Say bye bye to bras?

OMG. So I went to Phuket, Thailand in 2008 for a story that I writing for a magazine here in Melbourne. I watched some Aussie mums have post-baby breast implants and, let me tell you, it looked pretty gosh darn painful.

Apparently, there's a new surgery using Breform which is a breast enhancement that functions like a sports bra under the skin or as the manufacturer says it's an 'internal bra system' (yikes, a 'system'...sounds like a machine from the future). The benefit of this new technology is that it prevents the skin from stretching or sagging unlike traditional implant surgery. The Breform is made of a special mesh which, upon being placed underneath the skin, will over time become incorporated into the breast tissue.

The Breform has been licensed in Europe but the USFDA says it will be about 10 years before Breform is approved; it needs to undergo lots of testing but preliminary studies show that it's pretty safe thus far. In spite of the good results, some experts are concerned that the Breform will be dangerous or present a cancer risk for pregnant or breastfeeding women whose breasts might outgrow the internal bra.

Hmm. Impants that leak or mesh that you can potentially outgrow? Can you think of anything worse?

Photo credit: www.Breform.com

Botox: not good

Ladies, a word of advice in case you are planning to freeze your face during pregnancy:

Don't do it.

According to The Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia (CPSA), the use of Botox during pregnancy or while breastfeeding should be strictly prohibited due to the high risk of birth defects. The call for plastic surgeons to follow these guidelines strictly comes on the heels of a case of a woman who injected a similar anti-wrinkle toxin into her face during the first month of pregnancy. Her baby was born blind and deaf.

How important is a wrinkle-free face?

Sources: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2009/01/pregnant-women.html
http://www.smh.com.au/news/lifeandstyle/lifematters/warnings-botox-can-cause-birth-defects/2009/01/27/1232818427668.html

Are you 'laser hot'?

According to Newsweek, the latest trend for American post-baby mums is surgery (which doesn't seem like a new trend at all). However, the term being used to describe the women who choose to erase the 'aftermath' of birth is laser hot mamas...a reference to the laser treatment used to by dermatologists to remove stretch marks.

Wow. According to an April 2007 survey by KRC Research (on behalf of Suave), out of more than 3,000 mothers, 67 percent said they would rather regain their pre-baby body than their prebaby sex life.

This does not necessarily surprise me but I think this poll is definitely misleading. Articles in the media about post-baby cosmetic surgery paint a picture that all mothers, regardless of race, class or sexuality, are running off to have their floppy bits removed. This is definitely not true. Clearly, this issue of plastic surgery is inextricably linked with being middle-upper class; we are talking about women who can afford to have surgery. Most women do not have the luxury (if you could even call it that) of having their stomach reshaped and their stretch marks removed. The 'yummy mummy' is wealthy, overwhelmingly Anglo and far removed from the life of the average mother.

I find this particular portion of the Newsweek article the most offensive:

“Hormones alone can wreak havoc on a woman’s body during and after a pregnancy,” says Dr. Joel Schlessinger, a dermatologist in Omaha, Neb., and president of the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology and Aesthetic Surgery. “And many of the changes hit older moms harder. In my practice, we’ve seen a 50 percent increase in the number of women seeking postpartum treatments in the last five years. And my data show that the largest subset is women in their 30s, when pregnancy takes more of a toll.”

I am sick to death of hearing doctor's describe women's reproductive bodies as being chaotic, unruly and in need of medical management in order to be 'normal' (e.g. like a man). Hormone's do not 'wreak havoc': in fact, it is those same hormones that actually allow women to have children at all. And why the need to perpetuate the myth that somehow once women age past 35, suddenly their bodies start to break down? Does pregnancy after 30 really biologically 'take more of a toll' on women's bodies or is it just the cultural perception that 'older' women's bodies are not as valuable as nubile 20 year old ones?

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20765597/