Your body goes through so many changes during pregnancy
Society has changed, we all know that. Women now have the choice of when to have their children and many are choosing to have them later in life.
Recent figures from the Office of National Statistics, shows an increase in women aged 35 and older becoming pregnant.
The average age a women gives birth in England and Wales is now a year older than it was a decade ago - 29.5 in 2010 compared with 28.5 in 2000.
As a result of this rising age in motherhood, The Harley Medical Group reports a 42 per cent rise in the last five years, in patients between the ages of 35-45 booking in for post-pregnancy treatments.
Lisa Littlehales, Lead Nurse Counsellor at the Harley Medical Group, says: "From 25 years old onwards we start losing, on averge, 1.5 per cent 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 stetches the skin, women can be left with stretchmarks and the skin around their breasts and stomach can become saggier than it was before, these factors can become more visible in older mums."
However, Lisa explains that some areas, no matter how much dieting and exercise you do, will just not be the same as they once were. It's a fact of life and something that many women will struggle to deal with. But, thanks to science, surgery may be the answer. It can offer you the option to get your pre-pregnancy body back, if you can't come to terms with how your body has changed.
Lisa continues: "Surgeries such as a tummy tuck (up 33 per cent in the last five years) and breast uplift (up 46 per cent in the last five years), can help to tackle these more difficult areas, while non0surgical treatments such as stretchmark and scar removal (which has seen a 28 per cent year-on-year rise) can help to restore the skin to its pre-pregnancy condition."
Femalefirst Taryn Davies
Tagged in Health Cosmetic Surgery