When Would Be the Best Time to Get a Mommy Makeover?
If you’ve recently had a baby and are wondering “How long should I wait to have a Mommy Makeover?” our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute team can talk to you more about your goals and help you decide when the right time may be for you.
Although bringing a new life into the world can be a rewarding experience, you may not be so happy about the related changes to your body, such as flatter breasts, weakened core muscles, looser skin, and resistant pockets of fat in certain areas. Even exercise and a healthy diet may not be enough to address these issues, which can add to the desire to work on them as soon as possible.
While a Mommy Makeover can boost self-esteem and confidence by enhancing the appearance of the breasts, abdomen, and any other areas you may want to improve, and the customizable procedure includes treatments designed to target post-pregnancy concerns, there are timing issues to consider.
If you’re wondering how to determine whether the timing is right for you, here’s what you should know:
It goes without saying that childbirth is a highly taxing event for your body since your body undergoes numerous physical changes and your energy is depleted as the baby grows. Considering all of this, the body needs time to heal after you have a child, so you should wait until your body is fully healed and you are close to an ideal, stable weight before having a Mommy Makeover.
Know that you will get better results if you are closer to your goal weight, so it is better to try to lose some weight naturally before having the surgery—if you gained weight throughout your pregnancy. It’s commonly recommended that you wait for at least six months to one year after you have your child, though every person is unique.
Since an additional pregnancy could undo the results from a Mommy Makeover, it’s also advisable that you wait until you’ve decided not to have any more children. A new baby will do everything the prior baby did, including stretching out abdominal skin, causing the breasts to get larger to support milk production, and more.
Finally, keep in mind that you don’t necessarily need to have a Mommy Makeover when your children are still young. You don’t even have to have children at all! Any patient who wants to address multiple breast and body issues at once can talk to Dr. Mo Zakhireh about their options.
Contact the Cosmetic Surgery Institute by calling (760) 837-0364 or reaching out via a contact form online to discuss surgical options to restore your body to a pre-baby appearance.
Who Are the Best Candidates for Liposuction?
“How do you know if you’re a good candidate for liposuction?” Our Palm Desert-based team hears this question from patients who are considering body contouring treatments. While there is no single way to determine whether surgical fat reduction is ideal for a person, there are a few criteria to consider when considering the procedure.
When body fat doesn’t respond to diet and exercise, the persistent pockets and bulges can make you frustrated and prompt you to want to look for other options, such as liposuction—a life-changing procedure that involves reducing excess subcutaneous fat from specific areas of the body to create slimmer, better-defined contours.
Ideal candidates for liposuction include patients who:
- Are within 30 percent of their ideal body weight
- Are happy with their overall body size and maintain a stable weight
- Are unhappy with the appearance of fat deposits on some area of the body, which is diminishing their quality of life
- Have firm, elastic skin and good muscle tone
- Maintain a positive outlook and realistic expectations
- Are non-smokers
- Are unable to reduce stubborn fat deposits with traditional, non-surgical methods like exercise and dietary changes
Patients who are bothered by cellulite or stretch marks, are overweight or obese, have a severe illness or infection that could impair healing, or have poor skin elasticity may not be eligible for liposuction—but can talk to our team about other options and strategies.
Also, remember that liposuction can only remove up to 10 pounds of fat or so.
If you have recently given birth or lost a significant amount of weight, you may have some loose, stretched-out skin—and removing more fat could make the lax skin even looser. Skin can also lose some of its elasticity as you get older. Patients with sagging skin can still choose liposuction, but may also want to consider a tuck or lift to remove the excess tissue.
The first step in any case is to have a consultation, tell us about your goals, and ask us about the cost, risks, and benefits of this surgery. Before committing to the procedure, ask us if it is the best option for achieving your goals.
Ready to get started? Our Cosmetic Surgery Institute team is available to help. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request a consultation if you want to discuss surgical options to reduce stubborn fat for more streamlined contours.
What Are Some Outfits to Try After Getting Breast Implants?
Searching for some fun fashion ideas after breast augmentation? Our Palm Desert-based team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute knows that patients will be excited to shop for new clothes and flaunt their enhanced appearance after they’ve had this surgery. Many women feel more confident and self-assured, and they may be eager to try new fashion ideas to show off their new look.
Looking for an excuse to splurge on a new outfit? Check out these cute and stylish outfit ideas to try:
Bold Necklines
Bold necklines—such as V-necks, sweetheart necklines, and plunging necklines—can help to accentuate the new shape and size of your breasts. Choose tops and dresses with these necklines to draw attention to your chest and show off your new look.
Fitted Clothing
Fitted clothing can help to show off your new curves and accentuate your figure. Try wearing fitted tops, dresses, and pants to highlight your new look.
Push-Up Bras
Push-up bras can help to enhance your cleavage and create the illusion of fuller breasts. Invest in some quality push-up bras to help you get the most out of your breast augmentation results.
Crop Tops
Crop tops are a fun and flirty way to show off your midriff and your new breasts. Pair a crop top with high-waisted pants or a skirt for a stylish and sophisticated look.
Statement Accessories
Statement accessories, such as bold necklaces and earrings, can help to draw attention to your face and away from your breasts. Experiment with different statement accessories to find what works best for you.
Form-Fitting Dresses
Form-fitting dresses are a great way to show off your new curves and your new breasts. Choose dresses with a fitted bodice and a flare at the waist to balance your figure and accentuate your new look.
Ruched Tops
Ruched tops create the illusion of a fuller bust and show off your new look. You can choose from a variety of styles and colors, so you're sure to find one that suits your personal style.
Don't be afraid to experiment with different fashion styles and accessories to find what works best for you!
Our Palm Desert-based team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute can give you more information about what to expect after breast augmentation surgery. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request a consultation if you want to discuss surgical options for larger or shapelier breasts.
Can a Facelift Improve the Shape of Your Face?
Many patients want to know: Can a facelift change your face shape? For Los Angeles and Palm Spring-area women and men seeking a cosmetic change, our team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute explains that a facelift is a popular cosmetic procedure that focuses on creating more youthful contours. Considering that the procedure can help to improve the appearance of your face and restore a more youthful, refreshed look, the answer is yes!
By lifting and tightening the skin and underlying tissues of the face, a facelift can help to smooth out the face, reduce sagging, and create a more defined and youthful facial contour. Although aesthetic trends continually change, having a leaner face with a more inverted triangle shape that’s associated with youth is currently the look that is most in demand.
If you're considering a facelift to improve the shape of your face, here's what you need to know.
A Facelift Reduces Sagging
As we age, our skin loses its elasticity, and gravity pulls the skin downward, causing sagging and wrinkles. A facelift can help to lift and tighten the skin and underlying tissues, reducing the appearance of sagging and restoring a more youthful facial contour.
A Facelift Improves Facial Contours
A facelift can also help to improve the facial contour, creating a more defined jawline, cheekbones, and neck. The lower half of the face is re-shaped by the removal of excess skin, which can give you a more youthful and defined appearance and help to improve your overall facial balance and symmetry.
A Facelift Restores Volume
As we age, we lose volume in our face, and our skin becomes less plump and full as a result. A facelift can help to restore this volume, creating a more youthful and defined facial contour.
A strong, well-defined bone structure can provide a foundation for a youthful and attractive appearance. However, even those with a strong bone structure can benefit from a facelift as the aging process affects the skin and underlying tissues in ways that can detract from a youthful look. A facelift can help to restore the skin and underlying tissues to a more youthful position, creating a more defined and refreshed appearance.
Can a facelift change your face shape? Our team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute will tell you more about what you can expect from this procedure. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit an online contact form to request a consultation if you want to discuss cosmetic surgery for a younger-looking face.
Can a Nose Job Make You Look Younger?
Signs of aging may be inevitable, but there are a variety of cosmetic techniques that can help us to delay them for as long as possible if you want to maintain a youthful look. While wrinkle reduction and similar treatments are obvious choices, some other strategies may be surprising. For example, have you ever wondered: Can nose surgery make you look younger? Palm Desert-based patients considering rhinoplasty surgery may be curious about the answer.
Although minimally invasive options like facial fillers and neurotoxins can make you look years younger, and cosmetic surgeries such as facelifts can provide even more dramatic results, another method you may not have realized can help “turn back the clock” is nose surgery.
Rhinoplasty is commonly thought of as a facial rejuvenation procedure that can improve a specific feature by addressing aspects such as a crooked bridge, a bump on the bridge, and other perceived flaws. The changes that are made to the nose are customized to fit each patient’s unique features. However, rhinoplasty isn’t usually thought of as an anti-aging procedure and the nose in general isn’t typically the focus of anti-aging treatments.
Most of us are aware of the changes that occur in our skin as we age, but the nose is also affected. Age-related changes can cause the nose to slope downward and create a smaller distance between the nose and mouth. Even though your nose isn’t growing, changes can occur that cause it to lengthen. It’s common for the outer parts of the nostrils to look wider over time as well. The skin on the nose thins and loses elasticity, while the nose tip droops and parts of the cartilage separate. The loss of support causes it to look droopy and more pronounced.
Changes that occur in other features—such as loss of facial fat from the cheeks—also cause the nose to appear more prominent.
One of the advantages of a rhinoplasty is that refining the nose can make your entire face look years younger and more refreshed.
Our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute can answer more questions about rhinoplasty and other facial surgeries. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request an appointment if you would like to discuss wrinkle injections.
What Are Crow’s Feet and How Does BOTOX® Reduce Them?
Can BOTOX® get rid of crow’s feet? Our Los Angeles-area team at Palm Desert’s Cosmetic Surgery Institute believes that this injectable is one of the most effective strategies for softening these wrinkles.
Crow's feet are the fine lines and wrinkles that develop around the outer corners of the eyes. They are one of the most common signs of aging, and they are caused by a combination of factors, including a natural loss of skin elasticity, repeated facial expressions, and exposure to environmental factors like sunlight and pollution. While crow's feet are a common part of the aging process, many people are self-conscious about the fine lines and seek ways to reduce their appearance.
One popular treatment for crow's feet is BOTOX®, which is an injectable neurotoxin made from a purified form of botulinum toxin. BOTOX® works by temporarily relaxing the muscles that cause wrinkles to form. When injected into the muscles around the corners of the eyes, BOTOX® relaxes the muscles involved in squinting and prevents them from contracting, which in turn reduces the appearance of crow's feet. The skin smooths out, generating results that are most noticeable when you laugh.
Using BOTOX® for crow's feet is relatively simple and straightforward. Once you have decided to move forward with the treatment, we will inject small amounts of the medication into the muscles around your eyes using a fine needle. Only a small number of units of BOTOX® will be needed. The treatment session typically takes only a few minutes, and there is minimal discomfort or downtime.
The effects of BOTOX® treatments for crow's feet typically last for several months, and the results can be seen within a few days of the procedure.
In addition to BOTOX®, there are other treatments that can help reduce the appearance of crow's feet. These include over-the-counter creams and serums that contain retinol, vitamin C, and other antioxidants. Additionally, lifestyle changes like protecting your skin from the sun by wearing sunglasses, sunscreen, and hats or limiting sun exposure, using over-the-counter products, quitting smoking, managing stress, and eating a healthy diet with foods high in antioxidants can help prevent the development of crow's feet in the first place.
Our team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute team can tell you more about how this injectable works. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request a consultation.
What Are the Benefits of Preventative BOTOX®?
People tend think of BOTOX® as a corrective treatment to soften lines and wrinkles that have already formed on the face because of repetitive facial expressions. For decades, it has been marketed as a treatment for visible signs of aging on the face. However, it’s often easier to prevent the effects of aging than to treat them after they have developed. Consider this, many of our patients want to know: Does preventative BOTOX® really work? Our Palm Desert-based team believes that this treatment is highly effective for preventing the formation of lines and wrinkles on the face. The idea is that you can receive the injections before the onset of pronounced wrinkles to stop them from developing.
The best candidate for preventative BOTOX® would be someone who is just starting to see faint expression lines developing on their face. Lines could become deep wrinkles in the future, and you can see where they’re going to develop.
Botulinum toxin injections work by directly targeting specific active muscles that are responsible for these lines. The active ingredient presents nerve signals from reaching the proper receptors, thereby preventing contractions. By limiting a few contractions related to certain expressions, you can prevent the associated wrinkles.
When you start getting BOTOX® injections at a younger age, there will be fewer lines and wrinkles to treat as you get older. You may therefore need less BOTOX® compared to another person who never had preventative botulinum toxin injections. Because of this, people in their mid to late 20s and early 30s may benefit most—especially if they have very expressive faces.
Just like traditional applications of BOTOX®, the treatment is simple and straightforward. Injections are typically completed in just a few minutes. Furthermore, there’s no downtime, so you can go back to work or your normal activities right away after an appointment. If you’re accustomed to buying topical anti-aging products, botulinum toxin injections can save you money as time goes on.
If you’re searching for answers to such questions as, “Does preventative BOTOX® really work?” our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute team can explain more during your consultation. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request an appointment if you would like to discuss wrinkle injections.
What Are the Top Benefits of Breast Augmentation?
It goes without saying that any form of cosmetic surgery can be highly transformative, but what many of our patients want to know is: “Is it worth it getting breast implants?” Our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute team believes that for many patients, the advantages of breast augmentation with implants will greatly outweigh any disadvantages.
Research has shown that a majority of women around the world aren’t completely satisfied with the size of their breasts—either wishing that they were bigger or, in some cases, smaller. Some women may have lost volume in their breasts due to aging, weight fluctuations, or pregnancy, while others may have always been naturally smaller chested.
A breast augmentation procedure is ideal for someone who wants bigger breasts or who hopes to improve the symmetry of their breasts. See below for some of the top benefits of breast augmentation.
Improving Volume and Curves
Many women associate breasts with both beauty and vitality. If you’re naturally flatter chested, you may want to add more curves to your physique, go up a cup size, or fill into everyday clothing in a more comfortable and flattering way. Breasts augmentation is ideal for sculpting a curvier silhouette, which patients often associate with femininity and feeling sexy.
Better Confidence and Self-Esteem
Feeling more attractive and confident is one of the biggest advantages of augmentation with implants. Many women say that they feel higher levels of self-esteem after breast augmentation, which can also help to make them feel better in their relationships. You may have felt self-conscious about the size and shape of your breasts before breast augmentation, so a boost of confidence after this procedure is a welcome benefit.
Have More Clothing Options
You’re likely to have a larger selection of clothing that you can buy and wear after breast augmentation. Tops will no longer hang loosely around the chest. You may also be more comfortable wearing the V-neck tops, bikini tops and tight-fitting shirts you may have avoided before.
Is it worth it getting breast implants? Our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute team will explain everything you’ve wanted to know about the procedure so that you can determine whether it’s ideal for you. If you’d like to get started with breast implants, call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request a consultation.
What Makes You a Good Tummy Tuck Candidate?
Getting a flat stomach with sculpted abs can be very difficult to achieve—even if you’re slim, healthy, and exercise regularly. Resistant fat tends to cling to the belly area for many people, and especially those who naturally have a more apple-shaped body because of genetics. Pregnancy can cause excess saggy skin and separated muscles that result in a belly bulge. For men, the stomach is the default storage area for any excess fat on the body. Although many people want a flatter, firmer abdominal area, a tummy tuck may not be the right choice for every individual. Patients often ask us, “What does your weight have to be to get a tummy tuck?” Our Palm Desert-based team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute can answer the questions you might have about what is technically known as abdominoplasty during your consultation, but in the meantime, here are some basic traits that tend to make an individual a suitable candidate for this surgery.
- You are physically healthy and at a stable weight for at least six to 12 months prior to having this procedure
- You maintain realistic expectations
- You are a non-smoker
- You are unhappy about the appearance of your abdominal area
- You have sufficient loose skin on the stomach that can be tightened without causing a “stretched” appearance
- You don’t intend to get pregnant in the future
- You are committed to maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle to preserve results from a tummy tuck
- You are bothered about having loose skin, excess fat, or other types of cosmetic imperfections on the belly area
Patients should keep in mind that while this surgery is an excellent strategy for reshaping the body, a tummy tuck isn’t a substitute for weight loss. Patients should be within 10 to 15 pounds of their ideal weight to have this procedure. Gaining or losing a significant amount of weight after a tummy tuck could have a negative effect on results and may even require revision surgery.
Our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute team can provide a more comprehensive answer to this and other questions during your consultation. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request a visit.
Will Fat Come Back After Liposuction?
Even people who are in great shape can still have areas of excess fat that they wish they could reduce. Unfortunately, exercise and a healthy diet may not be enough to reduce stubborn fat that clings to isolated areas due to genetics, age, or hormonal factors. Liposuction, which involves the selective surgical removal of subcutaneous fat from stubborn areas, is ideal for re-shaping the body and producing major aesthetic improvements to boost confidence. With that in mind, many patients who are having surgical body contouring procedures want to know: Does fat removed from liposuction come back? Our Palm Desert-based team at Cosmetic Surgery Institute knows that patients enjoy the transformative results they can achieve with this treatment—but also that they are frequently concerned about the potential lifespan of those results.
While liposuction is a highly popular cosmetic procedure, it is also one of the most misunderstood treatments. If you’re worried about fat returning, here’s what you should know:
The fat that is surgically removed during a liposuction procedure is indeed gone for good. Since the fat is literally taken out of the body and those fat cells can’t regenerate, there’s no need for patients to worry about the same fat coming back in the areas that were treated. This means that many patients will be able to enjoy the dramatic outcome from the procedure essentially forever.
However, it is important to remember that if a patient gains weight after liposuction, it’s likely that the results will look less impressive as remaining fat cells—in the surgery area as well as other areas—can become enlarged. If a very significant amount of weight is gained, new fat cells can be created even in treated areas.
Therefore, it’s important to maintain your post-liposuction weight to maximize results. Continue to eat well, exercise regularly, and be aware of your overall health.
Regardless of whether or not you gain weight, patients should know that there will still be comparatively fewer fat cells in treated areas than in untreated ones. Fat-reduction surgery alters a person’s distribution of fat, so volume or “bulk” may be stored in other body areas. This means that a new body shape will remain mostly the same and look better than it did if the patient hadn’t had liposuction.
Our Palm Desert-based Cosmetic Surgery Institute team can provide a more comprehensive answer to patient questions during a personalized consultation. Call us at (760) 837-0364 or submit a contact form to request an appointment with a board-certified plastic surgeon to discuss liposuction.