On Her Own Terms: How Dr. Michelle Hardaway Helps Michigan Women Reclaim Their Bodies After Motherhood

Dr. Michelle Hardaway, M.D., F.A.C.S., has spent thirty years in Michigan operating rooms doing work that requires two things in equal measure: technical precision and the ability to understand what a patient actually wants. As the founder of Michelle Hardaway MD, her QUAD A Accredited Surgical Center in Farmington Hills, she has built a practice that reflects both. Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Hardaway is not a peripheral figure in Michigan's medical community — she is a former Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Detroit Receiving Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center, and has served as an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine. She maintains active hospital privileges at Corewell Health (Beaumont), Providence Hospital – Henry Ford Health, and the Detroit Medical Center Hospitals. That institutional depth is not a biographical footnote. It is the foundation on which every surgical decision she makes is built.

Among the procedures Dr. Hardaway performs most frequently, the mommy makeover — a combination of body contouring and breast restoration surgeries designed to address the physical changes that pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding produce — occupies a particular place in her practice. Not because it is the most technically complex procedure she performs, but because it is the one where the gap between a good outcome and a great one most clearly comes down to how well a surgeon listens. "Choosing a surgeon is personal," is how the practice frames it — and for the women who come to Dr. Hardaway's Farmington Hills center from across the Detroit metro, that framing resonates in ways that a credential list alone cannot capture.

The Expert Answer: What a Mommy Makeover Actually Is — and Why Customization Is Everything

Dr. Hardaway is direct about something that surprises many patients when they first sit down with her: a mommy makeover is not a fixed procedure. There is no standard package, no predetermined combination of surgeries that applies uniformly to every woman who walks through the door. "What matters is understanding what each patient wants to preserve versus what she wants to change," she explains. "Those are two different questions, and the answers are different for every person." That distinction — between what to address and what to leave alone — is where Dr. Hardaway's three decades of surgical experience show most clearly, and where the consultation process at her Farmington Hills center earns its reputation.

In practice, a mommy makeover typically combines procedures drawn from two categories: body contouring and breast surgery. On the body side, the most common elements are a tummy tuck — technically an abdominoplasty, which removes excess skin and tightens the abdominal muscles that pregnancy separates — and liposuction, which addresses localized fat deposits that diet and exercise have not resolved. On the breast side, the conversation usually involves some combination of augmentation, lift, or both, depending on what pregnancy and breastfeeding have done to the patient's breast volume and position. The specific combination, the sequencing, and the approach within each procedure are all determined by the individual patient's anatomy, her goals, and her recovery timeline — not by a menu.

The consultation process Dr. Hardaway runs reflects this individualized approach from the first appointment. Every consultation includes a detailed review of medical history, a physical examination, and a clear explanation of procedure options, safety considerations, recovery expectations, and realistic outcomes. Visual aids are used throughout — a detail that patients consistently mention in their accounts of the experience. "The visual aids used during my consultation were a great method of explaining all the procedures I requested," is how one patient described it. The goal, as Dr. Hardaway frames it, is an informed patient who understands exactly what she is agreeing to before she agrees to anything. "I never felt rushed or pressured," is the phrase that appears in patient accounts with a consistency that suggests it is not accidental.

The physical setting in which the surgery takes place also matters more than many patients initially consider. Michelle Hardaway MD operates from a QUAD A Accredited Surgical Center — a designation that means the facility meets the same safety standards as a hospital operating room, with a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist on staff for every procedure. For patients who have weighed the difference between a hospital setting and a private surgical center, the QUAD A accreditation resolves the question: the safety infrastructure is equivalent, while the environment is private, comfortable, and designed around the patient's experience rather than institutional efficiency. Patients describe it as "spa-like" — an accurate description of a facility that was deliberately designed to feel nothing like a hospital, while operating to exactly the same clinical standards.

Recovery planning is another area where Dr. Hardaway's approach distinguishes itself. A mommy makeover combines multiple procedures in a single operative session, which means the recovery period is more involved than that of any individual surgery. The practice's before and after care — described by patients as "top notch" — includes detailed guidance on what to expect at each stage of recovery, what symptoms are normal versus worth calling about, and how to support healing in ways that protect the surgical outcome. For women who are managing family responsibilities alongside their own recovery, that level of practical preparation is not a luxury. It is what makes the difference between a recovery that goes smoothly and one that generates anxiety.

What This Means for Women in Farmington Hills

Farmington Hills sits at the center of a Detroit metro region where the standard for professional services is high and the tolerance for anything that feels generic or impersonal is low. Women in this community — many of them professionals, many of them managing demanding schedules alongside family life — bring a specific set of expectations to a surgical consultation: they want expertise they can verify, an environment that respects their time, and a surgeon who treats them as an individual rather than as a procedure. Dr. Hardaway's practice has been calibrated to exactly that standard for three decades.

The all-female staff at the Farmington Hills center is a detail that patients notice and consistently mention. For women who are discussing intimate physical concerns and preparing for surgery that involves their body in the most personal way, the environment that staff creates matters as much as the clinical credentials on the wall. "I love that it is an all female staff," is a sentiment that appears in patient accounts not as a minor aside but as a meaningful part of why the experience felt right. Dr. Hardaway has built a team that reflects the same values she brings to her surgical work: warmth, professionalism, and a genuine investment in each patient's outcome.

Geographically, the Orchard Lake Road location in Farmington Hills is accessible for women across the western Detroit suburbs — from West Bloomfield and Novi to Livonia and Northville — without requiring a trip into the city. For patients who are coordinating a surgical procedure around work schedules, childcare, and recovery logistics, that proximity is a practical consideration that matters. And for those traveling from further across the state, the practice's reputation in Michigan's plastic surgery community — built on thirty years of results and the kind of institutional standing that comes from leading a department at a Level I trauma center — makes the drive worth it.

What to Look For — and What to Ask

For Michigan women seriously evaluating their options for post-pregnancy body restoration, Dr. Hardaway offers a framework for the decision that goes beyond comparing before-and-after photos. The first and most important question: is the surgeon board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery? Board certification in plastic surgery specifically — not in a related surgical specialty — is the baseline credential that ensures a surgeon has completed the training, examination, and peer review that the field requires. It is a non-negotiable starting point, and a surgeon who cannot confirm it clearly is one worth reconsidering.

The second question is about the surgical facility itself. Where will the procedure take place, and what accreditation does that facility hold? A QUAD A Accredited Surgical Center, like Dr. Hardaway's Farmington Hills center, meets hospital-grade safety standards including anesthesia protocols, emergency equipment, and staffing requirements. Patients who assume that any private surgical center meets these standards are often surprised to learn that accreditation is not automatic — it requires an active, ongoing inspection and review process that not every facility pursues.

Third, ask about the surgeon's specific experience with the combination of procedures you are considering. A mommy makeover is not a single surgery — it is a surgical plan that requires judgment about sequencing, volume, and the interaction between procedures performed in the same operative session. A surgeon with thirty years of body contouring and breast surgery experience brings a depth of case-specific judgment to that planning that a less experienced practitioner simply cannot replicate.

Finally, pay attention to how the consultation itself is conducted. Does the surgeon take time to understand what you want to preserve, not just what you want to change? Are your questions answered fully, without pressure to commit? Are realistic outcomes discussed alongside the best-case scenario? The consultation is not just an information session — it is a preview of how the surgeon approaches the entire patient relationship. At Michelle Hardaway MD, patients consistently describe leaving their first appointment feeling informed, respected, and entirely unrushed. That experience is a data point worth weighing.

Thirty Years of Knowing What Matters

Dr. Michelle Hardaway did not build her reputation in Michigan plastic surgery by doing a high volume of procedures. She built it by doing each one with the kind of care and precision that comes from genuinely understanding what is at stake for the person on the table. The credentials — the board certification, the fellowship, the former department chief role, the academic appointment at Wayne State — are the verifiable record of a career spent at the highest levels of the specialty. The patient outcomes, and the accounts patients give of the experience, are the human record of what that career looks like in practice.

For women in Farmington Hills and across the Detroit metro who have been privately wondering whether post-pregnancy body restoration is something they could pursue — and what it would actually involve to do it safely, with the right surgeon — Dr. Hardaway's practice offers an answer that begins with a conversation. One that is educational rather than transactional, thorough rather than rushed, and conducted by a surgeon who has spent thirty years learning that the most important part of the job happens before the first incision is made.