Arm lift next week - VERY UNPREPARED

[Sophie7713 3,284]

On 7/28/2020 at 1:42 AM, LaLaDee said:

Another quick update because it's been 5 days since my extended brachioplasty. I saw the surgeon and nurse today for my follow up appointment. The bandages are off and the drains are out! I'm allowed to shower again! I feel like a new woman! YAY!!! I haven't taken any pain killers at all today. Things are a bit itchy, my skin has small rashes from where the compression bandages are (this is just my pale sensitive skin doing its thing), so I'm supposed to use body lotion - except on the incisions. I also got a new compression garment. I'm tempted to order another one on Amazon so that I don't have to frantically wash it all the time, but we'll see. My surgeon's clinic also gave me a cute gift bag with a nice note, products and some fancy chocolate.

Feeling so happy and thankful. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Oh LaLaDee! Congratulations. How exciting. I'm so glad everything went famously and right on schedule. This is good news. I can already tell you will have beautiful svelte arms to wear any summer dress you desire when warm weather arrives in your parts. You have so much to look forward too... Happy healing, and a continued good week giving yourself lots of TLC. Posies + hugs.

[LaLaDee 519]

12 hours ago, Sophie7713 said:

Oh LaLaDee! Congratulations. How exciting. I'm so glad everything went famously and right on schedule. This is good news. I can already tell you will have beautiful svelte arms to wear any summer dress you desire when warm weather arrives in your parts. You have so much to look forward too... Happy healing, and a continued good week giving yourself lots of TLC. Posies + hugs.

Thanks @Sophie7713

I really appreciated what you said about not letting the anxiety take the joy out of this amazing opportunity. I have not worn anything sleeveless since I was a teenager!! I can’t wait!!! 😊

[Stella S 612]

Bum Protein up to heal! Best of luck.

[LaLaDee 519]

Thanks! Good tip. Just did a quick google and apparently we need heaps of Protein after plastics.

[catwoman7 11,214]

4 minutes ago, LaLaDee said:

Thanks! Good tip. Just did a quick google and apparently we need heaps of Protein after plastics.

yes - I was told to ramp it up the week before and for several weeks after...

[LaLaDee 519]

Just now, catwoman7 said:

yes - I was told to ramp it up the week before and for several weeks after...

Interesting! I'm going to make a big Protein Shake now. My plastic surgeon is great and I'm very happy with him but no one mentioned this to me!

I also found an article that suggested drinking wine in the 2-3 weeks following surgery as a diuretic for swelling! I find this hilarious for some reason. A good excuse to hang out in my compression garments and sip wine! 😂

[brittanyatwalsh 48]

Hey, can I ask what your arms look like with the bandages off? I’m scared and nervous but looking into it. I had the lapband removed in 2018, sleeve in 2019 and lost 110lbs in a year. Well actually it was less than a year because I’ve remained the same for the past 8 months. My doctor said it’s not often that someone like me loses that much so easily (I worked hard!) ... but now all of this skin .... I weigh 165 at 5’4 and I’m still considered overweight. I am positive if I got rid of the skin I would lose at least 20lbs and be in the healthy range. Thanks for sharing your story.

[LaLaDee 519]

1 hour ago, brittanyatwalsh said:

Hey, can I ask what your arms look like with the bandages off? I’m scared and nervous but looking into it. I had the lapband removed in 2018, sleeve in 2019 and lost 110lbs in a year. Well actually it was less than a year because I’ve remained the same for the past 8 months. My doctor said it’s not often that someone like me loses that much so easily (I worked hard!) ... but now all of this skin .... I weigh 165 at 5’4 and I’m still considered overweight. I am positive if I got rid of the skin I would lose at least 20lbs and be in the healthy range. Thanks for sharing your story.

Of course. I appreciate how scary the whole plastics business is, but it's actually been amazing for me so I'm willing to share some of my story. You might be able to see the baggy deposits under my arm pits in my "before" pictures earlier in the thread, they're the reason I needed the extended Brachioplasty. They used to chafe against my bra and made life generally uncomfortable, along with the saggy skin that dropped below my arms, it's all magically gone. The trade off is obviously the scars, but I'm amazed how my whole body looks thinner. Below are some pretty graphic photos (don't look if you're squeamish) at around 2 weeks post surgery. Apologies for my messy bathroom and strange angles.

Things seem to be healing pretty nicely, I'm wearing silicon tape and hoping for the best long term outcome but as my surgeon warned me multiple times, it's tough to predict how arm lift scars will heal. Even if the scars don't improve much, my clothes fit so much better. It's amazing!

I'm in a similar position to you, in that my BMI is still in the "unhealthy" range, but I definitely dropped a few pounds/kilos from the skin removal (noting that I did have some lipo). I hold most of my weight in my stomach, so that's where my loose skin really bothers me and where there may be a bigger difference in terms of weight loss following removal. I'm pretty keen to get the Tummy Tuck. I think I would easily go down 2 sizes in jeans if I had a tummy tuck. I also think it would motivate me to maintain weight loss and possibly even lose more. I'm still undecided at this stage if I want to drop anymore weight before more plastics or just go for it. However, I feel so amazing after my Brachioplasty. And I think I look better now than following my surgery a few years back when I was 20lbs lighter. The shape of my body just feels more feminine without my giant arms. I think our happiness with our new bodies/lives is about more than just a number on the scale. Plastics has been so great for my self esteem, but some people seem to lose weight without the loose skin and don't need it. I think it's a really personal decision, dependent on your bodies goals, self esteem and finances.

[kellym1220 473]

That's amazing! I can tell that the scars will be virtually invisible! They look great already! Congratulations on putting this behind you!!!

[sillykitty 10,776]

That looks fantastic. Looks very thin and well placed. Making me reconsider if I should get mine done while I have this quarantined time to heal. 🤨

[Sassafras1 63]

On ‎7‎/‎28‎/‎2020 at 3:42 PM, LaLaDee said:

my pale sensitive skin

I've been following this post, your results are amazing! I have very pale, sensitive skin too so the plastics scars have always worried me. Yours look so great in such a short time though, I've decided to just go for it... when I'm at goal... eventually. I really can't wait already! Thank you for sharing, so helpful.

[LaLaDee 519]

18 minutes ago, Sassafras1 said:

I've been following this post, your results are amazing! I have very pale, sensitive skin too so the plastics scars have always worried me. Yours look so great in such a short time though, I've decided to just go for it... when I'm at goal... eventually. I really can't wait already! Thank you for sharing, so helpful.

Oh, you're so sweet. I really struggled to find helpful information online about brachioplasty, so I'm glad I could help someone else a little bit. Hopefully, I will remember to post photos at 3months and 1 year. I'm only 4 weeks out, so I can't wait to see what they will look like in a few years.

According to my plastic surgeon, scars usually fade to white, so people with lighter skin can have more luck with scars and can generally expect good outcomes. Unfortunately, scars can be more visible on darker skin tones. I had assumed the opposite, that the red marks would look worse or more noticeable on pale skin, so this was a huge surprise to me. I've always wanted to be more tanned and less worried about sunburn so it was nice to finally get a benefit from my vampire-like paleness.

In terms of sensitivity, I did have some horizontal lines from where the bandages were the first few days, so I'm treating them with Vitamin E cream. On the advice of my team, I also introduced silicon tape gradually, building up so that my skin didn't freak out. It's sensitive, I have allergies and psoriasis but so far, I've been OK. A bit of dryness, but it's been OK.

Best of luck with your journey!

[Sassafras1 63]

2 hours ago, LaLaDee said:

Oh, you're so sweet. I really struggled to find helpful information online about brachioplasty, so I'm glad I could help someone else a little bit. Hopefully, I will remember to post photos at 3months and 1 year. I'm only 4 weeks out, so I can't wait to see what they will look like in a few years.

According to my plastic surgeon, scars usually fade to white, so people with lighter skin can have more luck with scars and can generally expect good outcomes. Unfortunately, scars can be more visible on darker skin tones. I had assumed the opposite, that the red marks would look worse or more noticeable on pale skin, so this was a huge surprise to me. I've always wanted to be more tanned and less worried about sunburn so it was nice to finally get a benefit from my vampire-like paleness.

In terms of sensitivity, I did have some horizontal lines from where the bandages were the first few days, so I'm treating them with Vitamin E cream. On the advice of my team, I also introduced silicon tape gradually, building up so that my skin didn't freak out. It's sensitive, I have allergies and psoriasis but so far, I've been OK. A bit of dryness, but it's been OK.

Best of luck with your journey!

That's great news about the pale skin and fading scars! Finally a perk!! Thank you.