Mommy Makeover: How long is surgery?

Depending on the type of procedure and the surgeon or surgeons involved, a mommy makeover may take as little as 4 hours to as long as 8 hours.  In my practice, I have the luxury to have another board certified plastic surgeon whom I "tag team" all of the mommy makeover surgeries with and they take much less time.  Less anesthesia time and less operating room time leading to a faster recovery.We also do the single incision mommy makeover which only uses one incision for both a tummy tuck and a breast augmentation. 

A mommy makeover typically involves surgery of the breasts and body.  Surgery times are dependent on the amount of procedures involved (breast lift, implants, tummy tuck, liposuction, areola reduction, etc.).   I perform all of my mommy makeover procedures under general anesthesia with an anesthesiologist.  On average,  patients can be under general anesthesia anywhere from 3-8 hours.  I only recommend an overnight stay in the hospital when medically necessary or if the patient does not have an attentive caregiver at home. 

Mommy Makeover is a general term that describes reversing the changes that often come after pregnancy and breast feeding. This includes saggy breasts, loose skin and a widened abdomen. Surgery involves breast augmentation/lift and an abdominoplasty. Depending on the patient and how extensive the surgery needs to be, it can range from 5-8 hours. If the surgical plan will extend over 6 hours, I will often advise the patient to stage the surgeries for safety reasons.
Combining multiple plastic surgery procedures can be very rewarding, but safety is always my utmost concern. For breast surgery combined with a tummy tuck, general anesthesia is used. This is absolutely necessary to obtained the best result on the abdomen as is possible. 
These combined procedures are performed in the hospital, and I have a standardized safety protocol that I use. Patients usually go home the same day, with close follow-up in my office Overnight stay is rarely necessary, although some of my out of town patients do prefer it.
Make sure that your surgeon is board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and that he or she has experience and a safety record performing these procedures. 

I would ask your surgeon as this will depend upon your anatomy, the
surgeries planned, and the protocols established by your surgeon.Kenneth Hughes, MDLos Angeles, CA

Mommy make over ( typically breast augmentation and tummy tuck) takes 4 -6 hours. Generally it is an outpatient operation. You will need a someone to be with your for several days and nights. If your house has many stairs to the bed room, you should plan on staying on the first floor for the the fist couple of days to avoid multiple stair climbing, Patients who have many stairs to get into their house, should consider staying at  an overnight facility.Mommy make over can be performed with IV sedation (local mac) by a physician  who is experienced with this technique. Recovery with local mac is often more comortable.Yours,Jon M. Grazer, MD, MPH, FACS

Depending on what surgeries you are having done a Mommy Makeover can take anywhere from 4-6 hours. We prefer to use general anesthesia when doing such a major surgery and we also recommend staying over night.  Our office sends all of our patients home with a pulse oximeter so you can make sure your oxygen levels stay in the normal range as well as a set a of sequential compression devices to help prevent blood clots.   

I usually limit operating time to 6 hours with a mommy makeover. Almost all patients are kept overnight in the facility. All patients are done under general anesthesia.

Mommy makeovers involve
various combinations of proceudres to improve the breasts, abdomen, hips, back,
arms, legs, buttocks, etc.  Depending on your specific plan the surgical time can vary, but we generally have an upper limit of 6 hours to optimize safety and a quick recovery.



Combination procedures
are safe and very effective in the right hands.
The surgeon HAS to be an expert in EACH procedure and must have a lot of
experience in performing combination procedures and can minimize the operative
time. For example, we work in a team and
would take around 4-5 hours for the complete operation. His allows us to get better results with less
surgical time and less trauma. Our
patients are typically wlking the same day and tapering off of pain medications
by 4-5 days. By a week, our
internattional patients are generally touring around town enjoying tourist activities.

Combination procedures can give powerful results but SAFETY is
KEY. You definitely have to choose your
surgeon correctly and make sure that he/she has the training and experience to
meet your goals with absolute safety. Don’t settle for less than a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon
with specialized expertise in this procedure.

A mommy makeover can take 3-6 hours depending on the type of surgery you need.  Most doctors will use general anesthesia.  I believe that sedation alone is not enough anesthesia to perform an abdominal and breast procedure.  Some doctors keep patients overnight, but in our practice we are able to discharge patients to their home the day of surgery.  Most of our patients do quite well going home and I would suggest that this is the best option for most people.  Injecting long-acting local anesthetics seems to help patients recover faster. 

A mommy make over is a combination of different procedures including breast augmentation, breast lift, breast reduction, mini tummy tuck, abdominoplasty, and liposuction.  These may be done as isolated procedures or in varying combinations depending on the patients wishes.  The length of the surgery would depend on what procedures are done and the surgeon doing it.  Surgery times may range from 2 hours to 6 hours.  General anesthesia is used for patient comfort and safety and local anesthesia is used for post operative pain control.  The option to stay over night is available at my facility and recommended for patients with longer surgery times.