Arm Lift (Brachioplasty)
Overview
Weight loss and the effects of aging can cause the skin and ligaments of your upper arms to sag, sometimes hanging over the elbow. Lifting weights is rarely enough to eliminate the drooping skin and tissue, especially if there is excess skin. An arm lift (brachioplasty) can tighten your upper arms and restore them to a more youthful appearance.
In mild cases, removing fat through liposuction may be all that is required to tighten and sculpt your upper arms. If you have excessive drooping, however, an arm lift may be needed to remove and tighten the excess skin. Liposuction is usually also included with brachioplasty.
The best candidates for an arm lift are patients who are close to their ideal weight. If you intend to lose a significant amount of weight (10 or more pounds) you should postpone surgery until you have achieved a healthy weight for your height; otherwise, additional weight loss can loosen the skin in your upper arms again.
At Summit Health, we have developed a set of protocols to limit the pain and discomfort from this procedure. These protocols involve providing medications before, during, and after the surgery, as well as optimizing our patient care. We also use Exparel, a long-acting advanced local anesthetic, which extends your comfort after surgery.
Some patients have additional procedures for a more polished look overall, such as an inner thigh lift, a lower body and buttock lift, and/or a tummy tuck. It is less costly to combine procedures, and often they can be done concurrently so that you have only one incident of anesthesia and one recovery period.