Cosmetic surgery doctor and expert, Dr Mark Kohout discusses the kinds of operations performed together and singularly and how to not end up like Heidi Montag!
By Dr Kohout
Most people I see for cosmetic surgery are interested in a single procedure. For instance, they may have long been concerned about the appearance of their nose or ears, or the size of their breasts. They will come in, have a rhinoplasty, ear pinning or a breast augmentation and after their recovery is complete, I may never see them again.
However, around 20% of my patients are interested in several areas or cosmetic surgery procedures. These may be done either in separate operations or in a single operating session. There are, broadly, 3 examples where multiple cosmetic operations are common:
1. After pregnancy/ childbirth
2. Facial ageing
3. After weight loss
After pregnancy/ childbirth
There are several areas that are affected by this life-changing event, and several procedures that I have requests for:
Breast augmentation and/or lift (mastopexy): the increase of breast size during pregnancy and breastfeeding is followed by loss of volume and some drooping. Depending on the shape of your breasts, either augmentation alone, or combined with a breast lift (mastopexy) is a common procedure to repair sagging breasts, and restore breast size and full shape to your figure.
Tummy Tuck or Abdominoplasty: the stretching of abdominal skin, particularly if you are unlucky enough to get stretchmarks is virtually a given after pregnancy. Often the skin looseness is combined with separation of the abdominal muscles that can give a “pot-belly” appearance and an “outie” belly button appearance. The muscle separation is often severe enough to cause discomfort while doing exercise, preventing many women from starting a regular exercise programme. A Tummy tuck is a well proven way of restoring a tight, flat stomach.
Vaginal tightening. Natural childbirth causes stretching and often leads to decreased satisfaction with intercourse for both partners. Vaginal tightening can restore vaginal tone and tightness. This is actually a very successful operation with minimal pain and excellent feedback from my patients.
The three operations can be performed together or, as is more common, a combination of two: say, breast lift and a tummy tuck, or tummy tuck/ vaginal tightening. With combined procedures involving a tummy tuck, you may expect to be in a hospital for 3 nights, but breast lift/ vaginal tightening is performed in a day surgery.
https://www.drmarkkohout.com.au/plastic-surgery-photos/abdominoplasty-photos
https://www.drmarkkohout.com.au/plastic-surgery-photos/breast-augmentation-photos
Facial ageing
Correcting facial ageing often involves several procedures and, for the best, most balanced and natural looking results, I recommend performing them in the same operation. Certainly it is possible to separate, say a facelift from browlift and eyelid surgery, but doing them together gives more natural looking results. The most common combinations are:
Facelift: this operation corrects cheek folds, jowling, loose neck skin and droopy skin around the mouth. This is by far the most effective operation for correction of facial ageing.
Eyelid correction (blepharoplasty): droopy eyelids skin gives you a tired, old appearance and reducing the loose skin brightens and freshens the overall facial look. This is sometimes combined with a brow lift, to restore a more youthful appearance to the whole upper face.
Fractional laser (Fraxel): improves the texture and colour of your skin, particularly if you have seen a fair bit of sun in your life.
A combined facial rejuvenation operation may take 4-5 hours, but, remarkably, it is done in a day surgery. It is not a big operation per se: it takes long as it is exacting, finicky surgery, but the results are certainly worth the effort.
https://www.drmarkkohout.com.au/plastic-surgery-photos/facelift-photos
After weight loss
Most body areas are affected by weight loss: face, neck, chest and breasts, abdomen, thighs and buttocks.
Correction of these areas is very successful trough a combination of breast lift, abdominoplasty, thigh lift, buttock lift and even a whole lower bodylift–which combines abdomen, thighs and buttocks lift in one procedure.
