Demand for plastic surgery 'pent-up' in Brevard County
At slightly taller than 5 feet and less than 120 pounds, Kelle Treadwell describes herself as a tiny woman with tiny wrists and "tiny little legs."
But, after giving birth to two 8-pound babies, now ages 5 and 9, she said, her once-tiny waist ballooned to 34 inches. And her stomach pushed outward, forming a ridge along her belly, the result of torn muscles during childbirth.
"I've tried over the past five years, but I can't get the muscle wall in my stomach to come back," the West Melbourne resident said. "I can't lose anything around the waist, despite diet and exercise."
So the 38-year-old Treadwell turned to abdominoplasty -- better known as a tummy tuck -- with Melbourne's Dr. Roxanne Guy, a board-certified plastic surgeon and past president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Abdominoplasty was the fourth most common cosmetic surgery chosen by women in 2010, according to a recently released survey by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
In Treadwell's case, one of these "vanity" surgeries, so named because they are considered medically unnecessary, had little to do with vanity.
"I just don't feel good and strong and healthy," she said. "I'm not planning to wear a bikini afterward."
Even in the wake of a bad recession, Treadwell is one of millions of consumers in the United States who each year decide to undergo plastic surgery, which rarely is covered by insurance. Americans spent almost $10.7 billion on cosmetic procedures in 2010, a slight increase over 2009's $10.5 billion price tag, according to the specialty group's estimates.
Read more at Florida Today.