“Being Very Careful with my Decision - Düsseldorf, Germany”

Hi Britt,
haven`t been to the doctor yet, on coming Monday. The wife of my doctor is also a plastic surgeon and is specialist in lasern so she is the one who would be doing the o.p. One thing I know that here in Germany, lasern is done in "Dämmerschlaf" that means not quite full narcose but like in sleep and you don´t feel a thing. Will let you know what she says facelift vs. lasern. Thanks for your interest.

Hi! sohere it is Oct. 2011 and I still havent done the Activ FX on my face, cheste, neck and hands yet BUT on the 17 Oct have finally decided to go through with it. Also I will do an arm life known as brachioplasty at the same time. Has anyone done both things together and is it advisble. Does anyone have experience with the arm lift? Will let you all know in one week how it all went. I am scared big time!!
jazzlady

Tomorrow on 17.oct. 2011 is D Day! Please all think of me at 10.30 in the morning. I will report how everything goes: Arm lift and FX Active on face, neck, chest and hands.

hi everybody!
today is 19.oct. 2nd day after surgery! i have pain in my arms especially right and can hardly move them to eat or do anything: slept well both nights. op went without complications.

Oct. 17 10:30 a.m. op upper arm lift and lasern of face neck chest and arms. end of surgery 14:00. full anaesthisia,. Overnight in the clinik.

=ct. 18 Day 1 after op
Lokk like an accident going somewhere to happen! face swelled, with red scabs and open wounds. hard to see as eyes are pulled down through swelling. looks terrible! Hard to keep face neck and chest covered with vaseline: you absolutely need help during this time: cant eat, or do anything where you have to move your arms. thank goodn ess my husband has been helping me. taking pain killer 5 times da day Ibroprofen, acliovir against herpes, arniuca 6 for healing and every hour or so thick vaseline.

Oct 19 Day 2
Still lots of pain but not on lased parts except when vaseline is applied on neck and chest. slept pretty good: arms still hard to move and lots of pain, especially in right arm. fac e still very swollen, scabby and looks awful. on 21 on griday go to doctors again:.Staying in bed the whole time.cannot do anything with arms. This morning was able to get spoon to my mouth but up until now needed to be fed. So let you all know tomorrow how it all develops: hard for me to type so please escuse mistakes. Hope pain goes away quickly. Bye for now!

So here I am Day 6 post OP. Face and neck, and chest super. very rosy new skin very smooth looks back to normal. Abslutely worth it only a bit mucky, yucky with all the vaseline and creming with wound creme. The bed covers kept taking the cream off and was difficult to sleep with head raised and no covers on applied areas. Truly it looks great. Skin started to peal on day 3 and day 4 skin was gone and I started to wash with water. Took a shower finally on day 5. heavenly.

Now to my arms. Pain is bearable, sometimes had to take 5 Ibroprofen pain killers in the first 4 days. Doc saw me on Day 4 and said the wounds look fine, no infection but i told him my right arm is not able to raise. I cant bring my fork to my mouth, or raise my right arm at all. He said it will go away. I am a little bit worried. Anybody out there ever have this problem with n ot being able to raise one arm after the OP? My incision wounds look like I might be able to see them from behind. I certainly hope not.- My doctor is on holiday and I will discuss this with him. As I am a singer he didnt want to put the incision on the inner part of the arm as when i raise my arm with microphone it would be noticeable. The most important thing is that I get back to normal mobililty of my right arm. I hope there is no trapped nerve or something.

One thing I would like to say to all those wanting to do this op: you really need someone to help you all the time in the first week or two as you cant hardly do anything: cooking,changing your bandages and getting in and out of the compression garment. and they have to be changed each day. You cannot do it alone. NO hanging up clothes, very simple and as less movement as possible to refrain from strain on incision, no going out with the dog, no housecleaning whatsoever, no driving, nothing that places any pressure on arms. That surprised me as I thought after the first day I could do most everything on my own, I still cant even get my coat on or off alone or get undressed. Very loose clothing like trainings pants and wide sweaters that can be zipped up NOT over the head.
Still have pain today and swelling and probably will take another 2 weeks before I am back to normal and able to work normally. When I dont sing, I teach singing and that means carrying a briefcase full of music and staying overnight somewhere with small suitcase. Dont know how I will do that yet.

But my arms look great, firm, contoured, no more hanging, wrinkled skin on my arms. That is gone!