Defining Yourself Through a Mommy Makeover

Being a mom can be rewarding, challenging, frustrating, heartwarming, and immensely satisfying — all within a few hours. Just as there isn’t a single way to sum up the feelings that motherhood brings, trying to define moms within a narrow set of social standards is equally misguided. At our Marietta plastic surgery center, patients with children remain independent personalities with unique ambitions, strengths, desires, and emotions.
Living up to the expectations society sometimes places on moms is unrealistic and stressful. Many of the moms we meet who are considering even minimally invasive cosmetic treatments are doing something for themselves for the first time since having children. One common theme we discuss at surgical consultations for patients interested in Mommy Makeover procedures is how frequently moms put others’ needs ahead of their own. Many don’t want anyone to know they’ve considered doing something for themselves, because that isn’t how moms are “supposed to act.”
This is a relatively new phenomenon, as a recent opinion article in The New York Times points out.
“Motherhood is no longer viewed as simply a relationship with your children, a role you play at home and at school, or even a hallowed institution,” writes the author. “Motherhood has been elevated — or perhaps demoted — to the realm of lifestyle, an all-encompassing identity with demands and expectations that eclipse everything else in a woman’s life.”
This theme has invaded the world of plastic surgery, too. People who believe mothers undergo plastic surgery to meet society’s standard of beauty are neither right nor wrong. They are missing the point and probably have never spoken with a mom who sincerely misses the way she felt both physically and emotionally before having children. In fact, women lamenting the loss of their pre-pregnancy bodies express a profound sense of empowerment when they follow through with their decision to get cosmetic surgery.
Cosmetic surgery or non-surgical aesthetic procedures don’t define a woman any more than whether she’s a whiz in the kitchen or prefers fixing her children’s bicycles. We’ve found the moms who come to our practice — just like moms who never consider plastic surgery — are complicated, wonderful, and responsible people who aspire to be their best selves.