Brachioplasty and tops

I am having a brachioplasty on 12/2 -- and I've been reading a lot lately that I can't wear anything that goes over my head.  I don't know why I didn't think of that!  How long before you were able to wear tops that went over your head?  I think I only have a few items that botton up the front.  Help!!!

It was probably a week to a week and a half before I could put a shirt on with assistance.  And then it was still kinda tough.  I'm coming up to 4 weeks now and can ususally put on and take off a shirt without assistance.  I say usually as I have gotten stuck a couple times and had to call for help!

Thanks!  I hope I can do that too!  I won't have assistance until about 6 days post op!  I better wear the botton up ones.

During my weightloss I was a huge fan of Goodwill.  I couldn't afford to keep up with the size changes, which is good, but can be costly.  So I headed to Goodwill again when I was preparing for my brachioplasty.  Blouses, front-zip sweatshirt jackets and don't forget button up the front
pajamas.  Good luck with your surgery and healing.  You'll love your new, tiny arms.  Barb

I hadn't thought about the Goodwill.  My WLS doc has a little support group that is really good at clothes sharing, so I had plenty of clothes to wear.  I have only a few botton front tops, so I better hit the Goodwill and ARC Stores!  Thanks for the good idea!

I like oversized mens v-neck cotton t-shirts. I was able to put them on immediately with a little help. Having them oversized is key. After a week or so I could slide them over my head by myself with no problem.

Thanks Renee!  I'll get a package of those.
I have some huge tee shirts from when I weighed over 450lbs.  I saved them for jamies!!!

I was told to let pain and common sense be my guide and that I should be able to put on a looser stretch t-shirt over my head.  I found this to be true and have found that it was much harder for me to wear a button up anything that I had to reach behind me to put on.  I usually wear a cami type top over the compression garment and then a looser t-shirt, but it is by no means over sized - just my size small from Old Navy. 

It really depnds upon the person I think.  Because my doctor said I was OK to do that, I've figured that I could.  I had to see someone else the other day who was shocked that I could lift my arms at all at 2 1/2 weeks out and I wanted to laugh out loud.  My first thought was - "are you crazy - of course I can do that!"

You might be surprised that something over your head isn't all that bad. 

I guess it's all about perception...in my opinion looser and over-sized mean the same thing. I think we both wore the same type of shirts.

My arms are 30 and 32 inches 'long' - it's so hard to imagine what they will look like!  I think Looser will work well, maybe slide up from the bottom if I have to - Thanks Renee!