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.