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Dear Dame,
My husband and I are thinking about starting to try to conceive our first child. A few years back, I had weight loss surgery and subsequent tummy tuck/breast augmentation to remove excess skin. I’m worried about how pregnancy will affect my tummy tuck and breasts in particular. Is pregnancy going to mess up my previous cosmetic surgery?
-Tummy Time
Dear tummy time,
Ideally you should get pregnant first before a tummy tuck and a breast augmentation. But if you can't, you certainly want to know that things may change. It's not dangerous to get pregnant with these surgeries. Certainly not. But both surgeries may need revision after delivery depending upon what your aesthetic needs are.
So again, while it's not dangerous in any way, the way in which women's bodies react to pregnancy, delivery, and nursing is very individual. Some of it's based on genetics, how much weight is gained, the duration of nursing, postpartum, or the number of pregnancies. Is it your first, second, your third pregnancy? And all of these factors may impact the way these surgeries might be impacted.
The breast implants will not be affected by breast growth that occurs during pregnancy and postpartum. But the implants may look a little off after you finish nursing or after pregnancy. The implants are generally placed under the breast tissue or under the chest muscles so they don't interfere with mammary duct function.
Some issues that may arise are if your surgery cut the areola region. This can affect the milk ducts and nursing. There can also be decreased breast sensation after augmentation which may create some nursing issues. But most of these can be mitigated by working closely with your doctor and/or a lactation consultant.
Aesthetically, the tightness of the tummy tuck, the firmness of the breasts–these things may change. But there's no danger. Later down the line, you may want another breast lift or to replace implants or redo the reduction of the abdominal cavity depending on your aesthetic goals.
