Dr. Chasan Mommy Makeover Gallery

Why Get a Mommy Makeover?

We honor mothers for bearing and raising children, yet we know that it often comes at a cost. Many women struggle to get their pre-pregnancy body back after having children. At  Ranch and Coast Plastic Surgery,  we believe mothers should look and feel their best. Our goal is to improve your breast and body contours and your overall self-confidence. A  Mommy Makeover includes a combination of procedures accomplished during one surgery based on the patient’s anatomy, which may include all or a few of the following;  tummy tuck, a  breast lift,  breast augmentation (breast implants), body contouring through  liposuction and possibly a  butt lift.

Is a Mommy Makeover a Good Choice for Me?

When discussing options for women during their  plastic surgery consultation we find that the best candidates for a mommy makeover are:

1. Women who are unsatisfied with their postpartum bodies, specifically their abdomen and breast areas.
2. Women who are healthy overall
3. Women who do not plan to have any more children
4. Women who have realistic expectations

What Can Be Accomplished During Mommy Makeover Procedures?

Mommy makeovers largely focus on the abdomen, body contour and the breasts as these areas seem to be the most effected after childbirth. It is important to have a realistic understanding of what outcome to expect after having these procedures. Below are brief explanations of the procedures.
Breast Augmentation – A breast augmentation is when breast implants are utilized to enhance or correct the shape of the breast. Breast implants can be filled with either silicone or saline and can range in size and shape. Our operating room is stocked with over a hundred breast implants so that Dr. Chasan can choose the implant that best fits your desired outcome. During surgery Dr. Chasan sits his patients up on the surgical table numerous times to assure that the breast implants look excellent from a sitting position as well as supine. Dr. Chasan is an expert in his field and has done over 3,000 breast augmentations. Routinely,  Allergan (the developer of breast implants) calls upon Dr. Chasan to lecture his fellow colleagues on this subject matter.

Breast Lift – Many women experience breast drooping after breast feeding, weight fluctuations or due to aging. If a women’s nipple is at or below the inframammary breast crease, they could benefit from a breast lift. During a breast lift skin is reduced and the breast tissue is tightened to contour more youthful, perkier breasts. Dr. Chasan has completed hundreds of breast lifts and found that many women prefer a breast lift in addition to their breast augmentation to help achieve their desired outcome. Often a breast implant enhances a breast lift as it will produce a full breast that does not sag. Dr. Chasan routinely does these two procedures in conjunction with each other. If patients have larger breasts he also incorporates breast tissue removed, a procedure developed by Dr. Chasan, known as a “Reductive Augmentation”. Recently he was published in the International Society Aesthetics Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) for the “Reductive Augmentation” of the breast.

Tummy Tuck – Many women loose elasticity in their skin after pregnancy specifically in the abdominal area. Additionally, abdominal muscles are also known to separate (Diastasis recti) during pregnancy or during a C-section. These muscles often don’t heal back to normal on their own and leave women with an ever-present stomach pooch. During a tummy tuck, Dr. Chasan will remove excess skin, realign the abdominal muscles and remove some subcutaneous fat (difficult fat to burn that resides just under the skin). Tummy tucks typically leave abdomens looking flat and firm. A scar will be left below the panty line and Dr. Chasan uses the Progressive Tension Suturing technique to help minimize your scarring. He obsessively looks for ways to reduce potential scarring during surgery and will take extra time if needed to ensure women have the smallest scar possible. Most of Dr. Chasan’s patients have scars that look nothing more than a faint panty crease by about 6 months post-surgery. We have photos we can show patients during their consultation in-office of past patient’s scars.

Body Contouring – Body contouring through liposuction can reduce fat in many areas of the body but for Mommy Makeovers the focus is usually on the abdomen, hips, flanks and outer/inner thighs. Dr. Chasan uses a 3-step body contouring technique called  SAFELipo™. SAFE stands for Separation, Aspiration, Fat Equalization.

• Separation is where a special cannula gently breaks up the fat and detaches it from surrounding tissue making it easier to remove without causing surrounding blood vessel damage. There is no heat involved as is with traditional liposuction methods as heat often causes thermal injuries that produce scar tissue.
• Aspiration is the second step in which the freshly detached fat is delicately removed using a smaller cannula.
• Fat Equalization is the final process of shifting the remaining layer of fat to smooth out the appearance after much of the fat has been removed producing beautiful results post-surgery.

Brazilian Butt Lift – Over this past couple years, Dr. Chasan has noticed an increase of women interested in an enhanced derriere. A Brazilian butt lift is accomplished by taking the fat that was liposuctioned from the waist and then transferring it into the buttocks producing a thinner waist and a fuller more rounded butt. The proportion from waist to buttock creates a contour that women often find is better than their pre-pregnancy body.

Dr. Chasan Discusses Mommy Makeovers on The Wellness Hour

Randy: Okay, so going on to today’s topic which is, “Mommy Makeover,” let’s start with a working definition. I mean, what is a mommy makeover?

Dr. Chasan: Well, the typical change is postpartum, breasts after breast feeding. Sometimes they droop. A lot of times breast get post gestational atrophy. They lose all the volume in the breast. Abdomens, you know, a lot of times people’s, women’s abdomen after kids get stretched out particularly with c-sections because after c-section they actually divide the muscles and then even if they close them, it’s never quite the same. So typical with after mummy equals breast, abdomen. And after the surge of hormones, and this is something that people don’t really talk about, the surge of hormones changes the physiology and some areas of fat, like the hips and the flanks or the outer thighs, they get worse. And once that program gets changed, it’s changed for life.

So to answer your question, it’s typically body contouring, whatever it takes: tummy tuck or lifeless action or both and breast, breast augmentation, breast lift, those kinds of things.

Randy: You told me, in the green room, you said, “Randy, this is the real mommy makeover.”

Dr. Chasan: Yes.

Randy: Elaborate on that.

Dr. Chasan: Well you know, in today’s world you see all these marketing things, the mommy makeover, you click on it and it’s some diet or some, you know, 10-minute ab type workout and stuff. Some of these women, a lot of my women are very active. They’ve had three kids, they work out like amazing. They’re strong everywhere but they just can’t fix their abdomen. They can’t fix it. They can’t fix their breasts. And these are very fit women. In fact, I could show you some pictures. I don’t know if you want to look at some pictures?

Randy: Yes, yes.

Dr. Chasan: Let me show you this picture. And for example, this lady right here, if you look at her abdomen I mean, she’s pretty fit. But what’s happened is her belly button has stretched out. And a lot of women after having children, they get outie, an umbilical hernia, their muscles are stretched. And in fact on the side view, if you look at the same woman even though she’s flexing, her abdomen still sticks out. Now, most of these women tell me they want to be able to wear a bikini again.

Randy: So on the consult, this is what they say?

Dr. Chasan: Yes. They want to feel better in clothes. They want to be able to wear a bikini. They want to not be embarrassed going to the beach. And so those are the kinds of things I hear.

Randy: So when you look at an abdomen like this on the consult, what do you see? And what goes on in your head of what you need to do?

Dr. Chasan: Randy, I’ve been practicing for 20 years. I’ve fixed hundreds of these and so in my mind I’m looking at right away, what’s the skin quality? Do they have a diastasis? Which means the separation of the rectus, abdominus muscles. So two muscles that are down here, a lot of times they separate, okay? So I’m looking, what do I have to fix? Do I have to get rid of skin? Do I have to get rid of fat? What’s the skin quality? Am I fixing muscles?

Randy: So with her, what did you do?

Dr. Chasan: Well, on her I did a, I actually did a complete mommy makeover. I did a tummy tuck and I sutured her muscles back together. I got rid of her umbilical hernia. I know on your show you can’t show breasts but I did a breast augmentation, breast lift. And then I did a little liposuction of her inner and outer thighs.

So Randy, look at the before and afters on this particular patient. If you look at, a couple things, her incision is extremely low. Most of my women want to be able to wear low cut jeans, have a bikini that is completely covered. That incision, I can tell you after just several months, that incision is a non-incision. It’s so light and…

Randy: So you like keeping them low?

Dr. Chasan: I do. I actually employ a technique called progressive tension suturing. And I actually, underneath the flap, I suture the skin flap progressively so I can keep advancing that flap down lower and lower. And that allows me two things. It allows me to keep that incision very low and no tension on the incision. And we can talk about that but, keep no tension…

Randy: So no tension is just a thinner scar?

Dr. Chasan: That’s right.

Randy: Interesting.

Dr. Chasan: The less tension you put on a scar, the better that incision is going to be. And so I pride myself on great incisions. And so if you can take tension off that incision so the skin is just kissing, and then I can do just a fine micro bite closure. And if you can put that skin perfectly opposed to each other, you have your best opportunity to get the best scar you can. And so whether it’s tummy tuck or breast lift or a face lift, that concept of perfect closure, no tension on the closure, is kind of what I do.