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Bill Klaproth (Host): Post-pregnancy many women struggle to remove the added baby weight and are opting for a mommy makeover. What is it and is it right for you? Here to tell us more is Dr. Sanjay Mukerji, a plastic surgeon who has been in practice for more than twenty years and recently began practicing at Columbus Community Hospital. Dr. Mukerji thanks for your time. First off, can you tell us a little about yourself?

Sanjay Mukerji, MD (Guest): Sure. I used to do general surgery which I trained in in India and then repeated my training here in the US in New York City. Subsequently, I wanted to do something that was more appealing to me in terms of the variety of surgery as well as my creativity and artistic side. And so, I chose to become a plastic surgeon. It’s definitely been an extremely rewarding change of career for me. And I have been doing it now for the last twenty years. I trained in Washington DC and since then, I have been in the Midwest in South Dakota. And now I’m hoping to make this change to Columbus, Nebraska and am really looking forward to working in that community.

Host: Well, very good and welcome. So, what types of procedures do you specialize in?

Dr. Mukerji: I love, like I said, I love the variety of plastic surgery. So, I don’t really restrict myself in doing anything, but I have a few favorites and I would say my top favorites are probably surgeries that are related to the breasts, such as breast augmentation, breast lifts, breast reductions as well as liposuction. The other cases that I like to do are tummy tucks, face lifts, neck lifts, eye lifts. But I just love the challenge of having a patient that is unhappy with their appearance or function and making them more comfortable with themselves using surgical and nonsurgical tools.

Host: Well it has to be very satisfying to be able to help someone out like that and really transform their whole life. So, let’s talk about mommy makeovers. Many people have probably heard about these or seen something on TV. Can you describe what a mommy makeover is?

Dr. Mukerji: Well a mommy makeover is for a patient or a client that has had children and now is in their maybe late twenties to fifties or sixties and is unhappy with the changes in their body since they have had kids. So, the changes that we see most often are things like their breasts getting smaller or some sagging of the breasts which would need either breast implants, a breast lift or a combination of those. As well as the fact that because they had kids, their bellies got spread and now they need some tightening of the muscles, the tissues as well as some tightening of the skin, basically a tummy tuck. So, when patients come to us with these issues, I love to do them in combination so that it’s a one-stop shop, they come, they get the surgery and once they recover, they feel like a completely new person.

Host: So, you said you do these in combination, so you take care of all the problem areas at one time?

Dr. Mukerji: Correct. It really doesn’t take that long to do. I would say that if I was focusing on the breasts and the tummy, each of the surgeries takes about two hours each and they can even be done as a same day surgery, so they could go home the same evening or at worst the next morning.

Host: Okay and you were mentioning a recovery period and just mentioned that most people go home the same evening. What is the recovery period like? What can someone expect after getting a mommy makeover?

Dr. Mukerji: Well, they should be able to get up, move around, walk around, be able to relax at home. But they can be back to work so long as they are not lifting anything heavy within a week to ten days. For a full recovery, where they can lift anything they want, exercise as much as they want to; I would say at the outside three to four weeks. For a lot of people within two weeks they are back to where they need to be.

Host: Very good. Alright, for a woman considering this; who is your perfect candidate?

Dr. Mukerji: My perfect candidate and most of my patients fall into this category are patients who are healthy, don’t have any major medical issues and most important that they are not smokers. That is something that I insist upon. If they are smoking, they need to stop smoking completely because I want them to be in the optimum state of health and for the surgery to be as safe as possible for them.

Host: And when it comes time for the consultation, what should a woman expect?

Dr. Mukerji: Well every consultation is custom made or tailored to the needs of the person. So, there is no cookie cutter consultation. Yes, it does take about an hour to an hour and a half for meeting with me, talking, having photographs taken, discussing the surgery, talking about the risks and complications of the procedure and again, talking in detail about what they should expect in the postoperative period and the recovery phase and even long-term what they might expect to see. And what kind of result I would expect they would have. It’s really a two way communication where they let me know what their needs are and I tell them how I can fulfill their needs and how we can both move towards the same goal. We also discuss finances because all of this is not covered by insurance and so we have to talk about how they would pay for this.

Host: Alright, so let’s do that. How can patients pay for a mommy makeover?

Dr. Mukerji: Well obviously, it has to be something that is self-pay so there are different modalities for paying for it. It will either be by cash, check, credit card, just like with anything else. There are some patients that don’t have the savings on hand and for them we do have financing available where they can apply for credit specifically for this procedure, get it financed and then paid off gradually over time. We have the entire financial package worked out with the hospital and the anesthesiologists so that the patients get only one bill. They don’t get any additional bills. So, that gives a lot of peace of mind to the patients then there are no surprises in this and they know about the costs before the procedure.

Host: Well that’s good to know all of that up front. And you just mentioned long-term. Let’s talk about long-term. What type of follow up is required after this type of procedure?

Dr. Mukerji: Well the follow ups are included, and I normally like to see my patients one week, one month and three months afterwards. Usually at the three-month phase, nothing much goes wrong. If somebody wants to come to see me at a later point, let’s say one year or so; I encourage them to come in. Most of the time, people come in because they liked what they had done and there was something else that they want to have done. That’s the point at which I normally see them. It can happen any time between a year to up to 15 years after the original procedure.

Host: And if you could wrap it up for us Dr. Mukerji. What else should a woman know about a mommy makeover?

Dr. Mukerji: That it’s a great procedure. Most of the patients are extremely happy and satisfied with the results. We have plenty of before and after pictures of patients. I actually have some patients who are extremely willing to discuss and communicate with new clients what their experience was. So, it’s a lot of information that patients have to get, but it helps them make a very informed decision. Which is the way that I always like my clients and patients to feel, that they were very well-informed about it before as well as during the process.

Host: Absolutely. Well Dr. Mukerji, thank you so much for your time today and talking with us about this. For more information regarding mommy makeovers and other services provided at Columbus Community Hospital please visit www.columbushosp.org, that’s www.columbushosp.org. This is Columbus Community Hospital Healthcast from Columbus Community Hospital. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.