My arm looks awful after brachioplasty

You are always so sweet Mikimi and I appreciate your candor, humor, thoughtfulness, and friendship. I am sometimes envious of the ladies like you who were able to get insurance coverage for part of their surgery. I do need to get my stuff together and see of I can get any reimbursement after the fact. It is a long shot but nothing ventured nothing gained. that said, I have come to terms with spending a small fortune to get the body I want. I was very specific with Dr. Capella about what I wanted to achieve and he said he could deliver it. So as long as that happens then I will be happy with the trade off I made for scars and money spent.

i loved the results of my tummy tuck and subsequent weight loss. But it took me 3.5 months to see the final outcome. I am only 3.5 weeks now and there are areas of my body that I did not like almost immediately after surgery. I got depressed shortly after one week post op and spent the whole day crying about my breasts and ass. I figured it was one of those post op blue days/regret days that is typical after surgery. But I went to see Dr. Capella and Scott because I thought that talking to them would make me feel better. 

Right away Dr. Capella told me he would revise me if I did not like the way I looked. There is another patient of his on this board that said she was unhappy with her results and that he was rude to her and did not offer to revise her. I have never had that experience with him. He was very calming in explaining how he went about my breast lift and areola reduction so that I understood how much care he took in doing the procedure. I know that he really likes the way that they came out, because he made comments about them several times after surgery to that effect. And I felt very bad having to tell him that I did not like them, but my point is that he was more than willing to revise them even though he though they looked great so that I would be happy with them. He does not charge for revisions. Many surgeons will not do revisions if they think the procedure came out to their liking. Of course the good ones will!

He did tell me to give it some time as my body will change. Today I am really happy to see some changes in my breasts that make them more to my liking. I still do not like my ass and if it takes two rounds to get it to where it needs to be then I am fine with that. I think sometimes we MWL patients have done significant damage to our bodies and it takes a lot of effort to make them look great. I think there is a much higher level of expectation for excellent outcomes when you are self pay versus someone who was fortunate enough to have insurance pay. For me, I expect excellent results for the 25k I have invested to date, not just settle for improvement. I think my expectations are realistic and so did my surgeon when we discussed them. So in the end I think all will be great. I take very good care of my body and my health so my results should be long lasting.

I have to make do with what minimal the HMO gave me. The TT was like a cross between a TT and a panni.
My boobies-when the docs took off the bandages the day after surgery during Rounds, they all commened that I look seventeen! Now you've seen my half mangoes. I'm glad they are not hanging dangling pendulums anymore and I am happy with small.

I am very specific about what I ant for my breasts. This is such an incredibly important part of the body to me. I showed him a pic of exactly what I wanted and he said he could do that. He does a two stage procedure, lift first then augmentation later. So I have little boobs for the next few months like I odd when I was seventeen!!! Hahaha

i think your half mangoes look pretty good, no lie! And you do look very young. I would take you for I your thirties.

I hear you for you and your boobs - which is why I sent you Rodney Carrington.
Dang I wish I could post it to the Board.
I guess if I had augmented boobs I would feel like headlights and now I feel flatter but I don't or never really felt feminine. I don't care for perfume or makeup although my mom was an Avon rep and I had all the perfume dolls.
I was fat and wore men's denim overalls altered to fit my frame.
So I guess I "learned" to not feel feminine.

But if one is paying money you damn well want what you pay for!

Oh yeah, I love all that feminine stuff - the salon, clothes, shoes, makeup... And being dominated by a man in bed... Oops, was I just too candid? Meow.

Thanks so much for posting your experiences and being do candid. You've been very helpful and I've appreciated your insight. It's good to see the photos...like Mikimi, I'm using my iPhone and it's not easy to grab a link. I'm almost 2 weeks out from an arm lift plus anchor TT, hernia repair and BL. My PS asked me to keep my arms wrapped in ace bandages 24 hours a day for two weeks, then 12 hours a day for the next 2 weeks. So far no openings. The incision looks very puckery and red, there's a zig zag in the arm pits, and since the stitches tHere were removed Friday, it looks and feels irritated. I think I'll need a revision to remove more excess skin by my armpits and the armpits are no longer flat -- not sure how to shave them with the folds. I'll just stay hairy and stinky for now 😜. In another two weeks I can use the silicone sheeting to hopefully make the incisions lie flat. I am able and allowed to reach and extend now, just no repetitive movements like painting a wall with a paint roller (LOL, no such plans for that anyway)
Jennifer

You are equerry welcome. If you are able to scroll you can see the pix I posted subsequent to making the initial post. I posted the pic I took of my arm looking its worst and then one from a few days later showing the healing. The wound happened at 2 weeks post op. 

I doubt that I will need a revision to the arms aside from the scar. My arms were very small after surgery. They are swollen now. I am not using compression so the swelling may be a little more than someone who uses compression. My surgeon doesn't use compression or drains in the arms. And all of my stitches are dissolvable. The deep tissue is healed by now and it is just the superficial layers that need to be healed.

dr. Capella removed a wedge out of each armpit so I will no longer have to shave or wear deodorant. I have pie crust incisions and they are raised and look like a pie crust. There is pleating in many areas. In the very tops of my arms the incisions have lay down. I am not sure if this is healing or because there is so much tension that pulled on them??? 

Good luck with your healing and thank you for your nice response! Who was your surgeon?

Thanks to your putting your photos in your post, I was able to see them -- thanks. You certainly look to be healing! It's amazing how well a surgeon can revise a scar. I had a seroma at the top of me open RNY incision and the scar was big, crooked and ugly. A surgeon fixed it when I had another surgery. Since I had an anchor tummy tuck, my PS fixed to again because my hernia stretched and misaligned it.

My PS is Dr. Chris Jeffries in Traverse City, MI. That's interesting about your wedge. That likely would have removed the other extra skin I have. I see Dr Jeffries again in two weeks and I'll ask him about it.

I have heard of him.  My wound is healing on the arm but I think I have hyper granulation. Also dr. Capella and Scott did not like the way my axilla are healing, or should I say not healing. He may have to send me nitrate sticks. He thinks that the Xeroform may have interfered with my healing. He believes in the rough type of gauze to keep the area dry and pull the debris out. I do not like the gauze sticking to my wounds and pulling off the necrotic skin and whatever else... I just hate that feeling. But if that is what it takes to heal then I will suffer through the pain, LOL, seriously it is not thwt painful. 

Thank you for string about your scar revision. I was hoping my arm would not have this large scar on it when all is said and done. I scar pretty easily with my olive skin.

Obviously My Bariatric a life have been corresponding offline too.
You are welcome to pm me and we can email and talk.
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I live alone so the Boards I lurk and post in Hebrew and English are my support system and if I can help anyone else it makes me feel happy.
Mikimi in Israel