Living in the California desert has its perks. Pool season lasts for 9 months. Unfortunately, for some, pool season can be anything but fabulous. LJCSC patient Lisa recalls her “exhausting” battle to keep covered up… when she preferred to be basking in the sun.

Giving birth to two children within 15 months of each other changed Lisa’s shape. She recalls “living in a sports bra 24/7” and feeling out of place at the pool. Her biggest challenge was the significant transformation in the shape and size of her breasts, causing her to “feel self-conscious and embarrassed.” She finally decided to do something about it.

Before her big move to San Diego, Jaclyn lived in New Jersey her entire life. As she matured, she noticed she had developed differently than any of the other girls she knew. “I don’t know if it is just the way I was built, but I have had sagging breasts from the time I began to develop.” A few things can cause breasts to lose shape, but Jaclyn experienced none of them.

Heidi began gaining weight when she was 10 years old. Twenty years and two toddlers later, she decided to do something about it. “Something began to change for me after my daughter was born. Here I was, the mother of two beautiful children, and too heavy and out of shape to keep up with them. Even worse was the fear of not knowing if I would be around to watch them grow up. I decided enough was enough and in December of 2007, I began using walking videos and exercising.”

Four years ago, Beth went on a journey to rediscover herself and her body. She began with gastic bypass surgery that led to an amazing 130 pound weight loss. Along with the great accomplishment, Beth also experienced excess skin that most patients with dramatic weight loss experience, which also led to sagging breasts.

Her next step on her journey led her to a breast lift (mastopexy). “I asked friends for recommendations and turned to the Internet to research everything I could about breast lifts. I repeatedly kept coming across La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre in my searches.” After researching information, before and after images and doctors, Beth decided to visit Dr. Lori Saltz, the Centre’s Medical Director.

Christy knows what a struggle it is to lose weight. In 8th grade, just when life is beginning to throw so many challenges at you, she weighed 225 pounds and wore a size 22. “I’m a southern girl from Alabama and grew up loving food. When I was a teenager, I moved in with my grandparents and started to become aware of how unhealthy my weight was. My grandmother sent me to nutrition classes and I lost some weight.”

When it comes to plastic surgery, almost every patient has a different story and motivation for deciding when the time is right. For Carla, a mother of five, ranging in ages from 14 to 26 years, she had many reasons. “I think having plastic surgery was always in the back of my mind, but being able to justify spending that money on myself was difficult.” Never one to really lack self-confidence, Carla says two life-changing moments made her change the way she felt about her body. “About 20 years ago I was diagnosed with cervical cancer. The way they performed the surgery left me with this big fold of skin on my stomach that never went away.” Years later, a lumpectomy was performed on one of her breasts, leaving her feeling lopsided. “Luckily the lesion was benign but because they took so much breast tissue, I could never get clothes to fit right.” A recommendation from a friend led her to Dr. Lori Saltz, a board certified plastic surgeon and Medical Director at La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre.