Tingling Arms Post Brachioplasty

My brachioplasty was Dec. 12, and I'm just wondering if what I'm feeling is normal. My forearms from the elbows to wrists tingle quite a bit. The surgeon said this is because the three major nerves in my arms are healing, which totally makes sense. My upper arms are still quite swollen, which doesn't concern me very much considering the trauma they've gone through.  I've actually experience little actual pain, just weirdness that I didn't know I'd feel.

I'd appreciate hearing from others who had brachioplasty. How long before my arms will start feeling more normal? When will the swelling go down, at least enough to wear normal clothing comfortably?

Thanks for your input.

Susan M.

I had a brachioplasty in 2009.  He did some lipo on my upper arm and didn't go past my elbow.  I still have the occasional tingles and pains.  It's normal.  I didn't have trouble with swelling past 3 days but I bought a really nice compression garment from www.marenagroup.com and it made the world of difference!

I had my bracioplasty done on 2 Dec 13 and my forearms sometimes have quite a bit of pain in. I too have a really good compression garment and it makes the world of difference. The other thing I do when my arms are swollen is I put pillows by my side so that my arms are resting above my heart level and that helps bring the swelling down to.

As of today the 25th of Dec I am starting to get much more feeling in along my incision lines not so much the numbness any more. Which is awesome. I have also used a cold pack on my arms along the incision line to help reduce swelling.  Make sure if you do that you wrap the cold pack well so that it is only cool to your touch you don't want to damage the skin along your incision by having it to cold and freezing it.

My Dr also told me to lightly massage the incisions that will help them heal faster and help break down scar tissue. I was cleared the other day to start walking my hands fingers first up the wall and stretching my arms past the tightness feeling just a bit and to continue do that and it is getting much better my reach is better and much more feeling.  Good Luck!

Teasha,

Thank you so much for your suggestions. I keep my arms elevated quite a bit, especially in the evenings when the swelling seems to increase. I have a check-up tomorrow morning, and my surgeon is going to let me start doing some physical therapy. Hopefully that will also help with movement and the tingling in my arms. 

It sounds like you're healing well. Keep up your good work.

Susan

How did your check up go?

Check up on Dec. 26 went well.  Surgeon is still pleased with my progress.  I discovered that he used a strong adhesive to help my incisions heal better, so I can't use any oil or massage the scars until next week.  Most of the adhesive has come off, so I'm sure the doctor will approve oil and massage. I hope this will help the scar loosen up a bit, and especially help with the thick scarring under my arm that feels quite bulky and uncomfortable at times.  I'm still restricted to lifting my arms shoulder high, but it doesn't hurt if I forget and go a little higher. I'm being very careful because I don't want anything to go wrong.

I return to work on Monday, Jan. 6, and I think I'll keep wearing my ACE bandages most of the time for at least two weeks. I like the additional support they give my tender tendons and nerves. Even with the bandages on, though, my shirt sleeves are so much looser and comfortable. I'm beginning to appreciate this surgery--finally!!

How are you doing? Is everything going well? What are you allowed to do, what are you doing for your scars (if anything), and what problems are you experiencing. I hope you're doing great.

I am doing good, my arms look really good very slim line of scar. I am massaging them and putting bio oil on them. I still wear my compression sleeves at night. I still have some scar tissue that needs breaking down, just about the elbows on both sides left one is worse. I am working on massaging a bit more assertively to see if that will help. I pretty much have full range of motion and can lift my arms right up now, with some pulling but minimal. 

Sounds like you are doing good to. I am not returning to wor****il the end of Jan now, I need to go in and have the spot that opened up on my Tummy closed and Dr wants me off for another three weeks after that is done. I am getting frustrated at not being able to get back to my life, but all in good time.

Take care and good luc****ep me posted as to how you are doing.

Did you have a tummy tuck at the same time as your brachioplasty?! I had considered that, but I knew I could only take 3 weeks off work. I'm having a fleur de lis done at the end of June.  If you had both done at the same time, I'd love to hear how everything went and how you managed. I'm glad you have so much time off work to make sure you're good and healed. It does get monotonous not being able to do normal things, but it's all worth it in the end, isn't it!

I did do both at the same time. I run 20 to 30 kilometers a week and those two areas were causing me considerable pain. I had my surgery on the 2nd of Dec and on the 9th of Dec I had to go back into emergency at the hospital, I was bleeding internally from the TT fleur de lis. The surgeon had missed a small blood vessel and it was bleeding slowly. He did a second surgery and everything has been good since then with the exception that my incision opened up where the t cut meets. That he is going to reclose this week coming up. I am now wearing my compression garment only to sleep so 12 hours on 12 hours off, I get quite swollen by about hour 8 but that is to be expected. I will wear an ice/gel pack over my tummy to help bring the swelling down. It works well. I didn't need any muscle work done on my done so I was very fortunate. I have been doing core body building for about two and half three years so my muscles were good.

I believe that this will be all worth once we are all healed up and the swelling stops. Right now it is uncomfortable. However, I can't believe how nice panties look now with my nice flat tummy. The nice sexy ones LOL!

I am lucky that I had saved up my holidays in case I needed to take extra time off work or else I would be off without pay and that would be hard to take since I just finished paying for my surgeries. Ouch!

You're doing so well! Thanks for sharing your experience. My surgeon said the T of a fleur de lis does reopen because of the stress naturally placed on that area. I've never heard of anyone not needing muscle work; so glad all your core body building paid off.  Even though I exercise and lift weights, I doubt if my muscles are in good enough  shape after four children, losing and gaining weight for so many years, and my age (59). Nonetheless, it's good to hear that the tummy tuck is worth it in the end. My daughter said the same about sexy panties--the best pay off ever!