Hope Kimple, mother of two, is done having babies and wants her slender shape back. She tried dieting, exercise and pills that promised to melt off her belly bulge. But come June, she will join the growing ranks of postpartum moms turning to plastic surgery to erase evidence of pregnancy.
Kimple is having a tummy tuck and liposuction around her hips, part of the package plastic surgeons call a "mommy makeover."
"It's expensive, about the cost of an economy car, but it will be worth it," said Kimple.
More than 325,000 tummy tucks, breast augmentations and breast lifts were performed on women ages 20-39 in 2006. That's an increase of about 11 percent from 2005, according to data released Thursday by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
The breast and tummy procedures are most commonly requested by mothers after their last childbirth, plastic surgeons said. Bay Area surgeons are seeing more of these clients, especially mothers of twins and women who wait until their late 30s to have children and might not bounce back as easily from pregnancy. Those mothers also tend to have more money for surgery.
"I've had patients come in while they are still pregnant, saying, 'This going to be my last child, so I want to get on your surgery schedule,' " said Dr. Gary Friedman, a San Francisco surgeon.