Surgical error or common problem?

I had brachioplasty Nov. 20, 2009.  I had an EXTREME case, in fact the surgeon said I had the largest arms he had ever done.  That being said they are much better than before, but not exactly where I wanted to end up.

PROBLEM:  On my left arm (which was my largest) between my elbow and wrist on the underside of my arm, it is completely numb.  I have no feeling at all.  It starts right below my elbow and goes down to where my wris****ch sits.  It is about an inch wide where there is no feeling.  Right outside that area, where I do have feeling, it hurts to touch, like it is super sensitive.  In fact if I don't wear my arm garment, that arm gets really sore and swollen.  So, I still wear my garment 24/7.

I have mentioned it to the surgeon on my post op visits and he just says, "yeah that happens sometimes, give it time".  So how much time?  How do you know IF it is permanent nerve damage?

If you have some information you can share I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Brooke K

Brooke, I had a revision to my original brachioplasty done on Nov. 24, 2009 (you were 4 days ahead of me), and I had exactly the very same thing happen to me.  I was just like you - crazy with concern.  WELL, my surgeon told me the same thing that your surgeon told you and sure enough, just as he said, it's GONE!!!  No more pain!  I thought that I would have that pain forever.  You and I do have the same experience - my left arm was larger than my right also.  I still do have numbness, and from what I understand, it will take some time for that to go away.  In fact, I still had numbness from my original brachioplasty when I had the revision.  I've always heard that arms could be very tricky, and I so agree.  I'm still visiting with my surgeon, and I'm so glad that he's keeping a very close eye on my recovery.  He's a great ps, and I do trust him when he says that the outcome will be what I'm looking for.  I keep telling myself that it'sonly been 3 months and I'm still in the healing process.  :)

Well Brooke, I believe that you and I will be just fine!  BTW, I had very huge upper arms also.  I think that after wls, before brachio my upper arms measured approx. 27 inches around.  Like I said - HUGE!  So far right now, my right arm is approx. 10 or 11", and my left is approx. 13".  I still have some swelling on the left side also.  All said and done, I believe that I will be eventually happy with the outcome.  I'm not planning on wearing sleeveless anything (except a swimsuit), and I'm happy to wear elbow or 3/4 length.  I just want my upper arms to match in size and look the same in sleeves.

God bless you,
Rose

Rose,
Thanks for your reply.  I'm glad your pain went away!  We have so mu*****ommon, so I expect my pain and numbness to be going away soon! 

I wish so badly I had measured my arms before surgery.  I did take before pics the night before surgery, but I forgot to measure.   I have tried to measure now, but I keep dropping the tape, so I will get someone to help me!  

Best of luck to you in your revision recovery!

Hugs,
Brooke

I understand your concerns - I was in the same boat!  It's funny because when the pain went away, it was just gone.  I was moving my arms like I'd never had the experience, but prior to the pain going away, I was holding and cradling my arms like they were babies.  LOL!  There is just no understanding surgeries and the outcomes, are there?  :)

Yep, you've got to get someone to help you measure yourself.  I did the same thing - dropping the tape measure until I got so frustrated and stopped.  My ps measured me.  I made sure that I wrote the numbers down. 

Another strange thing is that after this revision, my scars are a bit wider than the first time.  I'm not too happy with that so far, but I'm putting on the scar serum and I'm praying that with time they will fade.  I'm black, so I have dark lines on my inner arms.  When I hold my arms close to my sides, of course you can't even tell that I had surgery.  :)  Well, I'm going to keep the faith and keep on piling on the scar serum.   I use a serum that my surgeon approved of that I purchased at Wal-greens.  It is a Palmer's brand, and it is very thick and has vitamin E in it.  It's not as expensive as the Mederma.  I used so many after my original brachio in January of 2009, and this one is doing just as well, and it's less expensive.  I took it to my surgeon because he wanted to see the ingredients.  Right away he said the it was a good product because it had "onion" in it.  He told me that he'd heard of the healing properties of the onion, and was impressed that this serum had onion it.  He told me to keep on using it!  That made me very happy!  :)  What are you using right now?

Thank you so much for your well wishes, and we'll have to keep up with each other progress.  It's always good to go through these things with supporters that are experiencing the same thing.  :)

Hugs back,
Rose

Rose,

I am using something my plastic surgeon sold me at his office called Scarguard MD.  It smells and looks like clear fingernail polish. $70.00!   I forget to use it.  It stinks, you have to wait for it to dry, then it seems to just peel off. 

My scar on my left arm is still purplish and my right arm is light white/purplish!  I'm please with the scar placement.  Sounds like about the same place as yours.  If my arms are to my side, can't see them at all.  Even if anyone can see them, I don't care.  It is better than the huge "balls" I had hanging down before! 

I'm sending you a friend request so we can keep in touch.

Brooke

Thanks for the friends request! 
One of the reasons I love this other stuff is because it's just like it says - a thick clearish serum.  I smooth it on and rub it into my scar lines and almost immediately I can put on my clothes.  It really has no smell at all.  It's like a thick vitamin E oil.  It also makes my scars feel smooth and soft.  Well, if you want to try it sometime, it costs around $8.00 at Wal-greens.  At least you won't be out of a lot of money if you don't feel that it's helping you.  :)

I'm with you in that I'd rather have those batwings gone and have the scars.  Besides, I call my scars my battle wounds.  It seems to help keep me focus when I look at them.  They remind me of where I've been, and where I never want to go again!!!  :)

Blessings and have a great evening.  Tomorrow is my {{{birthday}}} and I'm taking a well deserved day off work.  :)  I'm going to pamper myself a little bit - while staying away from the cake that I know my children are going to bring - because they love me!  LOL!

Blessings to you always,
Rose

P.S.  I just tried to upload a pic to my avatar with no luck.  I'll try again on Friday.  This is why I gave up a few months ago.  LOL...

Hi Brooke, sorry to hear u r having problems, one thing I hate about plastics is the waiting , u have to wait for the selling to go down , and the numbness to go away and it takes months before u can see the final  results my r arm is a liitle bigger then my left but it was also like that before surgery.
it will all work ot for you
HUGS Susan

Hey Susan!

Thanks for the reply!  I've been following your posts about your face!  You are looking great! 

I am getting ready for my "trunk" work this summer! 

Brooke K

Hi Brooke,
I had some pretty big arms too.  After my Brachio (March 2009) I was disappointed that the surgeon did not take enough off AND he left one arm bigger than the other.  I later had lipo on the arms as part of a revision (July 2009)....I still have numbness and mostly no feeling along the back of my arms but it did not impact my lower arms.

Did you have any lipo?  I've found that anytime lipo is involved it take much longer for things to heal.

Hope you get some relief real soon!!!
Waiting to feel "normal" is the hardest part of all this....well it is for me....

Take care
Ruth

Hi Ruth,
As far as I know, no lipo.  It wasn't in the "plan", but then again, I haven't asked post surgery. 

I talked to him on my last visit about a "revision" but he said there was not enough skin left to do a revision???  Was talking about muscle and the stuff that protects the muscle and not wanting to "go there".  Kind of lost me in the whole explanation.  I just decided I would let it go for now, but will ask about revision again...at a later date!  So I have a question for you....did you have just lipo as your revision, or did they re-do the whole arm(s)?  Good results???

Thanks,
Brooke