The Modern Mommy Makeover

The pandemic hasn’t slowed consumer demand for often complex surgical mommy makeover procedures. What is new is a changing patient demographic and what today’s moms want to achieve with their post-pregnancy bodies, according to two experts from different U.S. markets.

“Mommy makeover” has become a catch-all phrase for a combination of body contouring, breast, abdominal, and/or other procedures after pregnancy, and demand is up at the practice of San Diego-based plastic surgeon Katerina Gallus, MD.

Part of the reason could be that mom and kids are home during the pandemic, which makes it easier for recovery.

“Here in Southern California, moms are mostly working from home, so they’re able to schedule surgery a little bit easier. Once they get over the shock of their kids not going physically to school, then stay-at-home moms realize they have an opportunity to recover at home. Usually the hang up with my mom patients is, who is going to drive the kids around during the recovery period—who is going to get them to school and back?” Dr. Gallus says.

Chattanooga, Tenn., cosmetic surgeon Michael S. Kluska, DO, is also experiencing an uptick in requests for mommy makeovers, not only because people have more time but likely also more means.

“One thing we’ve noticed at our practice is more people are getting plastic surgery because they have the time to do it and they aren’t spending their money on other things,” says Dr. Kluska.

An Evolving Demographic

Mommy makeover demographics are evolving, Dr. Kluska tells Aesthetic Authority.

“The mommy makeover patient clientele is getting a little younger,” Dr. Kluska says. “The younger patient is used to more instant gratification.”

What mommy makeover patients want has shifted focus from 10 or 15 years ago, especially when it comes to body contouring. Today’s patients often request 360-degree contouring. That involves liposuction all the way around the trunk, according to Dr. Kluska.

“It used to be that patients were more worried about smaller areas—medial thigh fat, lateral thigh fat, lower abdomen fat, or the muffin top. Now they want to be contoured completely all around, plus or minus high-definition liposuction contouring to those areas, to create the look of abs,” Dr. Kluska says.

Many want to recycle that fat to boost their buttocks, but Dr. Kluska says, gluteal augmentation is a master-level procedure that should be done by well-trained surgeons who know how to pick the right patients.

Dr. Kluska uses autologous fat for gluteal augmentation and doesn’t offer the approach with gluteal implants because it is fraught with complications. But he notes the Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) also has gotten a lot of flak because of the potential risk of death from pulmonary fat embolisms.

“In the past, the thought process was [to] put fat in a multiplanar approach in the gluteal region, so more fat would be exposed to better arterial vascular supply and more fat would live. We now know that fat put anywhere near the gluteal fascial plane has a high propensity of getting into the bloodstream. Even if the venous system is not directly injured, that can cause major complications, including death,” he says.

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