amount of volume, making them look deflated. It involves the placement of breast implants in the breast cavity to restore the volume, hence, enhancing their overall appearance.
- Breast Lift Procedure: This procedure is recommended for women who are struggling after pregnancy and breastfeeding with saggy breasts that hang lower on their chest than before. For this procedure, the surgeon would make remove excess skin from the breasts, lifting them and restoring their youthful, perky appearance.
- Buttock augmentation: Pregnancy and weight fluctuations can often destroy the contours of the buttocks, which is why a plastic surgeon may recommend implants and/or fat grafting as a part of the makeover. This improves the contours of the buttocks and is also called a Brazilian butt lift.
- Liposuction: Stubborn fat may persist in the body after pregnancy, for which your specialist plastic surgeon may recommend this procedure. This is yet another procedure that enhances the contour of the abdomen and helps women bounce back after their pregnancies.
- Tummy Tuck: A tummy tuck procedure involves the removal of excess skin and fat from your abdominal region after the pregnancy. There may be saggy skin, especially after multiple pregnancies, that cannot be reduced without surgery and that is why a tummy tuck may be recommended.
- Vaginal Rejuvenation: Vagina gets stretched and strained during the childbirth procedure, leaving you with discomfort and pain. Moreover, the vaginal muscles may separate from the mucosal skin. These changes can be reversed using vaginal rejuvenation, or post-pregnancy genital rejuvenation procedures, which include several other procedures. All of them have the same aim; to restore the vagina and the genital region to their pre-pregnancy form.
Who can undergo Mommy Makeover?
The procedure has become increasingly famous recently. However, not everyone is eligible to undergo this procedure.
This procedure is only performed if new moms are mentally and physically healthy. Moreover, they shouldn’t be planning to have any more children as pregnancy after the makeover may lead to complications.
And the most important criterion is that new moms should be undergoing this procedure for themselves and not fit into any ideals or types.
Risks and Complications of Mommy Makeover
It is a set of surgical procedures, and like any other surgical procedure, it has several risks and complications associated with them, such as
- Bleeding
- Infection
- Poor healing and wound separation
- Allergic reaction to anesthesia
- Accumulation of blood in the surgical region
- Accumulation of fluid or seroma
- Rupture of implants
- Leaking of implants
- Skin necrosis of fat necrosis
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Cardiovascular events
- Persistent pain
- Loss of sensation
- Asymmetry
Apart from the above-mentioned risks, other complications can occur based on the specific procedure you may choose to undergo.
Death Rate of Mommy Makeover
With its rising fame of it comes a huge problem that is often ignored, which is the high mortality or death rate of this procedure.
Generally, the death rate for the makeovers increases with tummy tucks and other abdominal surgeries requiring general anesthesia.
The use of anesthesia in itself carries the risk of an allergic reaction which can be fatal and when combined with long procedures like tummy tuck, the death rate can rise significantly.
Moreover, if you are undergoing several procedures together, as you would in a traditional mommy makeover, you are under anesthesia for a long time.
There is also significant tissue trauma which increases the risk of blood clots. All of this can eventually result in death either during the procedure or in the recovery period.
The general rule for elective surgeries is for them to take a maximum of 6 hours, which on its own is already pushing your body’s limits.
All of these factors contribute to the high death rate and mortality that is associated with a mommy makeover, although they are less associated with the procedure itself and more with the choices of the doctors and patients.
References
https://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/mommy-makeover
