Hail To Arms

None of us are getting any younger and one of the first places we show our age is in the upper arm area. Droopy upper arms tend to run in families. If the women in your family have flabby arms you may have been quick to note the same phenomenon happening to you.

The Solution

To some extent, exercise is helpful. Working the upper arms can strengthen the muscles in this area but no amount of exercise can chase away stretched-out skin that has lost its elasticity or fat deposits. Exercise also has no power to strengthen weakened tissue. But there is a solution: the arm lift.

The arm lift does three things:

*Removes the fat deposits and excess skin of the upper arms

*Sculpts the contour of your arm for smoother skin and shapelier upper arms

*Gives you a more balances, toned appearance

The arm lift (brachioplasty) is a type of cosmetic surgery to change the appearance of the underside of your upper arms. The surgery does leave some scarring. The goal of this procedure is to remove excess, hanging skin; reduce pockets of localized fat; and to smooth and tighten supportive tissue to add definition to the upper arm area.

Your surgeon will make his incision on the inside or on the back of your arm. The incision may extend all the way from the underarm to a bit below your elbow. This is according to your surgeon's judgment. Your surgeon may decide he can get away with making a smaller incision.

If you need to have fat removed from the area, you will need to have liposuction as part of the procedure. Then, your surgeon will tighten supportive tissues underlying the area. These tissues are then reshaped with the help of internal sutures.

New Contours

At this point, what's left is for the surgeon to smooth the skin that covers your new contours. The incisions are closed with dissolvable stitches or sometimes removable stitches that come out anywhere from 1-2 weeks post-surgery.

You can expect to have a gauze dressing covering your incision and your arm may be wrapped with compression bandages or elasticized bandages that help to keep the swelling down. You may also have a small tube inserted just under the skin to help drain any excess fluids or blood that may pool in the area after surgery.

You can expect near-immediate results. Your upper arms will look smoother and tighter right away. You will have some bruising and swelling, but should still see a vast difference in the way your arms look and feel.