Brachioplasty

I've maintained my goal weight for over a year now, and the only part of my body that I am super self-conscious about is my arms.  My stomach and legs are loose, but nothing is hanging and clothes cover it.  I never wear shorts anyway, and my legs are all right in my capris.  However, I can't even wear short sleeve tops since the skin really hangs and is very unsightly.

I'd like to hear about people's experiences with the arm lift.  I heard now they have a procedure where they don't put the scar all the way down your arm, but can do it through your armpit?

I know insurance won't cover this, so hoping I can afford it. 

Thanks.

Your best bet is to read on the plastic surgery forums.  The folks there are very informative and nice.  I also think I will need a brachioplasty, so I've done a little bit of reading on it.  I have read of several folks that have had the cut made on the inner part of the arm through the armpit, but I certainly don't know all of the variations that are out there.  

Good luck!  :D

Jen

Thanks, I'm not that saavy with the site, so didn't realize there was a plastic surgery forum.   I'll check it out.  :)

There is an arm lift where they don't go all the way down, there is also one where the do the incision in the armpit area... both are for people who don't need much improvement.. depending on how your arms arm, will determine which procedure(s) you would be eligible for.

I had my arm lift 7/2013, next week I am going back for a scar revision. The surgery itself wasn't bad... the compression garment sucks, I had to only wear for a week thankfully, I had hardly any drainage so the drains came out of the arms then... I had a BA/BL at the same time and took two weeks off from work, but could have gone back sooner. The two biggest "complaints" about it... is you have to keep the scars out of the sun until they heal which is typically a year... easier said than done. I keep a sunscreen stick in my purse at all times but try and be diligent about putting sunscreen on at home and wearing clothing appropriate for what I am doing. September I went on a beach trip and purchased one of those shirts surfers wear, long sleeved that had SPF 50 in it on top of using the sun screen. My surgeon also recommends using 100% silicone sheets or gel until the scar is healed... the sheets give you a better result but the gel is much easier... I used sheets at first, and use gel now which costs me about $30 a month give or take. You will also have to massage the scars to help them get nice, flat and smooth... do that twice a day in addition to the silicone gel.

As for the scar revision, my right arm healed up about 80% good... there is only about 20% of the scar needing work.. my left arm needs about 90% work... the scar is thick, red and raised.. sometimes the one on my left arm hurts. Surgeon said the pull the skin as tight as possible during the surgery to get the best result.. they cannot predict how quickly or how much your skin will "relax" so what happened to me is possible. The scan is red/raised from the skin being pulled so tight. The revision surgery wont take long and they will basically cut the scar and sew back up.

Even with the way the scars look I am EXTREMELY happy... the incisions are under the arm so they are not really visible unless I raise my arms or go bowling (lol). Ive not had a single person ask me what happened to my arms... I would assume because they are not familiar with arms lifts and think maybe something happened to me. I previously had an extended TT, lipo and fat transfer to put some junk in my trunk which gave me a good confidence boost. Have the arm lift BA/BL has sent my confidence thru the roof... its so nice to not have to worry about covering my arms all the time... having little kids wanting to play with my bat wings (yes, it really happened) and not wearing the things I want.

Thanks for answering. Our stats are very similar. It was encouraging to see that you had your surgery so long ago and yet still are maintaining your weight. I was surprised to hear that after almost two years the scars still need more work and were not healed properly. However, it was very encouraging to hear that you're so happy with the way your arms look now. Thanks so much for sharing and hopefully we can keep in touch.  (We both use our regular name too...LOL)

My arm surgery was July last year - not even a year out. The extended TT/lipo was over two years ago - November 2011 I think? The older I get the quicker time goes.

Just wanted to clarify!

Oh, your post said 7/2013 - which is almost 2 years ago.  Glad it's less than a year.  That's more encouraging!  

I'm pretty sure I'm going to go for it, so thanks for sharing your experience.  It WOULD be so good to wear short-sleeved tops and not be totally self-conscious.  

Enjoy the beautiful spring weather!  

One last question...I know there is a lot of swelling for a while afterwards.  How long did it take for your arms to look the way you thought they would? 

I had an arm lift in August of 2013.  I had lots of sag so I have the scar down the inside of my arm - along the back part of my armpit and partially down my side.  I still have red scars even a year and a half out - I generally scar badly - not raised but stays red for a long time.  My ps is currently giving me laser treatments for all of my scars and they are getting lighter but it is a long slow process for me.  That being said, I am still so happy that I did the work that I had done.  People only see my scars if I let them.  Even with my gym workout, there are only 1 or 2 machines where folks can see them and I have not gotten any comments or strange looks.  As far as recovery, the compression garment is nasty - I had to wear it for 3 weeks I think - bad timing to do that surgery in August because it was hot as hell.  But I had virtually no swelling which was wonderful.  The garment kept me from doing stupid things.  I had trouble washing my hair the first few days - did it over a sink so that I could bend over so that I didn't have to raise my arms so high.  But each day got better and better.   It is nice to be able to see the results of my workouts by now looking at muscular arms.