Mommy Makeover Turkey

We often ask mothers what's bothering them most, and they usually list several things. Their old jeans dig in at the front and stand away at the back. A swimsuit sits fine until they sit down. The nursing bras went in a drawer, and the breasts that came out the other side aren't the ones they had at twenty-five. A mommy makeover tackles all of that in one operation.

Our standard mommy makeover in Turkey is €7,900. For that you get a full tummy tuck (muscle repair included), breast implants, and liposuction to three areas of the waist. Plenty of women don't need every piece of it, and the rest of this page is about working out which pieces you do.

Timing it right

Two questions come first. Are you done having children? If there's a chance of another baby, hold off, because pregnancy will separate the stomach muscles once more and change the breasts all over again. And has your weight been steady for half a year? Big swings afterwards change the result.

Breastfeeding matters too. Breasts keep shrinking and shifting for some months after your last feed, so we'd rather plan surgery once they've stopped changing. Most of the mothers who come to us are at least a year past their youngest child's birth, and that's usually about right.

The stomach

Nearly every mommy makeover includes this, and it's the part that sets your recovery. Carrying a baby stretches the band of tissue between your two front stomach muscles. Afterwards the muscles often stay a couple of centimetres or more apart, which is why so many slim mothers still have a little pot that won't go with sit-ups. The skin below the navel stretches too, often further than it can recover from.

That loose skin is cut away during the tummy tuck, and the muscle gap is closed with stitches. The navel is brought out through a new hole. Most caesarean scars disappear with the skin that's taken away. The new scar sits low, inside your underwear line.

How do you know you need it? Bend forward and look. If the skin under your navel folds over or hangs, or if your tummy still sticks out in profile even when you're slim, you probably do. If it's firm and there's only a little fat, you may not. There's more on the operation itself on our tummy tuck page.

After one caesarean, or several

A lot of the mothers we treat have had at least one caesarean, and some have had three. The old scar often has a little shelf of skin and fat sitting on top of it, which no amount of exercise shifts. In a tummy tuck, that scar and the overhang above it usually come out together, and the new line is placed in roughly the same spot. Repeat caesareans can leave scar tissue inside the abdominal wall, which may make the muscle repair a little slower, so tell us how many you've had. It changes nothing about whether surgery is possible, only how we plan it.

The waist

Liposuction on three zones comes with the package, typically the sides and lower back. Those soft rolls above the hips are exactly where a tummy tuck can't reach. Take them away and the waist curves in again, in profile and from the back.

If you can grab a handful over your hips or along your lower back, this part is worth having. If you can't, we'll drop it, and the price drops with it. There's no point filling a slot in a package for the sake of it.

The breasts

Not every breast changes the same way after children. In some women it's mostly a loss of volume, especially at the top. In others the breast has emptied and dropped. Those need different operations.

Here's a simple check. Stand in front of a mirror without a bra and find the crease under each breast. If your nipples sit above that crease, you've mainly lost volume, and an implant will bring it back. That's the version included in our price, and you'll find more about sizes and shapes on our breast augmentation page.

If the nipples sit at the crease or below it, an implant alone just makes a bigger, lower breast. What you need is a breast lift, sometimes with an implant as well. We change mommy makeover plans this way more often than any other, and the new price is confirmed before you fly.

Picking an implant size after children

Most mothers we see aren't after something dramatic. They want the fullness back in the upper part of the breast and a cup size that fits their frame. Your chest width puts a natural ceiling on implant size, so we measure it alongside how much volume you've lost and the bra size you're hoping for. Plenty of your own tissue left? The implant can go over the muscle. Very little? Under the muscle gives it more cover. We usually steer people slightly smaller than their first choice, because pregnancy has already stretched the skin.

Four common plans

In practice, most of our plans look like one of these. All three parts: tummy tuck, waist liposuction and implants. Tummy tuck plus liposuction, with a lift in place of implants. Tummy tuck and breasts only, because the waist is already slim. Or, now and then, just the tummy tuck.

Whichever it is, your written plan spells out every part, why it's there and what it does to the price. That's how a mommy makeover in Turkey should be planned, around you rather than around a package.

Where the scars go

Expect several scars. There's the tummy tuck line, long and low, running hip to hip, plus a small circle at the belly button. Implants need only a short cut, hidden in the fold under each breast. A lift means a scar circling the nipple, and usually a short line running down from it. Liposuction leaves a few tiny marks that are hard to find later. All of them look pink at first and fade over a year or so.

Mommy makeover cost in Turkey

The standard price, €7,900, pays for the tummy tuck and muscle repair, liposuction to three zones and breast augmentation. It also covers both surgical teams, the anaesthetic, a night in hospital and your compression garments, along with a translator, transfers from the airport and follow-up visits for a year. We book hotels from €75 a night and list them separately.

Having the same three operations on three separate trips would cost a good deal more, and you'd go through recovery three times. Leave out a part and the price falls. Swap implants for a lift and we recalculate. Either way, the figure is fixed in writing before you travel.

Mommy makeovers cost a lot more in other countries. Our price table puts the British range at €12,950 to €28,000 and the American one at €14,900 to €30,200; in Germany, clinics charge around €10,183 on average. Packages differ, so go through each quote item by item.

How long the operation can be

Doing everything together saves time, but each extra part adds minutes under anaesthetic, and clot risk goes up the longer you're asleep. That's why our anaesthetist sets a limit for every patient, based on health, weight and clotting history, without being swayed by the surgeons. You'll know how long your operation should take before you book.

If it can't all be done safely in one go, we split it into two, a few months apart, and price both from the start. Some women also ask about a Brazilian butt lift. It can be done, but a BBL rules out sitting on your bottom for two weeks, and juggling that with a tummy tuck is hard going.

Recovery with little ones at home

The trip is eight nights in Istanbul, and the first of them is in hospital. You'll be walking from day one, stooped forward a little so the repair isn't strained, and the small drains are normally taken out at around the one-week mark. Travelling with someone is a good idea. Getting up and lying down are the awkward bits in the first days, and a partner, sister or friend can make them far easier.

At home, the second and third weeks are for taking it easy, and most women with office jobs are back at work. Keep the compression garment and a soft bra on around the clock, and sleep on your back with your knees up. For about six weeks, don't lift anything heavy, and that includes your toddler, the car seat and the weekly shop. Arrange help with the school run and bath time before you travel. Grandparents, neighbours and friends tend to be glad to step in for a few weeks if you ask early.

From around week four you'll stand straighter and move more easily. Anything that works the core, from sit-ups to most gym classes, waits until eight to ten weeks.

What a good result looks like

Mommy makeover before and after photos should be read as a whole, not one area at a time. From the side, has the stomach flattened? Does the waist curve in? Do the breasts suit the rest of the figure? A result can look good part by part and still feel out of balance overall. Photos from at least six months after the operation, and reviews written a year on, tell you the most.

When mommy makeover results settle

Stomach and breasts heal at their own pace. Swelling around the stomach eases over six to eight weeks. The shape you'll keep shows at three to six months. Implants settle lower and softer over a few months. The tummy tuck scar keeps improving for up to a year and a half, which is worth remembering when you compare your own before and after photos.

If your weight holds and you don't get pregnant again, the stomach result stays. Implants last a long time, but most women will need breast surgery again someday. For many mothers, a mommy makeover in Turkey is a way to deal with everything in one trip and one recovery.