Empty Nesters’ Plastic Surgery

Being faced with an empty nest often leads mothers to think about having plastic surgery.  When a mom’s youngest child finally flies off to college, she may look around at her life and appearance and decide she needs some revamping.  The years flew past so quickly with a houseful of kids to raise.  Feeding them, taking them to school, making sure their homework was done, arranging play dates, dance lessons, gymnastics and soccer practice left little time leftover to dedicate to one’s own appearance.  Some women are so busy with their wee sons and daughters that they forget to even look in the mirror.  Suddenly, with no brood to fuss over, many women look in the mirror and wonder who that tired looking hag is.  Wrinkled face, drooping eyelids, flabby belly and shadows of her former breasts all look back at her.  No wonder her husband has been working late every night!  It’s time for a plastic surgery makeover:
- Wrinkled face:  Depending on her age and the severity of the wrinkling, this patient may want a facelift to lift the sagginess into a more youthful position or simply trying some rejuvenation techniques.  A facelift is appropriate for a person who has developed jowls, slack cheeks and sagginess on the lower 75% of her face.  For a person who isn’t ready for a full facelift operation, Botox, Restylane or a laser resurfacing might be more appropriate.
- Drooping eyelids:  When a person’s eyelids are saggy, it makes her look tired or cranky.  A blepharoplasty is an operation that removes this excess tissue on her lids and often helps with vision, as well.  If a person’s peripheral vision has been suffering due to drooping eyelids, insurance may step in to pay for part of the procedure as obscured eyesight is a health hazard.
- Flabby belly:  Flabby midsections aren’t due to fat.  They’re due to stretched out abdominal skin and loose internal corsets of connective tissue.  An abdominoplasty, also known as a tummy tuck, will be just the ticket for tightening up this belly region.  Swimsuits and fitted clothing, here she comes!
- Lackluster breasts:  Empty nest women may find that their breasts have begun drooping and appear flat.  Whatever happened to their fullness and curves?  Many moms who’ve had kids lose their cup-size and perkiness because of breastfeeding and pregnancy back-in-the-day and aging.  This can be remedied by an augmentation, a breast lift or both.  Augmentation entails a surgeon inserting implants filled with either saline or silicone into pockets beneath the breast tissue.  The implant may be placed above or below the chest muscle.  This may be enough to give her figure a boost or a lift may be necessary, as well.  A lift entails removing redundant tissue and repositioning the breasts into a more youthful appearance.
When an empty nester finishes with her plastic surgery makeover, she may find that suddenly, her hubby is coming home from work much earlier.  He may even bring flowers and a bottle of wine.  And when Junior returns from college for a visit, he may comment on how young and attractive his mom is and how happy she and dad appear to be.