Question about "scar revision" surgery

Hi, everyone -

The scars from  my arm lift are healing generally OK -- except in my armpits where  I had multiple wound separation issues.  My right armpit is certainly the worst in that regard - the scar in there is, at it's largest,  about two inches wide and three inches long.  It's basically a big red blob.  ;)   I am continuing to wear compression and being careful, especially with that pit, because the wound was still open as of just a few weeks ago.   No signs of it being a raised scar.  I'm very fair skinned and tend to scar pretty nicely and I'm hopeful that I'll be happy with my arm lift scars eventually.

 

My PS mentioned that we could revise the arm lift scars, if necessary. I believe he does it for free, which is very generous of him, but I'm not sure I'd ever want to put my arms under the knife again. If my armpit had trouble healing the first time, wouldn't slicing and dicing it up even more just be an invitation for more trouble?  Why would I expect better healing the second time around?  I think the armpits are just a tough area to heal, even in the best of cir****tances.   Honestly, I think even my my arm pits have a massive red scar, I won't care too much.   How often do I show off my armpits?  Pretty much never, in polite company.  ;)  I'm more concerned with the scar from armpit to elbow, which is so far healing just as expected.  I will probably wait a good year before deciding if I want to revise the scar.

 

Have any of you had a scar revision surgery?  If so, could you please describe what your scar was like before and after?  How far out from your original PS were you when you decided to do a scar revision surgery?  How was recovery?  Are you glad you did it? 

 

Thanks for letting me ramble a bit and thanks in advance for sharing any experiences with scar revision! :)

 

oh, my poor armpits!

i had my arm lift on april 11 and have openings in both armpits, right is worst.

This arm lift is such a oain, i will never ever touch my arms again.

i cannot talk about revision now as i am very fresh but i do not think i will do any more ps.

Enough is enough.

Alla

I hear you, I really do!  I almost canceled my tt after I had some much trouble healing from the arm lift- a procedure that I thought was supposed to be relatively "easy".    The arm lift was 900x more painful and difficult for me than my anchor tummy tuck.  Seriously.  No comparison.    So I can completely understand why you are not wanting anyone to touch your arms again!  I am having the exact same reservations, which is why I am leaning heavily towards just living with the big armpit scars!

 

Here I am 3 months out from my arm lift, and the back of my arms are still tender to the touch - like they are bruised.   I never thought they'd still be so uncomfortable this far out.  I believe it's the lipo that hurts so much.  I didn't have any lipo with the tt, and by the time I left the hospital my tt pain was very minimal.    Where there were openings in my armpits are also slightly tender to the touch, but not so bad.    I'm glad to not have my flappity arms, even with the scar... so I'm glad I did the arm lift.

 

I hope you feel better soon.  Are you pleased with the way your arms look, aside from the holes and the scars?  Do you think you'll be glad you did it once you heal a bit more?  Take care...  arm lift recovery SUCKS!!!  (((gentle HUGS))) 

yes, I like my arms.my surgeon Dr Capella placed scars that once they healed they are almost invisible.

i hope this will be in my case once i healed.

How long took for your armpits to close?

it is already 1 month for me and still have holes, i hate them.

thank you and good luck with your revision if you decide to do.

alla

Well, I hope this isn't disheartening to you, but I had multiple openings...meaning, they healed and closed and then reopened later.  D'oh!!!    The first openings closed in about 1-2 weeks.  But then 3-4 weeks later, it reopened bigger and wider than ever before.  So annoying.  They re-opened soon after my tummy tuck surgery, so I was swollen up like crazy and I didn't have arm compression on for a couple of days.  I'm sure I must have done some dumb maneuvering too, but I don't recall a specific instance where my arm reopened.  Must've happened when I was still on pain meds.   I just one day realized that (holy crap) the hole is back!

 

The second time around, the hole took about 2-3 weeks to close entirely. 

 

I just feel that since the big  blobby shaped scar is in my armpit, I'm not going to worry about it.  I mean, seriously... who is looking in my armpit?  I doubt that the rare occasions that my armpit would be exposed to the world, and people may or may not see my scar, will be enough for me to want to subject my arms to more surgery.  I reallyy think I'll just live with it.

 

By the way... as one armlifter to another.... I was using this fancy silicon stuff on my scars that are down the length of my arms, but gave up on that in favor of palmer's cocoa butter.  Since I started putting that stuff on several times a day, I can finally see a big improvement in the scars, they are finally lightening!  You may want to give that stuff a try - it's super cheap (especially compared to the crazy expensive stuff PS offices sell!) 

 

I hope your holes close soon and STAY closed!  It's stressful to have to always be so worried about pulling those holes open wider!

Well after my gangrene from my tummy tuck, a year later I had my breast lift and at the same time the healed what once was gangrene was revised and it healed nicely.
I am very fair-skinned and I tend to scar ugly no matter what.
I need a scar revision from my Breast Lift as I have dog-ears on sides of boobs which I hope can be done and soon.
Mikimi in Israel

Gangrene from your Tummy tuck!?  You poor thing, what a nightmare!      Was the pain from the revision surgery at all similar to the pain of the original tummy tuck?  Did it pull your skin tighter when they did it?  I can't imagine pulling the skin on my arms tighter, which is why it's hard to imagine how they would close this scar...

 

Good luck with your next scar revision/dog ear removal.  

There was no real pain from the gangrene (it started at 1cm) but after debridement and during the Wound Vac I had pain.
Scar revision as a rule seems to be easier. However every body and how they react to pain and discomfort.
Breast Lift is supposed to be easy-peasy and yet I suffered compared to others
Mikimi in Israel