How Long Do Arm Lift Results Last?

Arm lift surgery will give a nice contour to your arms, especially if you have excessive or redundant skin. However, in order to get nice, predictable and lasting results, you will likely have an incision running down the length of your arm from your armpit to your elbow. The skin will initially appear very tight, but as the swelling from the surgery resolves over several weeks, the skin will appear more natural again. Your body will continue to age, including your skin. This may lead to loose skin in the future, which is not a deficiency of the surgery but just a fact of life. Another sure way of loose skin returning is if you gained considerable weight after the surgery and then lost the weight again.
Good Luck with your surgery.
David Shafer, MD
Shafer Plastic Surgery
Manhattan

Thank you for your question regarding the longevity of arm lift or brachioplasty results.
The results of an arm lift should last you a lifetime. During an arm lift or brachioplasty, excess arm skin and fat is permanently removed. It is very unlikely that the excess arm fat and subsequent excess arm skin will return. If however, you gain a significant amount of weight, like 80 to 100 pounds, the results from your arm lift will be sub-optimal due to re-accumulation of some arm fat. The re-accumulation of arm fat will cause stretching of the arm skin, and thus, diminished arm lift results.
Good luck with your quest for skinnier arms.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office.
Sincerely, Dr. Katzen

An arm lift is typically performed only once.  Your skin will loosen from normal aging as decades go by, but most people do not develop laxity severe enough to warrant a second operation.

                  The
vast majority of patients who undergo brachioplasty are happy with the long
term results of this procedure. Unfortunately, plastic surgeons set the clock
back but don’t stop it from ticking. Under these circumstances aging and
gravity continue to impact the upper arms. When patients have stable weight and
skin elasticity, these minimal changes are well tolerated and patients usually
remain happy with their results. 

There will always be improvements following a brachioplasty, arm lift, however despite turning the hands of time back, the clock keeps ticking. Large weight gain will increase fat in the area and large weight loss will increase the amount of loose saggy skin.

Arm lift results are long term. However, if you have a genetic predisposition to sagging skin, you may need a touch up within several years. 

My experience with arm lifts shows that patients with skin laxity and without fatty arms have the best results. The scars are better, and the results appear to last longer. Like a good facelift, and arm lift relies on tensioning the deeper connective tissue of the arm, and closing the skin with minimal tension. combining liposuction with an arm lift appears to promote swelling and edema of the arm, and likely mars the long-term result of the scar. For patients with heavy arms, it makes sense to liposuction the arms to the point of skin laxity, and then do an arm lift a few months later.

Great question that I get asked frequently. In general, plastic surgery procedures can turn back time on your body but cant stop time. This combined with the amount of skin removed and the condition of your skin all relate to recurrence. As well, mini-brachioplasties/arm lifts can be over extended to an inappropriate candidate and lead to an early recurrence as well.
Tightening the arm in some cases is like tightening a rubber band and there will be relaxation in the skin after. This should be expected in any procedure, but is seen frequently in the large skin removal (bat wing) type patients.
As a patient, you should be aware of the risks of recurrence and discuss this with your board certified plastic surgeon.

The results on an arm lift is permenant if you have an extended arm lift with an incision that runs from your arm pit to your elbow. However, the process of ageing means that you may develop future arm laxity, albeit fat less significant.

The result obtained from brachioplasty or arm lift can be permanent.
It really depends on the patient and their skin type, but more importantly the weight control.  As long as the weight does not fluctuate after surgery, the results can be permanent.

Hi there-
With an arm lift, or brachioplasty, what you are trading is the loose, floppy skin and fat on the back of your arm for a long (hopefully thin) scar.
Because the excess skin and tissue are actually being surgically removed, the result should be permanent, barring a large weight gain and weight loss in the future.
Hope that helps!