I had brachioplasty on Jan 5 2022. Approx 4 weeks after my surgery I noticed my right hand swelling. Several days later, I noticed my forearm swelling. It has slowly progressed from nothing at all to mild swelling and noticeable to me but not others. My PS has put me in a regular sleeve for compression and explained he doesn't know how long this will take to resolve. That is where I am right now. Left on my own to figure this out. My PS also stated he had never seen this (after 25 years?). This is more of a risk factor than Plastic Surgeons are letting on. No where in the Informed Consent was this risk mentioned. Would like a support group for those of us who have Lympodema as a result of a brachioplasty.

I'm doing a lot better. I've had more surgeries since I posted my message and have had other masses taken off. I still have some Lymphedema because the doctor was afraid to remove too much right now. I know there's no cure for it so I will have to manage my leg with compression, but since the masses have been removed so that they aren't huge, I can move much better and have come down about 60 lbs from just the Lymphedema.

My body also retains fluid. I have learned that a low carb diet helps with the swelling. I found that out when I stopped eating right and my legs got worse.

I hope everything works out and you can get some relief from it. I know how hard it is. I lived with it for over 20 years and still am, but it's possible to get the swelling down some and keep it under control a bit more.

I can relate.. I have colitis and I am on a ton of meds. I had major worries about getting surgery on a part of my body that was already in crisis. I have been on prednisone for years and on a 20mg daily dose daily. So I never really lost weight presurgery and had many conversations with my primary, gastro, surgeon, and pharmacist. It's scary, really scary, I worried about what effect the prednisone would have, like would I even lose weight while on it, but the benefits outweighed the risks and I just could not gain anymore. This was an option that could possibly help and I couldn't refuse it. All of that said, I teased all my doctors about me being a train wreck and a challenge. Thankfully they all took me on and I am post op and losing. I say talk to your doctors...ask all the questions and really think about it...but i would guess you will find it will be worth it. best of wishes

I'm sure I will forget some things but my advice is to first make sure you can still take your meds once the weight loss surgery is done. I was told by my doctor that some medication of mine had to be stopped or switched. Of course from the date of your post you may have already done that.

I am not sure about the meds you are taking but you could check to see if there are alternative medications that won't cause all those side-effects. Being on medications that causes weight gain seems hard.

Just keep working closely with the doctors and nutritionists if available. It seems to me that if you lost weight before and were on those same medications, then it could happen again. The main goal will be to maintain the weight loss until you reach your goal and then to keep it off.

I'm sorry if this doesn't help but I think a doctor would be better suited to answer this one. Good luck with everything. I hope it all works out.