Recovery time for an arm lift vs extended arm lift: not sure what I need so I am asking for both.

Hi Fatfatt, Thank you for your questions regarding the recovery time for an arm lift and extended arm lift. Every patient is different and every surgery is different. Every patient heals at a different rate. There are several different types of arm lifts.   There is a crescent arm lift where an incision is made in the armpit, and the incision is relatively hidden. There is a extended arm lift where the incision extends from the armpit to the elbow. The crescent arm lift  takes approximately 2 to 3 hours to perform. The extended or full, longitudinal brachioplasty or arm lift takes approximately 3 to 4 hours to perform. In either case, I would plan to take off 2 to 3 weeks from work. It sounds like you do a significant amount lifting at work, so I would suggest you take off three weeks from work. During this time, your arms will be an arm garment to minimize swelling and help to flatten the arm scars.  During the initial arm healing phase, I would not suggest you raise your arms above shoulder level. This restriction lasts for approximately three weeks. I would not lift anything more than 5 pounds for the first three weeks. After that, you should be able to add 5 pounds lifting to each arm eat week.  I hope I have answered your questions regarding an arm lift or an extended arm lift. I hope I also answered your questions regarding the recovery time after an arm lift. If you have any other questions regarding an arm lift and what recovery is like after an arm lift or brachioplasty, please contact my office. Sincerely, Dr. Katzen.

Congratulations on your decision and great that you are trying to do your homework well, before taking any action. It would be very important to discuss these in great detail with your surgeon- or all of them if you having multiple consultations, as there are some standard answers to your questions, as well as individual ones, based on your particular circumstances, your medical conditions, your previous history, the necessary surgical technique to help you achieve your best outcome. It would also be an estimate, as the reality might still be a bit different  after surgery.
Generally, after this operation, you would need to take 3 weeks off work and expect to wear some garments, which will be needed for longer or shorter function of your particular recovery. Lifting heavy boxes would not be a good idea for minimum of 6 weeks, and even so, I would advise you to try to avoid extremely heavy, and also to see how you are feeling after that. You have to learn to delegate and also test your steps after surgery in a graduate fashion. I would also keep a close eye on you after surgery and decide together, between patient and surgeon, if and when you are ready to give a good go to your full necessities of your job. Scar management is another important aspect of this operation, in long run, meaning that you should really look after your scars for long time after your surgery, 9 -12 months or sometimes even longer. You will chose to have this operation for a number of reasons, and you would want to give it the best go. 
Husband would be useful, any help would be useful in the first 2 weeks in particular, especially that you are an active person. I educate my patients to prepare maybe frozen food in advance, healthy, to encourage healing and prevent weight gain and other disturbances after surgery. Prepare a strategy with someone that can help you with the house chores and be prepared to accept that they would not be as perfect as you. 
Good luck with your endeavour and let us know if you need any more advice in the future!