Three weeks post-arm lift! (photos. lots of photos.)

Three weeks ago I was waking up in recovery. As y'all know, I also moved house five days after, so it's been a wild ride to say the least.

The first week was rough. Not necessarily from pain, but mostly because I could do very little for myself and as someone who is fiercely independent, that was extremely frustrating. I couldn't feed myself for three days. I couldn't dress myself for over a week. I still can't get my compression garment on without help and sometimes get stuck trying to get a shirt or dress on over my head. Plus, due to the aforementioned moving, I'm still very limited in the things I can do around our new house and that drives me a little crazy.

That being said, things are going well! I've been driving since day 15 and I'm back at work today. I have a desk job, so I'm not worried about anything in that respect, but I know that I'm going to be bone tired by the end of the day just by nature of having to get up, go out and deal with people all day sans nap.

I haven't taken anything but tylenol for pain since about day eight. Some days I don't even take anything at all; others, I take some a couple of times a day. It all depends on how much I've pushed my limits. I can do pretty much anything (except lift/pull heavy things) as long as it's below shoulder height. Reaching up or out is challenging. The pulling sensation along my incisions is SO WEIRD and can be quite painful if I go too far with it. Unfortunately, I foresee a lot more of that particular discomfort in my future as I continue to work on stretching them out to prevent them from healing too tight and limiting my range of motion.

Wearing my compression sleeves is both a physical and emotional comfort. I could probably go without for a short while, but the sensation of the insides of my (new) arms rubbing against my body/clothing is so strange that it wigs me out a little. Plus, I feel quite vulnerable while doing things without my sleeves on. I hope that subsides as they heal more and the altered sensations I have due to the incisions and all the liposuction resolve. I got this surgery so I wouldn't have to wear sleeves anymore, dammit!

Okay, photo time (they're all in my Plastics photo album in my profile, if you can't see them here):

My surgeon put my before/after on his instagram page! ;)

This was my set-up for the first couple of days and the first week of nights. It was so annoying.

Day two, still wrapped in my tensor bandages and with my two drain buddies.

I was so worried about all that puffiness at the tops of my arms. It's all gone now. Phew.

This is the compression garment they put me in at my follow-up on day three.

16 days out, I finally got all the tape removed and could see my whole incisions.

They look amazing, Heather!! Thanks for sharing.

Happy healing. Things get better, I promise!!

Super awesome! I can't wait :D

Thanks for the update. Your arms look great!

You look awesome! Love how the scar is already healing and not so red! Really want this done!

Looks amazing - I just had mine done on May 15th. I unfortunately had a complication - one of my under arms opened up and then the ER opened it some more to make sure it didnt have any extra fluid in there (ugh!); thankfully they were plastic surgeons but still. I also feel like I am going to have not so 'perfect' outcome with my one arm - there is a definate area of bump out near elbow. I keep telling myself I have a lot of healing to do - and not to pani****ep up the good work --- your arms look great and dont even look very swollen in pictures - mine swell the whole way to my finger tips even in compression.

I have a teeny-tiny opening in my right armpit. At the advice of my surgeon, I was putting paper tape on the incisions to reduce rubbing irritation, but that was keeping them moist and that one area didn't close up properly. I've since stopped with the tape and, now that I'm four weeks out, will take off the compression for longer periods just to ensure they dry out, which is helping with that hole, for sure.

I also have a couple of really red and slightly puffy areas along that same incision. I think it's just internal stitches getting irritated, because they're not hot, sore or even hint at being infected except for the redness. I sent photos to the nurse, and she said they look normal.

My scar line is noticeably redder now than in these photos. I think that's normal, but it freaked me out a little to see. It's photo day, so I can update them if anyone's interested.

I've been pretty lucky with swelling. My forearms and hands were crazy swollen the first two weeks. I even wrapped the part of my arms which my compression doesn't cover with tensor/ace bandages to help them not get so fat. Since then, they've been pretty good, thankfully.

The ends of my incisions are quite lumpy and bumpy. My surgeon had a lot of skin to pull together at the ends, so I'm not surprised. The ones on my sides of my chest, I don't care much about as that's not something anyone but me or my partner will ever see. The ones on my arms, below my elbows... well, I hope they flatten out over time, but if they don't, oh well. I never expected to get out of this scar-free, so I'll take whatever my skin decides to leave me with.

Four weeks, before/current:

Looks amazing! I am battling a seroma in my elbow area - after 2 courses of antibiotics and drained once - it looks better but I think it might be trying to return. I will try to remember to load pictures tonight. Do you feel like you don't know what to do with you arms, I feel awkward when I walk because I am use to them sticking out more, so now I feel like I have to make an effort to pull them in, its odd. I am happy with the results for the most part.