Extended Medial Thigh Lift and Extended Brachioplasty. Kentucky, KY

This is my second review. The first was a lower body lift with the same surgeon. So far I love the results. For the first time in my life I have arms I won't want to hide. I'm only a week out so I'm still in compression garments, but I can't wait to start shopping for strappy halter dresses for summer. I had an extended brachioplasty that goes from elbow to the bottom of my rib cage (basically a trunkplasty too). Because of the direction of the incision I also got a bit of a breast lift out of the deal too! I will say i didn't expect it to take me down as hard as it did. Although the pain had been a lot less than the LBL. It was a lot more debilitating and I needed more help than after the LBL. It took three days before I could reach to brush my own teeth. You will need help! Thanks to my amazing husband for being such a rock star!! After a week I still can't reach or hold much. I can't even talk about my thigh lift. I had such awful saggy skin on my thighs that I cried when the bandages came off. I can't believe this is my body. I'm so excited for the rest of my life!!

Just a few before pictures.

Note: this applies to the thigh lift for those looking for arm lift info it's a breeze in comparison.
Arm lift things to know.
1. Range of motion is incredibly limited. The first few days you'll need help eating, brushing your teeth, and scratching your nose. I was able to take care of my bathroom needs on my own though.
2. You know how it feels when you have a bad sunburn and you get goosebumps? That's how my arms have felt... Constant sunburn goosebumps.
3. Range of motion is limited. I still can't reach straight up. It's close and I expect I'll be able to reach straight up in another week, but I'm not there yet.
Now, onto thigh lift...

The title were the words from my doctor before surgery. Boy, is she right. I had surgery on 2/25 and returned to work on 3/7. I have a desk job so I was able to keep my feet elevated. I was supposed to return for half a day 3/4 and 3/5, but I just wasn't ready. Brilliant me decided to cut off pain meds at night the evening before I returned to work (Sunday 3/6). That lasted four days. I think life would have been much easier if I hadn't stopped the pain meds, but I had such terrible constipation with LBL I was in a hurry to get off them. I saw the surgeon on Tuesday (2 days shy of two wks post op) and my incisions looked great, swelling was normal, two drains from thigh lift were still producing too much to remove (I had all four drains removed from arms and chest at 5 days past surgery). At this point, I had hairy legs, I wasn't sleeping well, I had no cloths that I could wear with drains, I'd gained weight from swelling (Be prepared, your feet will look like Flinstone feet), and I found out I also needed to wrap to my ankle rather than just to my calf. I'm usually such a positive person, but with last surgery I had three weeks of, my semester of grad school had ended, the kids were out of school, and all I had to focus on was kid snuggles and feeling better. For this surgery nothing stopped or even paused, I was just feeling overwhelmed despite amazing support from my husband. The emotional stuff is just as real as the physical and I think they play off each other.
I share this not for sympathy, but so other won't feel so crazy when they feel crazy, lol.
Onto issue #1
The day following my appt (one day shy of 2 wks post op, I had an incision open. Very small and thankfully a week later it appears to be healing. The surgeon hasn't seen it yet, but it's smaller, not red at all, and barely drains. I'm treating it with soap and water once a day, gauze bandage with paper tape, and a thin layer of bacitracin after the soap and water.
Issue #2
I believe my drain site is infected. Last night my hubby and I went to dinner and I became uncomfortable from sitting during the meal. I got home and unwrapped and my leg to the left of the knee, near the drain site was swollen, red, very painful, and warm to the touch. The drainage has gone from s pale yellow to a reddish pink and had increased. After unwrapping the drain picked up significantly. I thought perhaps I had wrapped too tight. Fast forward to today and the drain site has a little pus coming from it, throbs when I stand, and is swollen and red. I called the on call and he called in a 3 day round of Bactrim to hold me until I follow up with my doctor on Tuesday. I said I preferred not to go to the ER since I'll have to pay out of pocket. Since I don't have a fever he agreed. He did say, " you know we'll have to extract all that pus on Tuesday." Oh boy, that doesn't sound fun.

Here's hoping it won't be terrible and will get better quickly. I have such high hopes of a cute sun dress in two weeks for Easter. It's beginning to look like that won't happen, sigh.