Recovery after arms

I will be having my 3rd, and last, plastic surgery on my arms at the end of the month.  I'd like to know what your recovery was like, how long before you could lift and use your arms, and if you were pleased with the results, or had regrets.  I've had difficult recoveries with both my LBL/BL and my medial thigh lift, and I HOPE that this one will go a bit smoother.  My arms are not as bad as others, but I really want them fixed and the side boobs fixed. 

Thanks,

My arms were the easiest so far. I had them done in combination w/ my LBL. Was able to use my arms right away w/ no problems. Just stayed away from lifting heavy things or over using them for a couple of weeks.  I really have no regrets and am happy w/ my results.

Hope everything goes smoothly for you.

Thanks Sonnie -
I hope that things go very smoothly too.  That would be new for me, but I am hopeful about that!

Well, I think we may all be different.  I had brachio done with a breast lift/augmentation.  I was wrapped like a mummy from knuckles to tummy and was not allowed to use my arms AT ALL for a week.  Thank goodness I had a lot of help.  I and my PS were very conservative with movements and was only recently cleared to lift heavy things.  I am 80% as far as range of motion and still have swelling at night.  I have no regrets AT ALL and love the results.  You will do great!

April

thanks April. I am going to clarify with him on Friday as to what my activity level and use of arms is to be.  I will have wraps for the first 2-3 days post surgery, then a compression garment. I also know that I will have drains in both arms.

Good idea to ask.  My drains were actually in my sides, not my arms (probably because I had "side boob" removal, BL/BA at the same time...my scar runs from elbow to inside of breast on each side).  Not being able to move was definitley the WORST part of recovery.  Oh, and I never thought I would be happy to go home with a foley!

April

Recovery mostly depends on the type of brache you are having.  If you are having it in conjunction with an axilla repair(side boobs) then it is a lot more confining than just an incision to the armpit.  For me, the brache with the axilla repair was the most difficult and confining and I've had 'everything' done.  Be sure to have everything on countertop level and buy small bottles of water available to take your pills.  You are not allowed to lift your arms or lift anything heavy.  Be sure to follow these instructions to the letter or you'll risk having wound separations and ropey scars if you don't. 

Another thing, get a back scratcher.  The contraption they had me in with a built in bra and arms for compression was so confining I couldn't reach one arm with the other to scratch!  You can get through it, it's just different than what you've had.

Mary

Thanks Mary for your tips. I will have the braicho with zplasty in axilla and extended down the side of my chest wall to remove some excess tissue in my upper abdomen. I will have a compression garment from design veronique that is a bolero style bra top with long sleeves.  He might do a slight revision to my belly button, but I will know more on that at preop on Friday.

As I struggle to type this as I lay here wrapped like the mummy mentioned above....I must concur with the arms being the most frustrating of all surgeries. The most painful and hardest recovery was still my LBL w/ extended thigh lift and lipo to thighs and calves. This surgery is causing me to go nuts-o... I'm a computer person and at exactly one week out I still can't imagine sitting up in a chair using a computer. I have to basically sit on a reclined cushion so my arms are up in the air.  It's the part of not being able to do anything you're used to - even carrying your purse - that drives you insane :-).

I had the Arm Lift w/ the chest/side lift w/ breast lift/aug (and a couple scar revisions and thigh reone a bit) done last Thursday. The first few days I couldn't do CRAP. I still can't completely wash my hair alone - SO still has to help me with my showers. Thankfully I can go potty on my own, but have to call him in if my underware falls too far down my legs - lmao...(I can't bend over to reach them - talk about embarassing). I have to drink out of plastic cups as our glass cups are very heavy ones and I had trouble lifting them at first.

Other than microwaving something cooking is out for me as well right now. I haven't had the swelling everyone else mentions so I guess I'm a lucky one, but I believe I have a small infection in my left armpit where the stablizer rubs against the incision - I have a call into my doc now so we'll see.

On a funny note, my boss is on my Facebook and has been following my status updates...My commander called me at home a couple days ago and said "so I hear you're going crazy staying at home - well you can forget about coming back for a bit, you need to get healed up more so just chill out" - geez, thanks boss!!!!!! -

As for my results - I'm not enthusastic about my thigh revision, I think it looks worse than before the revision - less natural. The scar revisions look GREAT! the arms, for the most part looks really good, but I honestly believe I'll have to have a scar revision on part of the arms. I say this because the scar looks like in some places that there are tabs of skin that is away from the body along the scar - kind of like fabric getting bunched up in a sewing machine or something.

Thanks so much for your response.  I had my BL with auto augmentation at the time of my LBL in June of 2008, so I won't have to deal so much with that part of the my chest, but since he is planning on coming down the chest side wall quite a bit I am somewhat concerned.
I had been told with my BL that I wouldn't be able to lift my arms or use them much, but I didn't have any issues with what, which is one of the reasons I was wondering about arm use following the braicho.

I am assuming that you are need to wear only front botton clothes and that pull over tops and tshirts are out.

I also have an area on one thing that I am going to ask him about revising, but he might want to wait until after my arms heal.  My surgeon feels, in his opinion, that the arms are the easiest of the 3 surgeries to recover from. I don't know if he is just trying to encourage me, or if that is really the case.  I am excited to have my arms done, but like with any of these surgeries, I'm a bit apprehensive as well.