16 People Get Real About Their Mommy Makeovers

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Huy Luong

One of my most active group chats is my “Baby Club,” composed of myself and three former coworkers who all had babies around the same time. (My son was born in January 2021.) What started as a place to share questions about doctor’s appointments and labor plans has yielded deep, true friendships and become a place where nothing is TMI. And that includes body talk—namely, commiserating about how much our boobs, stomachs, and hips have changed since giving birth.

We’re all in our 30s, and of course body changes are to be expected as you age. But motherhood comes with its own special set of changes and pressures: you feel like you’re supposed to have the baby, immediately revert to your “old” physical self, and make it look effortless, all while devoting yourself entirely to your new role as a mom. Some people do snap back like it’s NBD. I was not one of those people, and I have been struggling to adapt to my “new” body for nearly four years. My boobs, which weren’t small to begin with, are now several sizes bigger, but also deflated and droopy. My ribcage grew two inches. I can’t lose the “shelf” near my C-section scar no matter how many miles I run or weights I lift. And I, like the other three members of the “Baby Club,” have started thinking about surgery. The truth of the matter is that even though I love my son more than anything, since his birth I don’t feel like myself. And I’d like to feel like her again.

Contrary to popular belief, the “mommy makeover” isn’t actually a surgical procedure, technically speaking—and by that I mean, there are no textbook guidelines for what it involves. Instead, a “mommy makeover” is a customizable bundle of two or more plastic surgery procedures, which are often performed at the same time. This idea of combining multiple procedures into one postpartum refresh was radical when it became part of the plastic surgery conversation about 20 years ago. Some plastic surgeons and obstetricians dismissed it as a dubious sales tactic, aimed at upselling patients—why get just a tummy tuck, when you can get a breast augmentation too?—or stigmatizing perfectly normal changes that occur after pregnancy. The New York Times ran an article in 2007 asking if “mom jobs”—as they called them—were really necessary. The article argued that the “marketing of the ‘mommy makeover’ seeks to pathologize the postpartum body, characterizing pregnancy and childbirth as maladies with disfiguring aftereffects that can be repaired with the help of scalpels and cannulae.”

But the plastic surgeons around the country who were early adopters maintained that “mommy makeovers” offered up a solution a lot of women had been looking for—and they could now safely combine procedures to tailor full-body results to each patient. Advances in anesthesia helped make this possible, explains Melissa Doft, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, who estimates that the earliest mommy makeovers were performed about 25 to 30 years ago. That’s about five years after an anaesthetic called Propofol was first FDA approved for use in the U.S. “It revolutionized surgery, as patients could have a more pleasant experience,” says Dr. Doft. “This has given plastic surgeons confidence to combine procedures and perform longer elective procedures—making the combination of breast and abdomen more achievable and more reasonable.”

Of course, we know the rest of the story: “Mommy makeovers” quickly rose in popularity—this, at a time when plastic surgery was still pretty hush-hush—with 325,000 “mommy makeover” procedures performed the same year as the New York Times article. (For context, 347,500 breast augmentations were performed in total that year, the most popular surgery procedure at the time, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.) The new surgical trend even made it onto prime time that year: On a show called “Brothers and Sisters,” there was “a playground scene in which one mother asked, “Do you think I should get a mommy job?” detailed the New York Times.

That show might not have survived long past the aughts—and the term “mommy job” really didn’t stick—but mommy makeovers sure have. Today, they’re a seriously considered option for many women who want to take back their bodies after they’re done having kids. The specific procedures often performed as part of a mommy makeover include breast lifts, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, and liposuction. These procedures also happen to be the top four most popular plastic surgery procedures right now, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ most recent trend report.

One reason these procedures—and mommy makeovers in general—are so popular is that “pregnancy relics can make women feel like strangers in their own skin,” says Umbareen Mahmood, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City who is well known for her mommy makeovers. As Dr. Mahmood explains, having a child changes a woman’s body in so many ways, including sagging and stretched-out skin, deflated breasts, a weak core, or stretch marks. (RIP to my formerly perfect, 32DD breasts.) For Dr. Mahmood, mommy makeovers can also involve arm lifts, thigh lifts, and breast reductions.

Dr. Mahmood is a mother herself, and having a child helped her relate to her patients on another level: “I hear their stories of putting everyone else first and dedicating their energy to their job, family, and friends, and it is an amazing feeling to be able to help them do something for themselves.”

Dr. Doft thinks that the mommy makeover has gotten more popular in recent years for several reasons. “Women are having children at an older age so their bodies are less likely to ‘bounce back,’” she explains. Technology has also had an impact; more women are using IVF to help them get pregnant and having twin pregnancies, which can stretch the skin. C-sections, too, can create a “widened rectus diastasis,” or the “bulge” created by space in the abdominal muscles. The mommy makeover has also gotten a boost from GLP-1 medications, as people—regardless of their reproductive status—are losing a lot of weight fast and want to tighten and lift; why not bundle a few procedures while you’re under anesthesia and get them all done at once? ‘Ozempic makeovers’ are basically ‘mommy makeovers’ rebranded, explains Dr. Doft—you don’t need to be a mom to have a mommy makeover.

Though we typically think of the breasts and stomach as prime mommy makeover territory, that doesn’t mean the procedure is confined to the mid and lower body. Dr. Doft often performs a blepharoplasty (upper and/or lower eyelid surgery) during a mommy makeover procedure. “Some of the mothers in New York are older and are ready to have an anti-aging procedure at the same time as their mommy makeover,” she says. “Many women who have multiple children and start in their 30s will be in their 40s when the children are old enough that they feel they can take a little time to recover from surgery.” When a patient’s mommy makeover includes liposuction, she also often performs fat grating on the cheeks and nasolabial folds—to replace lost volume and fill in lines—using fat that’s removed from the flank area.

Now, if you’ve been having a hard time reading this without cringing at the term ‘mommy makeover,’ you’re not alone—the name can come across as overly cutesy for a surgical procedure, bordering on infantilizing. (Although can we all agree it’s better than “mom job”?) Even without the word “mommy” in there, calling these procedures “makeovers” can be misleading—surgery, again, is not a little change, like swapping out your lipstick. Also, adds Dr. Mahmood, “restoration” is a more accurate term. “Most mothers simply want to restore what has changed in their bodies from pregnancy.” Dr. Doft agrees. “The term has become part of modern-day vernacular and it is often mentioned when a patient calls to schedule an appointment.” But as a mother of two herself, Dr. Doft says she’d prefer “refresh” or “restore” in lieu of “makeover.”

Ahead, Allure asked real women to share all the details of their mommy makeover experience, from the most painful part of recovery to how they feel months to years post-surgery. Honestly, after reading these stories, I’m much more confident in my decision to get a “mommy refresh” scheduled in the next few years. (I need to start a surgery fund first, and I’d like to wait until my son can tie his own shoes.) I’m the opposite of squeamish—as most moms are—and reading about these ups, downs, and less-than-glamorous recoveries wasn’t a turn-off for me. It was enlightening and moving, hearing about women taking a big step to feel better about themselves after a truly life-changing event. And because I like to be the beauty trendsetter in my group of friends, I’m happy to boldly go into the operating room before the rest of my Baby Club pals. I may not be the same person I was before I had my son, but I can reclaim certain parts of her… with a little help from the surgeon’s scalpel. —Kara Nesvig

Bree R.*, 36

Procedures: Breast implants and lift with GalaFLEX internal bra, tummy tuck, and liposuction

Surgeon: Jerry Chidester, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in South Jordan, Utah

Cost**: $30,000

“Man, did I put in the hours at the gym trying to get my body back to what it was before having kids. The large gap in between my abdominal muscles [that happened during pregnancy] made a big difference in my life, not only when working out. My back hurt a lot. You live day to day with this weakness that you just think is normal because you’re used to it. [Editor’s note: Diastasis recti is the separation of the large abdominal muscles, which can weaken the core and put strain on back muscles; it’s common in pregnancy, and often resolves on its own postpartum or can be treated with physical therapy.]

I also didn’t like how my breasts looked—with a bra or without. They were like wind socks on a windless day.

My oldest was 13 and my youngest was six when I had the surgeries. For me it was about stability and core strength, plus being able to look in the mirror and see the work that I put in reflected back instead of feeling like I was never going to get there. But no matter how much I exercised, it just wasn’t happening.

After surgery, you need to have someone there to take care of you. My husband was like my nurse. I don’t do well on narcotics—they make me sick. So I was only on them for 24 hours beforeI switched to Tylenol. I rented a recliner that could stand me up and I’m so glad that I did because you’re bent over. You’re so tight.

I had a drain on each hip for about two weeks. One came out a few days before the other one. You have to keep an eye on the fluid until it runs clear. Lymphatic massages made a big difference with swelling. I had 10 sessions, and I could tell when it was time for another one because my arms had limited mobility—there were times that I couldn’t even put my own bra on, but after a session, it improved.

My scars are so thin, light, and smooth. After every shower, I put oil on. I used Monat Rejuvenique oil, which glides really well, with a massage scraping tool and a microneedling gold roller—[in my experience,] you’ve got to scrape it, you’ve gotta roll it.

Do you know what the hardest part was? Wearing the compression garment for three months. You feel so good after that first couple of weeks, you’re starting to do things again, and then four weeks in you’re able to work out, but you still have to wear the compression garment for another two months! I didn’t anticipate how frustrating that would be for me, just because I was ready to move on with my life.

A lot of people wonder about the financing. I saved up for three years, and it was worth every single penny. The difference that it’s made for my self-confidence and my ability to physically do everything that I need to was 100% worth it. I can lift my legs in the air—I could never do that before. I’m able to do ab workouts again. My back pain is gone. Not only am I happy aesthetically, but my functionality has gotten a lot better. I wish that people would stop putting such a stigma on [mommy makeovers] and realize that it is so much more than just getting bigger boobs.”

Patty K.*, 42

Procedures: Breast lift and removal of axillary breast tissue (which is near the armpits), tummy tuck, and liposuction of the abdomen, hips, flanks, and back

Surgeon: Rukmini Rednam, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas

Cost: $35,000

“I never considered plastic surgery until after I had my kids, who are five and nine. When I breastfed each child, the breast tissue in my armpits got larger. I couldn’t wear sleeveless shirts. Also, no matter how much I worked out or how much weight I dropped, I always had this stomach pooch, and my stretch marks really bothered me.

About three years ago [when my youngest was two], I started watching plastic surgery videos on TikTok about getting axillary breast tissue removed. It took me down the rabbit hole about various plastic surgeries you can have after children. I saw that you could get rid of a significant amount of stretch marks with a mommy makeover. I was like, This is something I think I would really appreciate and now is a good time for me to do it.

I met with plastic surgeons all over Texas, but no one really clicked until I met Dr. Rednam. She was a referral through a cardiologist friend, who had, in her own practice, seen a lot of Dr. Rednam’s breast work. It was a very in-your-face first meeting. You’re in a gown and Dr. Rednam walks in and then you get naked in front of a mirror. She examines everything, you discuss what you would like for your end result, and she goes over what would be realistic. After that consultation, there was no going back for me.

The first few days after surgery are easy because you’re medicated, so you don’t really feel the pain. You’re just walking like an old lady, hunched over, because the stomach feels very tight. And being in that position strains your back. That lasted a little over a week. I slept in a recliner the first three days, but on the fourth day I just got into my Tempur-pedic bed and I was able to sleep lying down.

The drains were the hardest part. I actually only had one, but it’s still very uncomfortable getting dressed when you have a quarter-inch tube coming out of your stomach. I was happy when they removed it after three weeks.

Week three was my turning point. I was feeling a lot better. I was off of all the medications, even Tylenol. I was just taking my herbal remedies—organic turmeric and arnica tablets for inflammation and a plethora of vitamins. By week four, I was back to my normal routine, except for carrying groceries because you’re not supposed to lift anything heavy. I got tired pretty fast so I would take cat naps.

Around that time, the scars got really itchy. You feel this dire need to scratch but you can’t because you don’t want to disrupt the healing. So I did cold compresses and topical Benadryl when necessary for about a month until it stopped. [Ed’s note: She started taking it a month after surgery, and stopped about two months post-op.]

One of my armpits took longer to heal than the other one. About two months post-surgery, that incision kept opening up and it was really frustrating. It set me back emotionally. I tried limiting the movement in my arm so it wouldn’t open. I had it re-stitched, but that didn’t really work either—it opened back up after a few days. So I was like, I’m not going to focus on this. I’m just going to be patient and let it do its thing and, sure enough, two weeks later it had healed.

Another thing I didn’t expect? My kids became a lot more independent in the weeks that it took me to recover, which was fantastic. They started getting their own clothes ready for school, filling up the water bottles, unpacking and repacking their backpacks. Stuff that they normally weren’t doing before. My oldest started unloading the dishwasher! We’ve kept those habits going.

I’ve gone through a lot to get where I am now, so I’m more focused on my health and nutrition than I was prior to surgery. I think it’s better to do this earlier rather than later, because the younger you are, the faster you heal. If I could do it all over again, I would have taken the step three years ago.”

Hailey H.*, 50

Procedures: Breast implants and lift, and tummy tuck

Surgeon: Umbareen Mahmood, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City

Cost: $16,000

“I had the [mommy makeover] seven years ago. I found Dr. Mahmood a funny way—one of my coworkers had given me the name of a different doctor, but I called the wrong place—it was Dr. Mahmood’s office. So I ended up there for a consultation. It wasn’t until later that I found out she wasn’t the person my coworker recommended. By then I just felt so comfortable with her, though. And I did my research after meeting her, of course, and discovered she was one of the best.

After three kids, I had excess skin with stretch marks, and I wanted to get rid of that. I breast-fed, so I lost firmness. I’m an athletic person and exercise is my therapy. I run six to seven miles a day, I weight lift, I do Pilates—you name it, I do it. In that way, I feel like I was in good shape, but my body didn’t look the same as before giving birth. I didn’t have to have lipo. It was just the excess skin that doesn’t go away no matter how much you exercise. Think of a balloon deflating.

Luckily, I had my breasts done first, then the tummy tuck three months later. If I had the tummy tuck first, I wouldn’t have had the breast surgery afterward because it was so painful for me. Recovery-wise, the breasts weren’t a big deal. They were swollen and felt huge for about a week. It feels kind of like after you give birth and you have that need to breastfeed.

The tummy tuck is a lot. Your body’s going through trauma because she sewed my abdominal muscles back together. My stomach was so firm. It wasn’t even that tight before I had kids. So when I first came out of surgery, I was pretty hunched over for almost two weeks. I took 10 days off work after my breast augmentation, and two and a half weeks off after the tummy tuck. The compression garments were tight. I usually sleep wearing nothing but a tank top so it was hard to get used to. It was claustrophobic but you have to do it.

The first question I asked Dr. Mahmood was when I could go back to exercising. I had to wait a little over six weeks after the tummy tuck. But it’s so important—surgery isn’t a one-and-done situation. I’ve seen people who’ve had tummy tucks who don’t take care of themselves afterward and they wind up in worse shape than they were before. I started slowly with walking and swimming, maybe a half-hour a day, and then I built back up.

One thing to consider is scarring. Mine isn’t that bad, but I’ve seen some people with just a very thin line. I’m used to the scars now. You have to think about what’s more important to you, the shape or the scars. Would you rather have incision scars or stretch marks? Everybody is different.

My advice is to be prepared for a long recovery period. I don’t mean just until you’re walking around again. The whole process takes time. After six weeks, I thought I was going to run 10 miles again. It doesn’t work that way. You must give your body a chance to recover. I felt numbness all around my tummy for about a year. I don’t think I was totally recovered until the 18-month mark.”

Lasha B.*, 46

Procedures: Breast lift and removal of axillary breast tissue (near the armpits), tummy tuck and hernia repair, and liposuction of the abdomen, hips, flanks, and back

Surgeon: Rukmini Rednam, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas

Cost**: $47,000

“I had an umbilical hernia, which is what really started my journey. [Editor’s note: Umbillical hernias are bulges at the navel that can occur during pregnancy, and happen when part of the intestine protrudes through an opening in the abdominal muscles near the belly button.] I’m a nurse caregiver, so I do a lot of heavy lifting, which made it worse. It was hurting me. It got to the point where it was protruding and every time I ate, it would be sore. But when I looked into what kind of scars a hernia repair would require, they were kind of big. If I had to do surgery, I didn't want to still be left with a belly and extra skin. I realized I might as well do a full tummy tuck with the repair. Plus, I just wanted to do something for myself after caring for my mom for the last five years before she passed.

As for my breast lift, when I had a mammogram, they said I had a benign cyst. I knew Dr. Rednam specialized in reconstructive surgery on breast cancer patients, so I felt very comfortable asking her questions and getting her opinion on what I should do. She told me that she would remove the cyst, send it in and have the tissue checked, and also give me nice-sized breasts afterwards. I started as a 36E and I'm a 36C now. I was very pleased with the outcome.

For the first couple of days of recovery, I was pretty much asleep. My spouse would wake me up to give me prescription medicine, have me walk a little bit around the house, and help me to the bathroom. I most definitely needed him. After three days, I no longer needed any pain medicine at all. I wasn't really sore. I was moving around the house. I started off using a walker just for balance—mostly getting in and out of the shower just because you don't want to slip and fall.

A week later, I started having a hard time breathing. I remember coming back in from one of my lymphatic massages—I was getting those twice a week—and just walking from the couch to the kitchen, I was out of breath. I was like, This just doesn't feel right. I called Dr. Rednam right off the bat. She immediately had me call 911 and go to the emergency room. Lo and behold, I had a blood clot in my lung. Luckily, it was just the beginning stages, and they put me on blood thinners. I was unaware that blood clots ran in my family until this. Afterward, my grandmother told me, ‘Oh yeah, I get blood clots like crazy.’ I wish I would have known that ahead of time.

Then, the following week, I started feeling lightheaded. After my blood clot experience, I was not going to play with my health, so I called Dr. Rednam and my PCP. I went into my PCP’s office and it turned out my blood levels were low and I needed a transfusion. I feel like everything they said could possibly happen, happened. It was just like, ‘Oh my God, why me?’ But after that, everything was smooth sailing.

I was nervous and happy about getting a new belly button because of the hernia. Instead of leaving my belly button, Dr. Rednam sealed everything off on the inside and created a belly button using my own tissue. Before, it used to stick out every time I ate, but now it’s just perfect.

There was one more thing that happened. Three months after my surgeries, the swelling started to go down and I noticed that I had started to develop “dog ears.” It almost looked like little love handles at the ends of my tummy tuck scar. To fix it, Dr. Rednam said she could do an extended tummy tuck, but without me having to go under. [Editor’s note: An extended tummy tuck has a longer incision than a standard tummy tuck, and goes around the flanks.] That experience really wasn't bad. It was a very comfortable, laid-back environment. She did it in the office and gave me laughing gas. I honestly didn't feel a thing. I probably giggled the whole time. Afterwards, that area was tender, but it wasn't anything like the initial surgery.

Dr. Rednam told me I may lose some feeling in the nipples, but thankfully my feeling came back there. It’s almost a year later, and I am still a little numb just right around the center of my belly. So I have to be careful how I scratch.

My scars look great—you can barely see them. I'm light-skinned, so I was afraid of getting dark lines. I wore silicone tape on the incisions under my breasts and on my tummy. I used BioCorneum scar recovery gel around my areolas since it’s hard to put tape on in a circle.

I feel like the surgeries were well worth it. I did everything I was supposed to do and I still had some bumps in the road, but at the end of it all, I'm very satisfied. My siblings and I went on a birthday cruise together a few months after surgery, and being able to wear a two-piece made me feel confident in myself. The stomach was most definitely showing!”

Amanda R., 38

Procedures: Breast reduction and lift with GalaFlex (commonly referred to as an “internal bra,” GalaFlex is a dissolvable mesh implant that supports soft tissue in the breasts), and an extended tummy tuck, which is a more extensive version of a tummy tuck, where the horizontal incision extends around the hips)

Surgeon: Jerry Chidester, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in South Jordan, Utah

Cost: $29,000

“I’ve wanted a breast reduction for many years. After having five kids, I started having bad back problems. I was going to the chiropractor often and they suggested that I look into having a tummy tuck to repair my diastasis recti. Plus, I wanted to wear a tube top or go braless. I wanted to get rid of the stretch marks. I just kind of wanted to put things back to where they were before the kids.

I found Dr. Chidester on social media. It was cool to be able to scroll his Instagram feed and find a body that looks like mine and then see the after. That sold me.

The day of surgery, I got there at 6am and I left at about 2pm. They had already pre-gamed all my meds and set them up for me in a box. I just came home and slept. I rented one of those geriatric lift chairs that stands you up, and honestly, that was the best. I slept in that for two weeks. I had to tuck pillows underneath my legs because you can’t straighten out.

They tell you not to lift your arms above your head at first, so a neighbor who is a hairstylist washed my hair for me. Those first two weeks are a mental game. You go into the surgery having full function and you’re willingly choosing to take yourself out for two weeks. At the two-week mark, you feel like you should be better than you are, but you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I feel like I fast-tracked my healing with lymphatic massages, which I had three times a week for three weeks. Then once or twice a week after that for six weeks. It is nothing like a regular massage. The massage therapist pushes fluid along your lymphatic drainage pathways.

[My incisions were] taped for six weeks to help minimize scarring. And then there’s the compression garment and lipo foam. [Editor’s note: These foam pads are worn under compression garments after surgery to help flatten and smooth the skin]. It’s bulky and cumbersome. I had to wear elastic-waist pants for two months, and that was disappointing because I’m like, Oh man, I just wanna show off this new body! When you have the surgery, you’re just so excited for the end result.

Losing the stretch marks was a great added bonus to finally having abs that work again. I didn’t really notice how bad my ab function was until after surgery. Now I have less back pain, and when I run, everything just feels tighter.

This was a total reclamation of my body and, in a lot of ways, my sexuality. I feel confident in my body again. It’s really helped my marriage because I’m excited to be in lingerie again.”

Kathleen G.*, 46

Procedures: Breast implants and a breast lift, tummy tuck, and liposuction of the abdomen, hips, flanks, and back

Surgeon: John Paul Tutela, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City and Livingston, New Jersey

Cost: $46,000

“I have eight kids, ranging from four to 30 years old. I was literally pregnant from 2010 to 2020. I nursed for years. I didn’t dye my hair. I didn’t even wear nail polish. I ate organic. I also sacrificed my body: I wanted to get back to me, and after all those children, that body was not me. I wasn’t comfortable in it.

In 2021, I almost died of Covid. I was in the hospital for six weeks, and they told my husband I had a 50/50 chance of survival. It was terrifying. I was like, If I make it through this, we’re going to start doing everything on my bucket list. And surgery was on it. I had been following Dr. Tutela on social media for years.

I wanted a flat stomach, I’ll tell you that. At first, I was going to have a breast lift but I didn’t want the extra scarring. So I thought maybe Dr. Tutela could just fill in what I lost [during nursing with breast implants]. I didn’t go bigger—he measured me and picked the size, which was almost exactly what I was before kids. It was amazing. I was like, How did you do that?

I had lipo a few months before the rest of my mommy makeover—we split up the procedures because it was too much at once. You’re not giving your body time to heal, and it would be so much pressure on your system. So I had surgery twice. I wore a compression garment afterwards both times and now I’ve gotten so used to the faja that I like the way it feels. [Editor’s note: The term faja, which has Spanish origins, refers to compression garments popular for post-surgical wear. “A faja decreases the swelling more quickly, “ says Dr. Tutela. “I have my patients begin wearing it when they wake up in the operating room. They wear it for 24 hours a day during the first six weeks and then transition to wearing it part of the day for the following six weeks.”]

The thing that sucks with lipo is the swelling—a very uncomfortable, tight feeling. Lymphatic massage was a must, especially in the beginning when my swelling was at its worst. You can feel the relief. [I think] anyone interested in surgery should treat lymphatic massage as part of everything and factor in the financial side of that. I had some numbness after lipo, but the feeling came back within three months.

The lipo was a walk in the park compared to the tummy tuck. I was sick from the anesthesia. [Ed’s note: She had general anesthesia for her tummy tuck procedure, and local anesthesia during liposuction.] And the first day, my husband had to help me to the bathroom because I could barely move—. I had sharp, intense pain. Not only does your abdomen hurt where you were cut open, but now your back is killing you because you’re hunched over. You can’t straighten out because you’re at risk of ripping open the sutures. On day two, I showered and it was horrendous. I was kneeling, crouched on the shower floor in tears. My husband had to wash my hair.

I had a breast augmentation at the same time as the tummy tuck, and I barely felt any pain from that because the pain in my abdomen took all my attention. I knew things were bad because I took muscle relaxers and Percocet for five days. That’s not like me—I didn’t take anything after lipo. After day five, things felt easier and by week two I was almost standing upright. I was driving by the end of that week.

I was taped up until week four. The only thing that I had to take care of was my belly button, which was a little gross. Dr. Tutela takes your belly button and just kind of moves it to where it has to go. He makes beautiful belly buttons. There was a dressing or gauze that you have to insert into your belly button and then tape it. That keeps the belly button from closing up. I waited more than three months to stop doing it, and I’m glad I followed protocol, as uncomfortable as it made me, because my belly button is perfect now.

Six months after surgery, I still have some numbness at my tummy tuck incision site and in my left breast, but it’s improving. I’ve been told it can take a year for it to go away—and if it doesn’t at that point, you might not get the feeling back.

But I’m back in a bikini this summer. I even did boudoir photos, which I had never done before. They came out so tasteful and beautiful. There was nothing in the photos that needed touching up. I’m finally comfortable with my body.”

Amber B.*, 46

Procedures: Removal and replacement of breast implants, partial breast lift, tummy tuck, and liposuction of back and thighs

Surgeon: Jerry Chidester, MD, board-certified plastic surgeon in South Jordan, UT

Cost: $35,000

“I had breast implants for 15 years so they were old and needed to be replaced. I took that opportunity to consult about a tummy tuck. After four pregnancies, my diastasis recti was noticeable even when I was at my thinnest. I can remember seeing someone from one of my old jobs in a parking lot and she thought I was pregnant.

Obviously you’re in pain after surgery, but it’s not excruciating. When you have a tummy tuck, you can’t stand up straight at first. That was the most uncomfortable thing. I was very happy to get rid of my drains after a week. It was kind of a weird sensation having them pulled out, but it wasn’t bad.

For the first two weeks, you don’t feel great. You just have to take the time and know that you’re healing. They have you wear a compression garment and inside that is lipo foam, so you don’t really see your body that much. Lymphatic drainage massages were beneficial, but one other reason it was nice to get one every few days is you have someone peeking in on your progress. My practitioner was a nurse and she told me things were healing properly.

You must prepare yourself mentally and be patient with yourself. I love to be on the go and recovering made me have to be still and chill. It’s a process to get back on your feet again. Your energy lags for a while, but I went back to the office two weeks after surgery. I was driving again at about three weeks, and back to doing mild exercise in a month.

The biggest benefit, which I didn’t expect, is that I feel physically stronger. I always had chronic dull, achy lower back pain. I realized that I don’t have it anymore because my abs were repaired. I had my first kid 25 years ago. It had been that long since I haven’t had that strength, you know?

I don’t want to backslide. I want to be healthier, and I’ve changed some behaviors that go hand in hand with that. I try not to drink soda because I don’t want to get a tummy again. I think about my choices. I feel super confident. I can show my stomach. I wear a bikini now and I’ve never done that my whole life.”

Danae T., 27

Procedures: Removal and replacement of breast implants, and Vaser liposuction [a form of ultrasound-assisted liposuction]

Surgeon: Jack Antoniou, MD, a plastic surgeon in Larnaca, Cyprus

Cost: €12,000

“I was always the person that was blessed with a perfect body without having to try—until I had two kids. Then reality hit. Oh my god, my body changed. And my confidence completely changed after that. Seeing a body that I didn't recognize anymore made me want to do something about it, so I tried. I tried working out. I was going to the gym. I was trying different diets and all that, which helped. I lost all my pregnancy weight, but my belly fat wouldn't leave. I felt like it was now stuck with me for life. I have diastasis recti and it makes it 10 times harder for the stomach to go back to how it was before, almost impossible. I knew that it would never be flat. I already had implants before [pregnancy], but I wanted to fix them after breastfeeding because they dropped.

I just wanted to get my body back—not back to what it was before, because you will never get your body back 100%—just loving my body more than I did, because I wasn't feeling confident after the pregnancies. Although people were telling me, ‘Embrace it, you had two kids,’ it's not as easy as it sounds. So I said to myself, let me just fix my body and fix my confidence.

I woke up from [the surgeries] with drains in my stomach, and they were there for three days.—they were uncomfortable, and if I made the wrong move, it would sting a bit. I couldn't get up from the sofa on my own. I felt helpless.

The most challenging part was [that] my daughters are two and three years old, and I couldn't lift them, I couldn't care for them. I couldn't put them to sleep. I couldn't do anything. I would just lie on the sofa all day. I would try to walk because the doctor said it's important. I think that's the most important thing for someone [who’s helping you after the surgery] to know—you're not able to do much for two weeks.

I wore a special bra that kept my breasts in place and a sort-of corset for 20 days after surgery. During that time, I would go to the doctor every two to three days, and he would take care of the stitches, the bandages, all of that. I didn't have to do anything. It’s been two and a half months now and the scars under my breasts, you can't see them because the breasts fall on top of them.

I think any woman who would say [the surgeries are] not painful, she’s lying. I had two C-sections and that pain was nothing compared to this. I had both surgeries at the same time, so there was pain coming from my breasts and my back and my stomach. I took drugstore Panadol. [Ed note: Panadol is a brand name for paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen.] It was worth it because the pain went away two weeks later, and you seriously forget about it—you see your new body and you're happy with it.

Parts of my stomach are still numb, [but] I'm almost a hundred percent back to myself. I’m happy looking at my body and I’m feeling confident in it, knowing I’m not restricted in what I wear. Before, I couldn't wear tight clothes. I would always have that bump. And everywhere I would go, people would think I was pregnant. So being able to not have that bump anymore and just be flat is a relief.”

Kayleigh B.*, 50

Procedures: Breast lift, removal of axillary breast tissue, and liposuction

Surgeon: Oren Tepper, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City

Cost: $11,000 (Dr. Tepper says this procedure typically ranges from $20,000 to $45,000)

“I had my mommy makeover three years ago. I’m pretty thin, but I hated the fat near my armpit that hung over when I wore a tank top. I have large breasts and, after having kids, they were very droopy. I also had very large areolas that I’ve always hated. I just wasn’t happy with my body. I work out every day. I do the Peloton. I run. I do ab exercises. I just could never get that nice flat stomach that I try so hard to get with diet and exercise.

I thought about it for years before having surgery, then I realized I wanted to do it while I was young enough to enjoy it. I didn’t want to be 60. I consulted with Dr. Tepper and it just seemed like perfect timing.

The thing that surprised me most was the lack of pain. I thought it was going to be a lot worse. I have a really low pain tolerance. I put numbing cream on before a wax! I was very nervous about pain, but I only took prescription pain medicine for the first 24 hours. Extra strength Tylenol worked great for me.

I had a stabbing type pain near the breast lift incision, but it wasn’t constant. The liposuction pain was more of a soreness. There weren’t even stitches that you could see—they’re inside. I had a dressing on it, some glue and Steri-Strips that Dr. Tepper removed a few days after surgery. The incisions were pretty scabbed over by then. As for the liposuction, there were just a few little holes that were a little bit oozy because he left them open to drain. I just had to put a little bit of gauze on them. Those healed up pretty quickly.

If I ever do something along these lines again, I would take more time off from work—I went back to the office after just one week because one of my colleagues was on vacation.

Speaking of vacations, a few months later, I went to the Outer Banks with some friends and we rented a house. I wore a bikini and one of my girlfriends was like, ‘Oh my God, you look amazing. Look at your abs!’ Everything was perky and she could see the definition in my abdomen.

The results motivate me to work out more. On days where I don’t want to exercise, I’m like, You know what? I spent $10,000 on my body. I don’t want this to go to waste! Because you hear horror stories where people get plastic surgery, then they don’t take care of themselves and they’re right back where they started in two years. I don’t want to be that person.”

Marisol M.*, 43

Procedures: Removal and replacement of breast implants, breast lift, fat grafting (for custom cleavage), tummy tuck, and liposuction

Surgeon: Deniz Sarhaddi, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Chesterfield, Missouri

Cost: $38,000

“After having three kids, I worked out six days a week. Still, I had what I called my “power pouch”; my belly wouldn’t go away no matter what. I knew at some point I was going to have my breast implants replaced. I could feel them moving around in there because my skin had sagged so much. I had a couple of friends who had mommy makeovers but I just hadn’t gotten up the guts to go to a doctor. Then I randomly met Dr. Sarhaddi at a neighborhood barbecue and she was so personable outside the office that I made an appointment for a consultation. When I saw her work on Instagram, I thought, ‘This is it. This is what I want.’

I wanted to have a scar that wasn’t too high on my stomach. I have a lot of tattoos and we were trying to work around them. I thought if the incision went all the way around, it wouldn’t look great. But Dr. Sarhaddi said she could keep it to the front. I really didn’t have any expectations for what it would look like—I figured I would just have a flatter stomach and be happy. With the breasts, I just wanted to put them back where they’re supposed to be.

We did my breasts first, and the tummy tuck three months later. She split up the surgeries because she didn’t want to keep me under anesthesia for both procedures—it would have taken too long. She downsized my implants thinking they would fit me better and she was right. Since I had implants before, my pecs were already stretched out so the pain I felt was much less than the first time. I took gabapentin and Valium after surgery—no narcotics. I didn’t even really take Tylenol. I was surprised and pleased about that. The first week, I took it easy and by the second week, I didn’t feel bad. I started slowly, but I was working out six weeks later.

After the tummy tuck was different. I was so tight! If I coughed or sneezed, I was terrified I was going to blow out my stitches. I even called the office [about that]—they said there are layers of stitches so you’re safe. I wore compression garments for six weeks to help with swelling. My first one wasn’t a full faja, it was just around the belly, with extremely strong Velcro. Every time you tore it off, it was real loud.

Then I moved on to a lighter compression garment from hip to rib cage. It wasn’t terrible. It didn’t feel like I was trying to waist train or anything. It felt like a little hug. After a while, you get used to it, and then when you’re allowed to go without it, you’re like, Are you sure this is okay? Doing the surgery in two parts gave me a chance to have a little revision, too, because one of my nipples healed a little lower than the other. So she was able to fix that in the second surgery.

Six months later, there’s still some tightness in my abdomen. It doesn’t hurt or anything, it’s just tight, which I think is normal after diastasis repair. Dr. Sarhaddi did some lipo sculpting to my belly and now I’m like, I have fake abs! This is amazing! And she says she spends too much time on belly buttons, but it is so worth it. I’ve heard a lot of people who have tummy tucks regret that their belly buttons just kind of look like somebody cut a circle out and stuck the belly button back in there. But my belly button looks like it was there the whole time.

I have never liked my body more. I bend over, and I don’t have a bunch of skin that’s hanging off me. I have cute little nipples now. I have a cute little belly button. I will wear a bikini all day. The confidence boost is the best. Before this, my husband hadn’t seen me fully nude with the lights on for about eight years, since my second pregnancy. Now, after the surgeries, he’s probably like, ‘Can you put some clothes on?!’”

Sophie Y.*, 38

Procedures: Fat grafting (for breast volume), tummy tuck, liposuction, and neck lift

Surgeon: David Hill, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Chicago

Cost: $23,000

“My weight has yo-yoed up and down since I was like a kid. After pregnancy, I just couldn’t get back to my lowest weight and I definitely was not feeling good about it. I’ve always been sensitive about the rolls on my back and my double chin. Every time we went anywhere, I’d spend an hour trying to decide what to wear because nothing felt flattering. I didn’t like my husband taking pictures of me and the kids, which is silly because it’s supposed to be about the memory. I didn’t even allow photos from the neck up because I had a constant double chin, and I was always super self-conscious. I was tired of feeling that way about myself. I wished I could feel a little bit more comfortable in my own skin.

I’m anxious around needles, but with the surgery, I was out before I could even count to three. Then I woke up and was like, Where am I? The next day, my breasts were very tender. If anybody even grazed me, it was super painful. And with the tummy tuck, you’re kind of hunched over for a few weeks. I knew someone who did it before and they warned me so it wasn’t a surprise, but it was uncomfortable. I was sleeping propped up for about five weeks. I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep like that but I got used to it.

When you shower, you must make sure all the bandages are dry. Showering was a process. I had to have my husband help me wash my hair because it was impossible for me to reach. I wore a compression garment that was very similar to a Spanx that goes up to your breasts. You also wear lipo foam under the compression garment to keep it tight, because for the first few weeks your body’s molding into shape from the lipo. Obviously, it was uncomfortable, but I did it because I wanted the best results.

It was hard not being able to pick up my one-year-old, who was really loving Mommy at that specific time. I was like, Come on, can you love Daddy for the next few weeks? My husband was super supportive. If you have a partner, they have to take on a little bit more. We’d split up chores based on what I could physically do. I would do the dishes and prepare lunch, and he would do diaper changes and stuff like that. At about six weeks, it was fine for me to carefully lift the baby.

It’s been six months, and all my swelling is gone. When I look back, I can’t even remember the pain. I very much moved on from that short moment in time. It was painful and it wasn’t great. But I don’t even think about it anymore. I was initially motivated by wanting to feel happy in my skin. Now I totally do. Even my husband says I’m like a different person, and so much more confident when I’m interacting with people.”

Sienna L.*, 32

Procedures: Fat grafting (for breast volume), nipple revision, tummy tuck, and liposuction

Surgeon: Rukmini Rednam, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas

Cost: $35,000

“I went my whole life without wearing a two-piece bathing suit. My parents were very strict and we weren’t allowed to wear bikinis. I had my daughter when I was 17 and after that, I had stretch marks, my boobs were saggy, and I didn’t like my gut. So I always wore a one-piece.

Once my daughter was a teenager and I knew I didn’t want any more kids, I tried to find a surgeon that was close to me in Texas. A big part of me choosing Dr. Rednam was that when I met her and her staff, everyone made me feel super comfortable. I’ve never shown anyone my whole body before, but I never felt like I was being judged.

I followed Dr. Redman’s instructions to the letter starting 10 days before surgery. I studied them like a Bible. I didn’t eat anything that would upset my stomach or cause any constipation. I stayed on top of my fiber gummies. After having the surgery, I recovered at my parents’ house for the first week—they don’t live far away from me, and their house doesn’t have stairs. I was hunched over for about three days so I used their recliner. It helped stand me up and lay me down, then I used pillows to elevate my legs.

I was up and walking the very next day, but I also took my medicine—hydrocodone and Valium—like clockwork. I weaned off of those prescription drugs after five days or so. There was only one time when I felt a sharp pain and that was when I tried weaning myself off too early—I spaced out my pills every eight hours instead of four, and I was like, ‘OK, Sienna, not yet.’

My first faja didn’t fit me properly. It was a little bit too long for my torso. A little bubble formed in my upper stomach. It was like a little ball of fluid. When I went to my first check up, we realized I needed a better fit. Luckily, during my lymphatic massage, my massage therapist showed me what to do at home to flatten out that bubble. Between the two of us, we drained everything and it went away pretty easily.

Lymphatic massages are expensive so I actually bought my own set of little wooden lymphatic tools on Amazon to roll over my body and sides. I did that for about a month every morning and night. I even did my legs to get my blood flowing and I feel like that helped a lot with swelling. I used silicone sheets for scarring underneath my boobs and across the scar on my stomach.

I also wore a better-fitting faja that had three sets of pins on your stomach so you could tighten it as swelling went down and you got smaller. I started at the third set and then I worked my way down to the first pretty quickly. I wore it for three months to help with swelling. I also wore a wireless bra over my faja at first, as loosely as I possibly could, so as not to squish my boobs. I didn’t want to compress where I had the fat grafted and deflate them. After a couple of weeks, I stopped wearing it and just let them be.

If I could do it all over again, I would have done it sooner. I watched TikTok videos like crazy before getting surgery and a lot of people were telling their horror stories, which freaked me out a little bit. I hope that my story helps women feel comfortable enough to finally do this because it took me 14 years to make the call.

When I turned 31, I wore my first two-piece ever to a pool party. It was just two months after my procedure and I still had tape on my stomach underneath. I have never gotten compliments like this. I literally had girls come up to me and say that I had a really good body. I didn’t tell them, ‘Oh yeah? I just got my whole body done!’ But it felt awesome.”

Sandra B.*, 46

Procedures: Breast lift, tummy tuck, and arm lift

Surgeon: David Hill, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Chicago, Illinois

Cost: $42,000

“I’d been thinking about surgery for years. I gained a lot of weight with my babies, and then I lost 100 lbs. The older I got, the more unhappy I was in my body. When my kids were very young, I worried about something happening to me during surgery, but as they grew up I worried less about that. When I looked in the mirror, I had a little body dysmorphia. Even after I lost all that weight, I still saw myself as heavy and just kind of like a mom. I felt like it was me time. I have never ever had a flat stomach, so I was excited to finally have that.

At six-months post-op, I’m probably still recovering. But the surgeries were actually not as bad as I thought they were going to be. I’ve had liposuction in the past, so I had an idea of what to expect. They wake you up and and you have drains, which you have to empty a couple times a day in the beginning.

I was not particularly sore. I actually felt really good. I wouldn’t put my pain above a five out of 10 on the pain scale. Even the week of surgery, I didn’t have to take prescription pain medications. The drains were annoying and so were the incisions, but it wasn’t a big deal. Because I did my stomach, my breasts, and my arms, though, it was a lot to manage at one time. You’re sweating because you can’t really get comfortable in your compression garments, you can’t really bathe well. It was my entire upper body, and everything was rubbing against everything. A couple of my incisions did get infected. The sutures split open because of all the rubbing and the pressure from the swelling. Dr. Hill has a HIPAA-compliant app he uses so you can text him pictures and he will respond back quickly, so he prescribed antibiotics.

I had a small revision to remove the ‘dog ears’ on my tummy tuck incision. [Editor’s note: “dog ears” are small, triangular puckers of skin that can appear at the ends of a surgical incision. In many cases, they disappear on their own after swelling subsides. If not, they can be excised during an in-office visit.] After you heal, Dr. Hill just numbs you locally and then cuts out that little chunk of skin and sutures it back together.

One thing I wasn’t prepared for was how swollen I’d be. I was upset the first couple of weeks because I looked heavier. I actually had buyer’s remorse for the first four months because I couldn’t see the changes. The fluid moved from my upper body down to my legs and even my legs got bigger. I tried to do lymphatic massage on myself three times a day because I really wanted the swelling to go away. Dr. Hill does lasers on your incisions too—there’s one that flattens them and another that takes the red pigment out. I try to go every six weeks or so, but it doesn’t feel great. I told my boyfriend [the laser treatments] hurt worse than the surgery. It burns a little at first, then after a few hours it feels like your skin is on fire. [In my experience,] the results were worth it, though.

I want to be realistic with anyone reading this—it’s going to be a long journey. I read the blogs and I talked to doctors. They try to tell you you’ll be back to yourself in two months because they don’t want you to say, ‘Oh no, I’m not doing it.’ I wish someone had been honest and said you need to wait six months before you judge your results.”

Lilah H.*, 41

Procedures: Breast lift and liposuction

Surgeon: Oren Tepper, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City

Cost: $20,000

“I follow a moderate lifestyle. I exercise. I eat healthy. But my trouble areas—my under arms, my lower belly—wouldn’t go away with consistent diet and exercise. It was very stubborn fat. I noticed a tremendous drop in terms of perkiness in my breasts after breastfeeding both my children. The volume was still there, but where they sat was lower. I was really focused on making myself feel better without a bra on. I wanted to wear a deep, plunging bathing suit in the summer and have my boobs sit up.

I went to Dr. Tepper, who came highly recommended by people I know in the New York tri-state area, to discuss what he thought the best path forward was for me. I was relieved to hear I wouldn’t need an implant or a reduction—just a simple lift. I didn’t need a tummy tuck because my muscles were in good shape, and he was able to address my problem areas with lipo. I met with him at the end of April, he had an opening at the end of May, and that was it. I was like, I want to feel great for summer.

I’m less than two months out from surgery, but recovery was much easier than I was anticipating. I had surgery on Thursday and was working from home by the following Tuesday. I didn’t need painkillers. Extra-strength Tylenol was sufficient. There was a little bit of soreness, but I was very careful about following the doctor-prescribed directions, and I’ve had a very easy time. For the first two days, I wore a compression bra. I’ve been wearing the faja most of the time—I only just stopped sleeping in it the other night.

[Dr. Tepper] is really into lymphatic massage so I saw someone twice a week at first. I do believe that helped move my healing process along. The lymphatic massages are quite gentle and they relieve some of the swelling you have. After having one of those massages, you can definitely feel a difference. And you could see a difference, too.

Patience is a big piece of this process. Don’t expect to feel like a million dollars right away. They say it takes three months to fully see your results. I’m already wearing the clothes I want to be wearing. The scars on my breasts look fresh but my incisions have fully healed so I’m able to swim in a pool or a lake. Dr. Tepper cleared me for running a couple of weeks ago. I’m able to lift weights. I just have to be careful about how much. The recovery process has been really smooth. I wanted to be able to bounce back quickly and I’m very pleased with the results.”

Paris K., 45

Procedures: Breast lift and tummy tuck

Surgeon: David Shafer, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City

Cost: $20,000

“When you’re pregnant, you don’t have any control over your body. You have to go with whatever changes are happening. I’m petite and usually weigh about 100 pounds; I gained 50 with my pregnancy, which is a lot for me. I lost the weight, but then all these stretch marks were there. I couldn’t wear a two-piece swimsuit anymore. I lost my confidence. Even if I went out on a boat, I’d wear a cover up. I sat in a corner and had my drink or hung out with my friends, but I wouldn’t go in the water. I wouldn’t show my body.

I’ve known Dr. Shafer for about 16 years. I have friends who were patients and they took me to him for Botox in my early 30s, which is how we met. When I decided I wanted to move forward with a mommy makeover, I knew he’d be the one to do it. After surgery, he gives you a nurse to go home with, so they take care of keeping you hydrated, they give you your medication on time, and they help you drain the fluids. You’re being watched, which makes early recovery a little bit easier. I stopped taking painkillers after three days because they make you constipated. After two or three days Advil and Tylenol were fine.

The compression garment I got was similar to Spanx. It’s seamless and really thin so you could wear it under any clothing, and it doesn’t show. It works wonders. I loved wearing it because it felt kind of nice. I couldn’t get back to working out for about three weeks—I do a lot of floor exercises and stretches, not necessarily a lot of cardio or anything. I started slow, but after six weeks, you’re back to normal.

Even after I decided to do this, I was very stressed because I didn’t want to look plastic. That was my biggest worry. Sometimes when you have a petite frame and you do your breasts, you look funny because it doesn’t suit your body. But Dr. Shafer gave me the perfect cup size and a beautiful waistline. And I don’t have a single stretch mark anymore. My bikini looks so good. You know that little tummy which even no matter how much exercise you do, it’s always there? I don’t have that problem at all. When I look good, I work better. When you love yourself, it’s easier to love others. Self-care and self-love is everything.”

Nicole A.*, 50

Procedures: Breast lift, tummy tuck, and liposuction

Surgeon: Umbareen Mahmood, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City

Cost: $25,000

“Originally I only wanted a breast lift every time I went swimsuit shopping. I was a DD and they were drooping, so every time I tried on a nice swimsuit, it just didn’t look right. Then I went to a birthday party for my godson and I noticed I had a little bulge when I was wearing my jeans, and I’m like, Oh no, what is this?! I was working out five days a week and my stomach was not going down. When I went to Dr. Mahmood, she said I could benefit from a tummy tuck.

The hardest thing after the surgery for me was the constipation. I already suffer from it, and between the anesthesia and the narcotics, it was a challenge. After the first three days on painkillers, I took Tylenol as needed, but honestly, I was not in pain. Maybe because I had previously had a C-section. If I could compare both, the pain is probably the same. The only thing that was really uncomfortable was the bending over. I had to walk hunched over for the first week. I had drains for two or three weeks, but they weren’t uncomfortable. I had a series of 10 lymphatic massages to help with the swelling. And I wore a faja for four months. I’m so happy I had surgery during the winter because I cannot imagine myself wearing that all summer. Though I got used to it—when it was time to take it off, I felt weird going without it. I eventually went for a revision on the right side of my tummy because I developed a little ‘dog ear.’

I had the tummy tuck first. I had the breast lift three months later, which was not painful. It felt like a bruise. The only complication was I developed a cord of tissue under my arm. It felt like a rope under the skin, so I had to go to some massages for that to try and break that up. I do wish I knew that after getting a breast lift I was going to lose a [cup] size. I didn’t think I would be a C-cup but when I see myself, [this breast size] does match my body.

I’m happy when I go shopping for clothes now. I fit into a small or extra small, and it feels great. I can wear wireless bras and triangle swimsuits. Because I have no stomach now, I’m able to wear those fitted dresses. But sometimes I miss my big breasts.”

*The patient’s name has been changed because they wish to remain anonymous

**All costs are approximate

To read more about plastic surgery:

• These Will Be the Biggest Plastic Surgery Trends of 2025

• 13 People Get Real About Their Facelifts

• The Price of Perky Boobs

Now watch Martha Stewart's 10-minute beauty routine:

Originally Appeared on Allure