Would You Get a Tummy Tuck?
Although it’s a controversial question, it’s one more and more mothers are asking themselves these days. The pressure to “get your body back after baby” is everywhere. As many mothers know all too well, though, your body is just never the same once another little body has been living in it. Some women would never consider removing any signs left on their body by pregnancy, preferring to keep every stretch mark as a badge of honor. But others simply can’t…well…stomach the idea of living the rest of their lives with a muffin top and puckered tummy.
For those women, plastic surgery might be an option.
According to statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, tummy tucks have increased a whopping 382% in the U.S. since 1997, with more than 164,000 patients in 2014. More than 95% of those patients were women, and as any plastic surgeon will tell you, most women who get tummy tucks are mothers.
It may seem obvious, but here’s why: Pregnancy stretches the abdominal muscles and skin, and the body can’t always heal these 100%. For most of us, that means sagging skin, stretch marks, a pot-belly, and a whole different bellybutton than the one we had before kids. While crunches can help some women lose weight and improve muscle tone, many of these issues can only be fixed with surgery. In a tummy tuck, a surgeon repairs the muscles and removes excess skin and leftover fat. He or she will also “rejuvenate” the bellybutton.
According to the website of Dr. Craig Colville, a tummy tuck surgeon in Toledo, some women who get the surgery even have it as part of a “Mommy Makeover,” which also includes breast enhancement to address the other hard hit mommy body part.
Satisfaction rates for tummy tuck surgery are extremely high. On RealSelf.com, a very popular plastic surgery forum, tummy tuck boasts an impressive 97% “worth-it rating” from users. If you spend a few minutes browsing the reviews of those users, it’s plain to see how many are moms who felt they needed the surgery to restore their confidence and feel attractive again.
But still, would you do it?
That same website lists the average cost of a tummy tuck in the U.S. at $8,125 – an expenditure many moms would have a hard time rationalizing considering the cost of diapers, daycare, and eventually, college.
There’s also the issue of downtime, which can be significant after a tummy tuck. The procedure usually requires at least a week or 2 off work and several weeks of restricted activity, which means no picking up little ones or doing many household chores, let alone working out.
The biggest “con” for many women, though, seems to be the idea that plastic surgery is a vain choice. Motherhood requires sacrifice, and the thought of devoting a lot of time, money, and effort to improving your own appearance just doesn’t fit in with those ideals for many women. Some are also concerned that there is too much pressure to conform to an unrealistic standard of beauty.
On the other side of that argument are many thousands of mothers such as this one, a RealSelf user and mother of twins who spent 7 years unhappy with an overhanging belly pooch before getting a tummy tuck. She writes about the moment she first saw her results at her plastic surgeon’s office:
I realized at that moment just how deeply I had felt like a freak, and how much of my own confidence and self-worth I had lost. I wish I had really understood beforehand just how much of a difference it would make to me mentally to not have to feel that way anymore. I’m not saying it was a right or a wrong way to feel – my misshapen abdomen did carry and give birth to some miraculous babies, after all, and I am so, so grateful – but the fact is that I felt awful about my abdomen, and consequently myself. And now I don’t.
The decision to get a tummy tuck may not be right for every mom, but clearly it has been for some, helping them to feel better about themselves. And if plastic surgery helps a woman to feel more confident and enjoy her life more, then it was the right choice for her.
Whatever your personal feelings are about tummy tucks, everyone can likely agree that it is important for moms to do what they need to do in order to feel their best. Being the best mom you can be, means discovering what makes you happy and what you feel makes you your best self.
