POSTED UNDER Arm Lift Reviews
My Arm Lift Results Are Absolutely Amazing! - Naples, FL
UPDATED FROM michelerened
5 months post
4 1\2 months post op arm lift photos
michelerenedJanuary 5, 2017
WORTH IT$7,800
I am posting 4 1/2 month post op photo's of my arm lift to show my scar progress. I do still have scars, however they are gradually fading with the on going use of several products. I rotate between scar away silicone strips, vitamin e oil and mederma scar night cream. I just added the silicone strips about 3 weeks ago and have noticed significant improvement since I began the product. My Arms feel great! I had a tummy tuck on November 2nd therefore stayed away from the gym for about 6 weeks. I am back into the swing of things though, working on building up muscle. My right arm is a bit softer / looser then my left arm but I could not be more please with my new arms. ????
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UPDATED FROM michelerened
4 months post
Night before surgery and 2 weeks after surgery pictures
michelerenedDecember 24, 2016
Adding pictures of the evening before my surgery and 2 weeks after my surgery
Replies (2)
December 24, 2016
How long until one can resume shaving under their arms and applying deodorant? I've considered this procedure and wondered this.
December 24, 2016
Good question as I wondered that myself before my surgery. In my case, my arm pits split a little as that is a rough place for healing I read that close to half of the people (from what I can tell) have this type of healing issue with their arm pit area. As a result, I had to baby my arm pits until the holes closed up which were about 7 weeks post op. The very strange thing is I have NOT had to shave at all since before my surgery!. I wondered about this and have read on other reviews that others have experienced this as well after their arm lift surgery. It appears in my case, the incisions in that general area stopped the growth of my arm pit hair which is perfectly wonderful to me! I was not able to start wearing deodorant until the incisions and wounds were nice and healed, so about 7 weeks. Since I needed to keep my activity level down and not get all sweaty the lack of deodorant was not a problem. I still applied some as close to my arm pit as I was able to get (away from wounds) and made sure I had extra body spray on my body. :)
December 24, 2016
I've never heard of hair not growing there after, that would be a bonus, yes, but I use an extra strength spray on as it is, luckily I work from home, lol, so only the cats would have to contend with my smell, and myself, but even just for me, I do not want to smell and have very sensitive skin there. Thank you for your reply.
December 24, 2016
I never heard of it either until it happened to me, then I stumbled upon others on here who had the same "bonus" :) Yes, body spray was definitely my friend through this ordeal, but it all worked out very well :)
February 22, 2017
I am 4 weeks post surgery and I can't see any under arm hair either :) I did not have much before :)
ORIGINAL POST
After losing over 100 pounds during the period of...
michelerenedDecember 23, 2016
After losing over 100 pounds during the period of 2 years through calorie counting and exercise, I was left with a large amount of sagging skin and loose "junk" under my arms and tummy.
I received several great plastic surgeon referrals from doctor friends and began interviewing various plastic surgeons as well as doing extensive research earlier this year. Once I met Dr Basile, I knew that I met the right doctor to give me my much needed transformation. I was impressed with Dr Basile along with his experiences with these procedures and his impressive credentials and certifications. I also appreciated Dr Basile's detailed and conservative nature and also how forthcoming and honest he was to me with respects to preparing for the surgeries and what to expect through every step of the process. I could tell right off that Dr Basile's priorities are for his patients and making certain that they are kept safe and healthy under his care. I met with another PS who insisted that he would do both surgeries at once and would not even give me an option to do the surgeries via 2 separate procedures. I had other PS including Dr Basile explain to me how much I would need my arms to pull myself up, and navigate after tummy tuck surgery. Now that I have had both surgeries, I can't imagine what this PS was thinking (other then himself) when suggesting this to me to have had everything done at once. I do believe there are many plastic surgeries that work well while being combined under one surgery, however and arm lift and a tummy tuck together would not be one of them in my opinion.
I scheduled the arm lift procedure for August 17, 2016. The procedure was approximately 4 hours long. As one can see from my before photos (taken the night before my surgery) that I needed quite a bit of work done! I could not had been more impressed by the amount of excess "junk" Dr Basile removed along with his absolutely perfect, neat stitching of the wounds. I was sent home with a compression arm sleeve that fastened behind me similar to a bra. I disliked the compression sleeve, had some difficulty being comfortable sleeping with it, however I did order a few alternative items on my own and did not find anything that was good. One compression sleeve I ordered fastened in the front and was not good at all for me. I also tried wrapping myself in ace bandages with velcro fasteners at the end and they did tend to bunch and move around to much. The compression sleeves I was sent home with did turn out to be the very best available option. I did experience swelling, and some forearm pain especially the first few weeks, however it was all well controlled via the compression sleeves. I also firmly believe the compression sleeves allowed my scars to heal well and remain flat. I stayed on oxi cotton for approximately 4 days and then switched myself over to extra strength tylenol. I am using vitamin E in the mornings and Mederma PM in the evenings for my scars. I have recently noticed that the more time I spend applying the oil / creme and really massaging it into my skin, the quicker my scars are fading. I was able to do long walks at the local mall within 3 days of my surgery and I was back to the YMCA for lower body work outs at 4 weeks post op. I resumed aerobics and zumba classes at 6 weeks post op. I am now 3 months post op and feel great. I do have some numbness still in certain areas near the incisions, however all to be expected and I could not be more pleased with the looks of my new arms! I loved my arms so much that I had a tummy tuck done also by Dr Basile on November 2, 2016. The procedure results are drastic in the most wonderful way! I will post a separate review.
I received several great plastic surgeon referrals from doctor friends and began interviewing various plastic surgeons as well as doing extensive research earlier this year. Once I met Dr Basile, I knew that I met the right doctor to give me my much needed transformation. I was impressed with Dr Basile along with his experiences with these procedures and his impressive credentials and certifications. I also appreciated Dr Basile's detailed and conservative nature and also how forthcoming and honest he was to me with respects to preparing for the surgeries and what to expect through every step of the process. I could tell right off that Dr Basile's priorities are for his patients and making certain that they are kept safe and healthy under his care. I met with another PS who insisted that he would do both surgeries at once and would not even give me an option to do the surgeries via 2 separate procedures. I had other PS including Dr Basile explain to me how much I would need my arms to pull myself up, and navigate after tummy tuck surgery. Now that I have had both surgeries, I can't imagine what this PS was thinking (other then himself) when suggesting this to me to have had everything done at once. I do believe there are many plastic surgeries that work well while being combined under one surgery, however and arm lift and a tummy tuck together would not be one of them in my opinion.
I scheduled the arm lift procedure for August 17, 2016. The procedure was approximately 4 hours long. As one can see from my before photos (taken the night before my surgery) that I needed quite a bit of work done! I could not had been more impressed by the amount of excess "junk" Dr Basile removed along with his absolutely perfect, neat stitching of the wounds. I was sent home with a compression arm sleeve that fastened behind me similar to a bra. I disliked the compression sleeve, had some difficulty being comfortable sleeping with it, however I did order a few alternative items on my own and did not find anything that was good. One compression sleeve I ordered fastened in the front and was not good at all for me. I also tried wrapping myself in ace bandages with velcro fasteners at the end and they did tend to bunch and move around to much. The compression sleeves I was sent home with did turn out to be the very best available option. I did experience swelling, and some forearm pain especially the first few weeks, however it was all well controlled via the compression sleeves. I also firmly believe the compression sleeves allowed my scars to heal well and remain flat. I stayed on oxi cotton for approximately 4 days and then switched myself over to extra strength tylenol. I am using vitamin E in the mornings and Mederma PM in the evenings for my scars. I have recently noticed that the more time I spend applying the oil / creme and really massaging it into my skin, the quicker my scars are fading. I was able to do long walks at the local mall within 3 days of my surgery and I was back to the YMCA for lower body work outs at 4 weeks post op. I resumed aerobics and zumba classes at 6 weeks post op. I am now 3 months post op and feel great. I do have some numbness still in certain areas near the incisions, however all to be expected and I could not be more pleased with the looks of my new arms! I loved my arms so much that I had a tummy tuck done also by Dr Basile on November 2, 2016. The procedure results are drastic in the most wonderful way! I will post a separate review.
Replies (5)
As for pain after the surgery, you will certainly not eliminate it but if you do what I did and set your alarm for every 4 hours, round the clock to take your pain medication, you will keep your pain very well controlled. It really won't be all that bad :), more of an annoyance then actual pain. Please do not wait until after 4 hours to take your next pain medication dosage, or until you feel as though you "need" the pain medication as once your pain level becomes not so well controlled, it takes a few dosages of pain medication to get you to feeling comfortable again. Also, as soon as you get home from surgery (or if possible on your ride home) take your first pain medication dosage. The medication that they give you during surgery tends to wear off quick in my opinion so having that first dosage to take right away will keep you feeling comfortable. I can't stress enough how important it is for the first several days to set your alarm so that you do not miss a dosage and wake up with pain. If stay on top of the medication you will be completely fine! I think for me, the hardest part (obviously controlling my pain was not my issue) was the compression garment. I really disliked having to keep that on 24 hours a day as I do not like tight clothing anyway, so having that one all the time was uncomfortable for me. The further along I got in my day, and the more I did, the more swelling I would experience which made my garment even more tight and uncomfortable! I also ended up doing more then I should have with lifting, moving around, doing chores (guess that is the con about controlling your pain well) and I ended up ripping the stitching under both arm pits which caused not so much "pain" but discomfort and extra time to heal. I did read that a very high percentage of people do end up with the arm pit set back, so try to be extra careful in that regard. Also, regarding the pain, our bodies really do a great job protecting us from pain as my incision areas were pretty much numb and remained numb for many months. I still (6 months now) do not have complete feeling near the incisions, but it is slowly returning and really I am ok with this as I did remain pretty comfortable through the process.
Thank you for your nice compliment, I appreciate! Please do not hesitate to contact me with any other questions! If you think of it, drop me a note once you are feeling up to it after surgery so I know how you are doing. Take care! Michele
I have a desk job myself, out of my home so I was lucky to be able to do work when I felt like doing so throughout the day, take breaks and go back as the day went on. I do feel though that if I had to leave my house to go to an 8 hour a day office job I would have been more then fine by 2 weeks, no doubt. As mentioned above, I was driving at 5 days and doing walks at the mall at 3 days. You will have to ask your doctor how the average recovery time compares with a breast lift to arm lift and if he / she thinks having both done at once would delay your 2 week goal of getting back to work. I did have drains for my tummy tuck (3), hated them as I am guessing was the case with your tummy tuck as well? I did not have drains with my arms which I am grateful for as I did not enjoy them so much with the tummy tuck. I am guessing if I had the drains in my arms then perhaps I would not had as much swelling in my arms as I did, but I would not go back and change that at all. Please do keep me posted on what you choose to do!!