Mom Under the Knife

Mom Under the Knife Anne Ebeling: They say that once you have a child, your body will never be the same. But don’t tell that to 40-year-old mother of two, Michelle DeCoux. Michelle DeCoux: I have the best time of my life. I feel more complete as a woman and I’m happy with what I become. Anne Ebeling: Michelle didn’t always look like this. She gained around 50 pounds with each pregnancy and like most mom, pregnancy took its toll on her body. Michelle DeCoux: From the weight gain, it definitely made me have less skin elasticity and the fact that I’m 40, I had my children in my mid 30’s. It didn’t helped very much so it’s definitely becoming a problem. Anne Ebeling: That’s when she met plastic surgeon Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh. Dr. Alizadeh works with the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, the largest plastic surgical group in the United States and focuses mainly on post partum women. Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh: And most women have a predictable series of changes in their body that they notice. And primarily it’s related to their breast especially a woman under the breastfeeding because the variation and the size of the breast. This sort of sequential and cyclical engorgement of the breast and then it’s being deflated causes stretching of the tissue and overtime descent of the breast tissue. And a similar thing happens with the abdomen through the time of the pregnancy which is a pretty predictable response of stretching of the abdominal wall and the skin that’s overlying it. Anne Ebeling: For sagging breast, Dr. Alizadeh performs a procedure called the Internal Bra. Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh: Well, we actually create an internal support for the breast tissue so that the breast itself is lifted and supported internally. And the idea is that after the surgery that we do, you don’t even need to wear bra that your breast feels fully supported and your nipple and areola comes back to where it’s used to be before the surgery and it’s supported. Anne Ebeling: To tag in the stretched out tummy, he goes for the muscles. Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh: The rectus muscles that’s helped support the abdomen. They get stretched out overtime. And what we do is we go back and we switch it along the midline to essentially reestablish the firmness and the integrity of the abdominal wall. After we’ve reestablished the integrity of the abdominal wall, we go in, we take out a small piece of skin to be able to get rid of that extra skin and then bring together the two parts so that they’ll look as good as they did before their pregnancy. Anne Ebeling: But before you hit the examining table, Dr. Alizadeh says it’s important to consider whether or not you’re planning to had anymore children. Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh: My advice to most patients is to wait until they’re finished with their pregnancies or if they know that they’re not really having a long-term plan to get pregnant again to undergo these procedures. Probably the best time to do surgery is to wait after you had multiple pregnancies and your body has sort of you know now that you’re not planning to take your body through another stress of transformation and the back and forth that happens in pregnancy. Anne Ebeling: Michelle had breast augmentation surgery elsewhere in age 30. So, Dr. Alizadeh performed the provisional surgery on her breast as well as a mini tuck on her abdomen. Michelle DeCoux: Which is not the typical hip-bone-to-hip-bone talk, I had a C section. I said I wanted the scar to be with the misconceptions so there would no additional scaring. And the only reason why I did that is I didn’t necessarily need that full tummy tuck but I had a lot of skin issues where my belly button was not staying still and it was moving. So, I want them to just tuck that down and I still don’t have the perfect stomach. I still have some skin that I wanted to be very conservative. Anne Ebeling: After undergoing the procedures, Michelle was inspired to adapt a new healthier lifestyle and a new hobby, modeling. Michelle DeCoux: I want to just show other moms that you can do this and to not give up on your dreams no matter how old you are. Anne Ebeling: Michelle said the big factor on her success was choosing the right surgeon. Michelle DeCoux: You have to be comfortable with somebody and you really have to trust that he’s going to make the right decisions too. And the one thing, Dr. Alizadeh, like I said he’s very conservative. He’s not the kind of doctor that will do things just because you want to. He’s the kind of doctor that will give you his opinion and say, “This is too much, Michelle. How are you feeling inside? What’s going on in your life? And let’s see what’s going on in your head and make sure you’re on the right place.” Anne Ebeling: Dr. Alizadeh recommend sitting down with at least two or three different surgeons to get their thoughts and look at their work. Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh: Eventhough you may have two surgeons that are very capable and well trained, thye have a very different sense of aesthetic about what fits your body with this. So, it’s important to look at their work. Get an idea about what they believe is the right aesthetic. Probably we’re going to see whether that matches what’s in your mouth because essentially, you need to come to meeting among—what you want to have, psychologically what you want to achieve and what’s basically possible. Anne Ebeling: And make sure your surgeon is qualified. Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh: The most important thing is to make sure that your surgeon is truly experienced and certified and educated in a field that they are modernizing. Anne Ebeling: Most of all, do what’s best for you. Michelle DeCoux: You just do well. List them out to make you happy and make sure it’s good about yourself, no why not? Anne Ebeling: For more information about plastic surgery, log on to the American Society of Plastic Surgeon’s website, at www.plasticsurgery.org.