Post-baby cosmetic surgery boom amongst older mothers

With an ever increasing number of women becoming mothers in later life, many are turning to cosmetic surgery in a bid to combat the physical impacts of pregnancy and motherhood.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of women becoming mothers during their forties and fifties has risen threefold over the last ten years. Carla Bruni joined the ranks of older mothers when she gave birth to Giulia – her daughter with French President Nicholas Sarkozy – last week aged 43.

The number of older mothers seeking cosmetic surgery procedures following the birth of their children has risen over the last five years, according to a Harley Street cosmetic surgery firm.

The Harley Medical Group has revealed a 42 per cent increase in requests for procedures to correct the toll take on the body by giving birth and breastfeeding.

Older mothers are now booking in for tummy tucks, breast lifts and stretch-mark removal procedures, instead of the facelifts and brow-lifts once booked by women in their forties and fifties.

As older bodies are less elastic and have lower collagen production, many older mothers are finding that they are not recovering so well after childbirth as they would have if they were younger.

Lead nurse counsellor at The Harley Medical Group, Lisa Littehales, told the Daily Mail, “From 25 years old onwards we start losing, on average, 1.5 per cent of the collagen from our skin every year, so it naturally becomes saggier and reduces its ability to retain elasticity.

“This loss of elasticity means that as the body gets older, it is less able to spring back into shape. As pregnancy stretches the skin, many women can be left with stretch marks and the skin around their breasts and stomach can become saggier than it was before. These factors can become more visible in older mothers,” she added.

Ms Littehales went on to say that cosmetic procedures such as breast lifts had risen by a whopping 46 per cent over the last five years, whilst the numbers of women booking in for tummy tucks had increased by 33 per cent. Stretch-mark removal procedures had also seen a rise of 28 per cent year-on-year.