Arm Lift on 3/13 - What would you have wanted to know before?

I have been waiting to have this done it seems like forever!! Now that I have my date for my AL and my BL I'm really nervous!!! What would you have wanted to know before you had yours?

Thanks!!!

I have been reading and reading about arm lifts. The main thing that I have learned is that people are very satisfied with the surgery as long as they have it done by an experienced surgeon. Many doctors do not do arm lifts often, and the result vary GREATLY from surgeon to surgeon. Make sure that the surgeon that you choose has done quite a few arm lifts, look at lots of before and afters, and ask for references from some of his or her patients if you still have concerns. There was someone who posted here yesterday who was not at all happy with her results after spending over 6000.00. It happens all the time, so make sure that you are confident in your surgeon's skills.  Good luck!!

 be prepared for 3+ months of pain....numbness and nerve sensation more than anything from stitches...and you will need help with getting things that are up high or putting on and taking off your coat, etc...it's now 4 months and I'm used to it most of the time as it slowly slowly gets better - scars and arm shape in my case seem to be doing ok - one arm is red scar other arm is white scar - not sure why...

I would never touch my breasts so that surgery I can't speak to but for me brachioplasty was super easy, I had an extended tt with muscle tightening and a neck lift in 2006, in 2008 I had my arms done and a revision to my neck.  In order of nightmarishness, the neck lift was number 1, it was awful and I did it twice, it felt like *****ers were poking the back of my ears.  That surgery sucked.  The tt would be number 2, with the arms number 3.  I had my surgery on Wednesday and went back to work in my office on Sunday, alone of course as my neck was still swollen.  My arms never swelled and I had no drains, it all depends if you have lipo or not, lipo causes ****loads of swelling.  I had none, just empty skin to remove.  I had a tiny opening under my armpit but it closed in a day or two on its own and everything was fine after that.  It never really hurt at all, I wore the compression sleeves for a long time because it felt more comfortable on my arms.  I lugged a 50lb suitcase through O'Hare a month after my surgery so you can see it really was no big deal for me.  I wish they had turned out tighter but they look basically normal now so I can't complain.

Thank you both for the quick responses! My surgeon is very experienced post baratric plastic surgeon.
 
I'm so excited!!
 
I'm sure the pain will be there for at least 3 months. thank goodness I live in FL and don't have to worry about puttin on and taking off a coat! ;)

 I want to make sure it is really healed well before I do the implants after the BL because I'll be doing theinplants  with a TT. I just want to be prepared as possible. I am happy my surgeon uses a layered sutchering method that does not require me to have drains.

I wish I had known how much pain I would be in and how little I would be able to do for myself.

I was terribly unprepared.

It was much worse than my abdominal procedure.

In August 2011 I had arm lift, face and neck lift, and lower eyes done.
In November 2011 I had TT (inverted T) and extended breast lift done.

My arms were the least painful of all these procedures.  I had a lot of skin in my armpits and at the sides of my breasts.  The cut from the arm surgery addressed some of this skin with a straight scar that is not noticeable from front or back, only when I raise my arms.  The scars are healing nicely  The second surgery to address the extra skin is a U shape scar from the back at the top of the bra line into the side of the breast.  I had  some healing problems in the sites where scars cross each other, in the arm pits and also at the TT incision done with the inverted T incision. These sites are more stressed.

Make sure you get enough info on your armpits.  They look even worse after your arms are made thin. 

The only thing I couldn't do right after arm surgery was reach the chains on the ceiling fans. 

I haven't found any of the pain to be unmanageable yet so next is the Mons and inner thighs.

I had my arms and tt done on 1/6 and back to work full time on the 17th.  I can't tell you how easy the recovery has been.  Of course there was discomfort but after 3 days I didn't take another pain med.  At 3 1/2 weeks out I can tell you that I feel great.  I have to remember to restrict heavy lifting and such because it would not be a problem, except that it is still too early to do anything like that.  You won't be able to have full range of motion with your arms at first so put things you will need the first 10 days to 2 weeks within easy reach.   You are going to be soooo excited when you get this done. 

 For me the pain was insane the first 3-4 days, but after abut a week I got off of everything but tylenol and about 2 or 3 weeks out I was off of that as well.  My recovery has actually been really pretty easy.  I just wish I would have known how much pain I would have been in the first week.  I was pretty much asleep all but a few hours each day though, so that helped some.

good luck!!! I hope you love your results as much as I love mine! :)

I discovered basketball, golf and baseball compression sleeves. You can find them at Academy, big five and Nike stores. They range in compression but look like just long sleeves. Since you'll be wearing them for awhile you want something that looks good. They also breath better than the others I tried.

Hope it turns out perfect!