Brachioplasty

What is Brachioplasty?

Brachioplasty is another name for underarm surgery or arm lift. This surgical procedure is used to tighten loose skin and remove excess fat on the upper arms. Individuals who decide to undergo this surgery are usually older patients or those who have had dramatic weight loss and were stuck with sagging skin. This is an invasive treatment and some downtime is required. This is considered as a cosmetic procedure, even though a number of patients have to undergo this procedure to treat upper arm deformity, which is rare.

Who can undergo Brachioplasty?

To get a green light from physicians to undergo Brachioplasty, one has to have good health conditions, without diseases or serious medical conditions. The surgery will leave a scar on the upper arm area. The scar can be treated with different procedures when it is completely healed. It may take up to one year for the scar to completely heal. For some patients, it is not advisable to treat the scar to avoid further complications. You may not be the right candidate if you are an active or passive smoker, or have been smoking for a longer period of your life prior to quitting recently. Smokers are exposed to more complications with healing, skin loss, infections, increased chances for scarring.

What to expect from the Procedure?

The patient has to be in the standing position while doctor marks the area that surgery will be performed on. The patient is given local anesthetics while excess skin and fat are being removed. The doctor surgically removes excess skin and fat and closes the wound. Usually, the drain is used like in likewise surgical procedures. This will require some down time.

Options to Enhance the Procedure

Brachioplasty can be combined with a different procedure to obtain better results. For example, your provider may advise you to combine Brachioplasty with liposuction to provide better and smoother outcome. Moreover, it can be combined with different treatments that will eventually improve the appearance of the scar.