What is a Mini Mommy Makeover?

Dr. Dean Kane Q & A.

Q. How is it different from a regular mommy makeover?

A. I have not heard of a Mini, Mommy Makeover.

​Known by many as a "Mommy Make-over", the decision making involves a variety of different procedures alone or in combination for women following childbirth, massive weightloss and menopause. The breast and the tummy lose tone and while the volume of the breast diminishes and sags, the tummy muscles and are stretched and loosened.

There are various options are for tummy or trunk, arms and leg contouring.

These options are dependent on your skin laxity and the areas of liposuction contouring you wish or need.

You can consider:

1. a traditional tummy tuck where the ab muscles are tightened, the sides are liposuction contoured, the excess skin is removed, the mons lifted and a new belly button is created.

2. a mini-tummy tuck where the skin below the belly button is removed and mons lifted.

3. a panniculectomy / lipo-sculpting where the large lower roll of tummy skin is removed and the upper tummy and sides and / or back are reduced with liposuction. A similar technique is used for the upper arms called brachioplasty or thighs called thigh-plasty.

4. a body lift used with patients who have super-skin excess and the tummy, sides and back skin are lifted with or without muscle tightening.

5. liposuction of the circumfirential trunk for body contouring.

6. liposuction of partial areas such as the front abdomen with and without muscle etching, love handles, inner and outer thighs, arms, neck; any of which use traditional, syringe and ultrasonic liposculpting.

7. Please consider the newest non-surgical, non-invasive technique to reduce body fat bulges and rolls!

CoolSculpting is tried and true for focused areas of fat thinning such as:

Tummy pooch and love-handles

Breast rolls and back rolls

Man-breasts

Inner thigh and under the butt "banana-roll"

Outer thigh and arms

Other areas patients have used CoolSculpting are:

The bulge adjacent to a scar,

Tightness around the arm, waist or thighs in clothing, and

Residual fullness after liposuction or tummy tuck.

The different breast lift / augmentation and reduction options depending on your needs:

1. a crescent lift to raise the areola

2. a donut lift will raise the areola, make it smaller and partially lift the breast

3. a vertical lift or mastopexy is used to further lift the breast as well as make the areola smaller

4. a traditional or "T" lift is necessary in larger women with more loss of volume to lift the breast

5. Any of these lifts can and are combined with a breast enlargement if desired using saline (salt water) or silicone gel implants

6. Some patients may wish to improve the contour along the side breast roll with liposuction

7. Breast reduction

A lot to consider! I recommend you obtain the evaluation and recommendations of a well seasoned and Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in consultation.

Good luck!

Dr. Dean Kane Q&A – Hello! Do I need a facelift or a mini facelift? Thank you

Question from Toronto, ON: I am thinking about a Face lift but I am confused after reading so much about Facelifts. Please give me your opinion. Thank you very much.

 Answer from Dr. Dean Kane, Board Certified Plastic Surgeon from Baltimore:

​You appear to have a fuller and tighter face than the usual individual requesting a face lift. You also appear to have a fuller side and a flatter side which is found in almost all patients. 
​
​Both a "Face Lift" and a "mini Face Lift" primarily redrape the skin in a upward and outward direction, followed by removing skin excess and then sewing the edges together. Based on your photos, I do not believe this will significantly help you. 

Various options for facelifting, minimally and non-invasive facial enhancements and skin texture improvements are available according to the skin laxity and areas of lift or tightening you wish or need. Both surgical and minimally invasive / non-surgical options are listed below.

Surgical lifts would be likened to pulling the bedspread and or top-sheet of your bed up to the head-board and removing the excess material.

Minimally invasive procedures such as fillers provide volume such as adjusting a pillow under the bedspread. Botox and Dysport act by pulling the top-sheet which drags the bedspread upwardly. If the bedspread (or skin) continues to fall to the foot of the bed despite fillers, Botox or Dysport you will need to consider a facelift.

Non-invasive options such as laser and light therapies, skin tightening products and technologies perform their tightening and smoothening of the skin similar to sending your bedspread to the dry cleaners. A more refreshed, even colored, glowing smoother and tighter spread covers the surface of the bed.

The most popular of thefillers,RestylaneandPerlane, a jelly-like clear skin filler is used to fill lines, wrinkles and folds. Juvederm and its longer lasting "cousin"Juvederm Ultra Plusare similar skin fillers, used to soften and fill the nasolabial ("parentheses") and marionette folds, the brow ("number 11") lines and fill and lift the cheeks and lateral brow or chin.Volumais the longest lasting, up to 2 year duration HA filler. Each one is used to expand or volumize the loss of tissue associated with expression, weathering or aging. All the fillers come with numbing anesthetic!.

Scuptrais the latest of the injectibles stimulation collagen at different levels of the skin adding volume but primarily firming and adding resistance to the formation of wrinkles, folds and descent.

BotoxandDysporttoo have been found to rebalance excessive facial expression, provide a non-surgical brow lift and lip lift and reshape the nose, as well as reducing wrinkles!

Dr. Obagi's new, second generationZO Skin Healthprograms may be added to personalized chemical peels, light and laser resurfacing and tightening and will, smoothen and even the color of your skin.

IPLand fractionatedlaserssuch asCO2 and erbium and now RF(radiofrequency) are additions to smooth the texture of the skin, tighten and reduce red and brown uneven pigmentation.

If you can pinch more than an inch of skin along the jawline in front of your earlobe, you should consider a surgical option to redrape and remove extra skin. 
​
​Returning to your concerns, it appears that lipo-contouring the lower cheek / jowl / neck,  fillers, Sculptra and proper skin healthcare with retinoids may be best options for you. 

Face and neck enhancements or any of the other procedures and their combinations should be discussed following a proper examination by a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon who performs all of these options so you will not receive a biased approach because he or she is limited in their skills.

I hope this has been helpful! All the best!