Plastic Surgery Before or After the Baby?
Posted in: Blog | January 5, 2012
I saw a patient in my office last week who is planning on having a baby soon but wanted to have cosmetic surgery. She wanted to know if it was better to have surgery before or after her baby.
In general, with any cosmetic procedure, especially when it comes to body contouring, it is best that your weight is stable before proceeding with surgery. Therefore I tell patients who want to get liposuction or an abdominoplasty that they should wait several months after having their baby. There is no harm to the baby or the patient to having these surgeries before pregnancy, however, because of weight fluctuations and body changes that occur with pregnancy, they may need a second procedure later.
The same thing holds for breast surgery, especially if you are thinking of having a breast lift or reduction. Because the breasts expand and then deflate after pregnancy, you may need to have your lift revised after pregnancy depending on how your body changes. For breast implants, the shape may hold through pregnancy, but it really depends on your anatomy. I know many women who happened to get pregnant just after they had implant surgery and in most cases they retained a nice shape. Of course, you should expect that your breasts will expand greatly with pregnancy on top of the increase from the implants.
For other procedures of the face like rhinoplasty, eyelid, or brow lifts, the anatomy varies less with pregnancy so it wouldn’t be a problem to have the surgery before pregnancy.
Dr. Catherine Begovic M.D.