Brachioplasty/arm lift - I have been self conscious about my upper arms for the entirety of my adult life

This is a thorough but hopefully not too wordy overview of my brachioplasty from surgery date to 7 weeks post-op. I have been self conscious about my upper arms for the entirety of my adult life and decided for my 30th birthday, I was finally going to get a brachioplasty. I tried two cycles of coolsculpting 8 weeks apart with no change so that was the catalyst for booking a consultation with a plastic surgeon.9/20/2021 was the date of my surgery with Dr. Evan Manolis. Day one wasn’t bad! I got a prescription for norco but ended up not having to take any. The pain was very manageable, actually pretty minimal. The surgery took just under 2 hours. It was a very subdued, intermittent, pain that I would rate about a 1/10. I took two Tylenol before bed and slept on my back with two pillows under my arms for around 2 weeks.Around a week post op, I wore mostly robes and zip up hoodies. I was very itchy and the bandages were also hot, but besides the mild discomfort from that, pain was almost nonexistent. They were more sore when they weren’t compressed with the bandages, but when they’re wrapped, I had basically no pain. Some mild discomfort in my armpit from where the wraps sit but that’s about it. ROM overhead and reaching out was still a tiny bit limited, still couldn’t comfortably sleep on my sides. I took one week off of work and for me, that was enough. I do not do heavy lifting at my job.9/30/2021 is when I noticed some openings, two spots near the armpit on the right arm where the suture is visible and one on the left. My right arm overall healed slower and had some little openings. The surgeon said just keep them covered with a bandaid and use bacitracin and that it was normal bc armpits are always moving. The steri strips were coming loose and I just took them off when they started peeling after showers.10/9/2021: At the 2 week mark, I stopped using elevation to sleep at night and have been able to sleep on my sides a bit. On 10/5, I finally removed all the steri strips. I had a few openings that I used bacitracin on and kept covered. Definitely felt less tugging with ROM at this point. I saw my plastic surgeon and he removed 3 stitches that were poking out and gave me some silicone scar gel to start using.10/24/2021 I have no pain, the skin stretching sensation in my armpits when I raise my arms is gone, I can sleep on both sides no problem. I worked out for the first time in 4 weeks, just lower body, with no issues, felt great! Left arm is completely sealed up, right arm was still spitting sutures here and there. I still keep them wrapped in ACE bandages at night and elbow length compression sleeves in the daytime.11/13/2021, 7 weeks post op I am functioning totally normally. Arms are completely sealed up and there aren’t any more spitting or abscessed sutures. I’ve been going to the gym for about 2 weeks and have not had any issues. I still wear the compression sleeves and ace bandages at night but I’ve been letting my arms breathe more around the house.I have to make an 8 week follow up still and see if I can ditch the compression bc I’m kind of sick of them lol. Scars are fading. I am still applying the Silagen once daily. I have more videos and close-ups of the healing on my Instagram, search disarmingly.open. I am happy to answer any questions! I am 100% satisfied with the procedure and couldn’t be happier with the results.