Dr. Lee's Blog

As I type, I am imagining the response to this title statement, "Huh?" However, this is actually peraphrased from a statement of patient of mine who has had a Mommy Makeover. This woman is a powerhouse athlete, and a mother of three who came to the office with questions about the status of her abdominal wall. A tiny woman to start, pregnancy had left her with a wide separation of the rectus abdominus muscles, a condition called rectus diastasis. Although she could hide this "mommy belly" in clothing, she felt that she could no longer exercise with the ease and comfort of prior to pregnancy (as if running 10 miles could ever been sen as easy or comfortable). What is often under appreciated is that rectus diastasis result in an imbalance of all the muscles of the abdominal wall including the internal oblique, external oblique and the transversalis. Without proper muscular alignment, good core stability and strength are difficult or impossible to achieve and maintain. Exercising becomes much less efficient and may even cause injury. Core strength and balance of core muscles is required to maintain the structural integrity of the back, hips and legs.

While patient of mine is, no doubt, pleased with being able to get back her pre-pregnancy body (with a bit extra up top) repairing her rectus diastasis has helped her back and other lower extremity pain and enabled her to return to the level of physical activity she enjoyed prior to pregnancy. She regrets only not having had the procedure 5 years earlier when she first started thinking about it. It is her belief that those 5 years were time that could have used better and more comfortably had she not been struggling against the physical limitations resulting from rectus diastasis and core instability. She maintains that abdominoplasty has given her back a quality of life now and will help her maintain her physical ability and comfort for the rest of her years.