Mommy 2.0
Despite the marketing nickname "mommy makeover," which can sound like a trip to a day spa, these are serious surgeries with potential complications that can require additional procedures—and disruption for kids. With breast augmentation, for example, the initial operation is not likely to be the last. Implants may last 10 or more years, but they do not last a lifetime, according to the FDA. About a quarter of all implant patients have to have another operation within five years due to problems like leaking, breast asymmetry and encapsulation of the implants.
Then there are the body image issues raised by cosmetic surgery—especially for daughters. Berger worries that kids will think their own body parts must need "fixing" too. The surgery on a nose, for example, may "convey to the child that the child's nose, which always seemed OK, might be perceived by Mommy or by somebody as unacceptable," she says.
The book doesn't go into any medical detail. "They should do more about what the surgery is," says my own eight-year-old daughter. "Kids," she says, will want to know more about "what they're going to do to you." But on the other hand, if they knew more about the procedures they might not want their mothers to go through with them. As my daughter points out, "a five-year-old is going to be horrified that their mom is getting water balloons put in her breasts."
Salzhauer knows that not everyone will like his book. "There's a good percentage of your readers who are dead set against plastic surgery, who see it as a sign of the decadence of Western civilization," he says. "But when done by a properly trained board-certified plastic surgeon, it really does help make lives better." Salzhauer may someday get a chance to test that theory—and his book—at home. His wife hasn't had any work done yet but is pregnant with her fifth child.
Click here for our guide to getting breast implants safely.
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Member Comments
Posted By: tweets @ 05/04/2008 1:38:23 PM
Comment: Mother's who are planning surgery have needed this to help their children understand what is happening, what the end result will be, & the infamous, "Why??" that always follows everything! Just because you don't believe in having surgery doesn't mean that Mothers shouldn't have, or use, a tool like this for their children!! I am astounded that there are so many people unhappy that a Mother who would have surgery is wanting & using this to help their children understand!!!
So, because you don't agree with the idea that a Mother chooses surgery to look & feel better about herself, then she should be persecuted for being a responsible, caring & loving Mom who wants her child(ren) to understand?
I don't want to have surgery & I'm not going to, but I think this is great! ...And the fact that this is an available resource for Mom's who are is fantastic for the children.
Seems to me that someone so concerned about what kind of message this book sends cares less about the children it's helping & more about the Mothers who are taking the steps to help themselves!!
Posted By: Optimisticis16 @ 04/29/2008 5:48:43 PM
Comment: I think mommy should have the right to be "pretty" if she wants to be. And she should be smart about it too, she should be a good mommy who will explain to her daughter why she can't do much for the next two weeks since she is having surgery and she will be ok.
No?
Someone said something about women not breast-feeding because gravity will hit them harder. THAT is a mommy who didn't believe in plastic surgery.
If you are guilty. Shut yer trap.
Posted By: Optimisticis16 @ 04/29/2008 5:41:57 PM
Comment: I think mommy should have the right to be "pretty" if she wants to be. And she should be smart about it too, she should be a good mommy who will explain to her daughter why she can't do much for the next two weeks since she is having surgery and she will be ok.
No?
Someone said something about women not breast-feeding because gravity will hit them harder. THAT is a mommy who didn't believe in plastic surgery.
If you are guilty. Shut yer trap.