Brachioplasty
Brachioplasty
Aging, gaining and losing weight, and skin and body structure’ tendency to loose can cause the skin on your arms to sag. If that sagging (aka batwing sleeve) limits you from moving your arms and affects your quality of life, then brachioplasty may be right for you to remove that excess skin. If required, liposuction is applied at the same time. However, it is ideal only for those with severe sagging, as it will leave behind scarring.
Why Do I Need Brachioplasty?
Some people are lucky in that their bodies are like marble through skin structure and subcutaneous connective tissues. They maintain our form even if they lose or gain weight.
Some people who don’t exercise regularly/do lead inactive lifestyles) have loose and saggy skin – especially on their arms (and it is difficult to hide, too!).
Deformed and sagged arm skin looks ugly, restricts your everyday life, and makes cloth choices a nightmare.
Ask The Doctor...
Do Good Things For Yourself. It’s Never Too Late!
Surgeon YAVUZ OZSULAR
If your sagging is mild and your arm skin only slightly loose, first J and Argon plasma technology may be the perfect option for you to smooth out your problem since brachioplasty leave you with scars.
J plasma and Argon plasma tighten your skin. As the temperature under the skin rapidly and instantly increases to 80- 850, temperature on the surface is 420. This sudden temperature spike tightens and shortens the collagen under your skin and stimulates new collagen. When the temperature of the skin surface is kept at 420, burns on the skin surface are prevented.
Plasma technologies are not ideal for those with excessive sagging – for them, brachioplasty is a much more viable option.
Brachioplasty will:
- Rid your arm of saggy skin and help you regain your movement back
- Make your arms proportional with your body
- Make cloth choices no longer a nightmare
- Allow you to engage in sports more comfortable because you won’t have any excess skin weighing you down.
- Eliminate your sweat and odor problems (caused by excess skin).
In the pre-operative exam, Dr. Ozsular will examine how much sagging you have and how it has restricted your life and listen to any expectations and complaints you may have – all the while keeping your age, deformation degree, expectations, and physical structure in mind.
Next, you will be informed about the scarring the surgery will leave you (e.g. where, how large). They won’t be visible when your arms hang by your sides, but they will be minutely visible along the sides when you raise them. If you still agree to go through with surgery, you’ll need to decide how important the scars are for your overall appearance.
After you decide on undergoing the surgery, then the next step is to go for blood tests as well as inform the doctor about any medications you are taking. If he tells you to stop taking them for a period, then you do so.
Try to reduce how much salt you consume as well a few days before the surgery. This will reduce your risk of developing edema.
The surgery is generally conducted under general anesthesia.
You are allowed to eat as well as drink water until 00:00 (12 AM) the night before your surgery. You will need to fast for at least six hours prior to the procedure. (If you forget to do so, your surgery may be postponed or canceled.)
Don’t put on make-up.
Don’t wear nail polish or enamel.
Don’t wear wigs. Don’t wear any jewelry (including piercings) – your body should be free of metal.
Also, don’t forget to put together an overnight bag – including loose clothes (preferably with zippers/buttons)– before you come in for the surgery. You also should wear comfortable shoes.
On the morning of the surgery, you will be taken to your room. Dr. Ozsular and his assistant will come and visit you.
You will be taken to operating room at the surgery time. The procedure will be conducted with general anesthesia; therefore, you won’t be aware of anything whilst the doctor is shaping your arms.
First, the excess skin on your arms will be cut away and removed in a calculated and planned manner. Your remaining skin is then closed with thin suture. If liposuction is also planned in the same surgery, a fair amount of fat is removed.
Towards the end of surgery, your dressings will be done.
The surgery takes approximately 1 to 2 hours.
Last, local anesthesia is applied to your arm area so that you won’t feel any pain when you wake up.
Once everything is complete, your anesthesiologist will wake you up.
You won’t feel any pain when you wake up from the surgery. However, you may feel dizzy for the first few hours due to the effect of the general anesthesia – this is normal and temporary.
We recommend that you rest for a few hours. If you need to stand up, you should definitely ask for support from either your companion or nurse.
Dr. Ozsular and his assistant will visit you later to tell you how the surgery went as well as give you orders on what to do after surgery.
For the first week after the surgery and at hospital, you’ll take analgesics so that you experience as little pain as possible. Your pain will gradually alleviate one to two weeks later – upon which you’ll be able to return back to your normal life provided you don’t do any heavy labor.
Your first control will take place 3 to 5 days after the surgery. Your dressings and corset will be changed as well.
Your second control will take place 7 to 10 days after the first one.
International patients and those from outside Istanbul should allocate 7 to 10 days in Istanbul for their surgery and controls.
Before the brachioplasty, the sagging on your arms will have restricted your movement. After the surgery, that excess skin will be gone (in proportion to the rest of your body). However, you’ll have parallel scars along your inner arms.
Patients want plastic surgery to improve their looks (who wouldn’t?) Not everyone likes the scars that brachioplasty leaves on them, however.
If you are young, have minimal deformation, and are worried about scars, then you should go for J or argon plasma technologies instead and recover by exercising. If you do that, then you may not need any further surgery at all. If you don’t recover sufficiently, then you may need the decision of surgery.
If you are middle aged, then exercise won’t fix your saggy skin. In this case, brachioplasty will treat this problem.
The surgery will repair arm skin and remove your excess skin, thus giving you arms that will look tighter and more dynamic. However, to bring out your muscles and have a muscular appearance, you’ll need to exercise after you heal.
Note: no plastic surgery will give you strong muscles. They can only make your existing muscles stand out further after excess skin is removed and the fat around them is taken via liposuction.
If you want your arms to look extra muscular and strong, then you need to do exercises that will strengthen your biceps. You’ll need to do for Dr. Ozsular’s approval after surgery, of course
Yes it does – starting from your armpit down to your elbow, both on the inner side of your arm and parallel to your arm. The length of the scar depends on the degree of deformation and the surgical technique to be used.
They won’t be visible if when your arms hang by your sides, but they will be visible along the sides when you raise them. How quickly your scars recover depends both on your genetics and how well you live after surgery.
Some people develop no scars at all when healing. Others develop very visible scars; again, in others scars may swell and then heal although rare. Anti-scar creams will help your scars heal better.
Yes. In fact, both can be planned at the same time to obtain more striking results, and thinner and more proportional arms.
No one’s arms are perfectly symmetrical – whether they have this surgery or not. There will be minor differences, but only by millimeters or centimeters.
However, the surgery still will make your arms more proportional both to one another and to your body. The differences will be millimetric, but not noticeable to the naked eye – this is normal.
