Arm lift vs arm liposuction involves similar goals, yet they’re both distinct procedures. The former focuses on removing excess skin around the arms to create a smoother appearance, while the latter removes excess fat to slim arms down.
Should you get an arm lift or arm liposuction? Knowing the subtle visual differences between these two procedures will go a long way in boosting your confidence and helping you enjoy the end result.
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Arm Lift Surgery: The Basics
While people often turn to exercise or dieting to shed fat, skin tightening is an entirely different approach. Sagging skin around the arms can be challenging to address through lifestyle changes, leading many people to seek cosmetic surgery to refresh their appearance.
Brachioplasty (often nicknamed arm lift surgery) is a reconstructive surgery that tightens up loose skin, evens out wrinkles, and creates the appearance of more toned arms. While anyone can seek out brachioplasty, people who’ve experienced dramatic weight loss and elderly individuals often experience a high amount of loose skin around the arms. Particularly loose skin has earned the name ‘bat wings’ for their distinctively flat and swooping shape.
It’s important to note that this surgical procedure can also be for health benefits. Excess skin can sometimes cause chafing and pinching when rubbed against the body, leading to chronic irritation and redness in the long term. Some people completely change the way they dress or which outdoor activities they do in order to compensate.
Overall, arm lifts are a tried-and-tested arm surgery that boosts confidence and physical comfort.
Arm Lift Before and After
Since the arm lift is an invasive plastic surgery procedure, its post-operative recovery focuses on healing the incision sites and minimizing scarring. Let’s take a look at the basic process of what an arm lift before and after procedure could look like.
- Your surgeon will decide between general anesthesia or sedation, depending on your preference and what they think is best for your treatment.
- Once you’re comfortable, your surgeon will choose different parts of the arm to make incisions. These incisions will provide the basis for pulling, tightening, and reshaping the skin around your arm.
- After your surgeon has finished sculpting your arm skin, they’ll close the incisions with sutures or stitches.
- You’ll receive post-operative recovery guidelines to speed up your recovery from brachioplasty surgery. Most patients will experience noticeable bruising and swelling for the next few weeks, as well as a little lingering looseness or redness. Similar to liposuction, you’ll need to use a compression garment and limit physical activity to promote faster wound healing.
- Some scarring is natural after an arm lift, though you can fade these scars a little with over-the-counter treatments or chemical peels.
Arm Liposuction: The Basics
However, you may find skin elasticity the least of your problems. If you’re more worried about stubborn fat along your arms and can’t get rid of it with exercise or dieting, consider arm liposuction instead.
Arm liposuction is another type of cosmetic surgery that targets fat in the upper arms. An experienced plastic surgeon uses a cannula to meticulously dislodge and remove fatty cells to create slimmer arms.
Many patients experiencing irregular weight fluctuations throughout their bodies seek arm liposuction to achieve a more balanced weight distribution. While this type of surgery is often associated with weight loss regimens, it can also be a great resource for general body contouring.
Many patients appreciate this cosmetic procedure for its smooth, toned, and natural-looking results.
Arm Lipo: Before and After
Arm liposuction is a minimally invasive procedure since there’s less need to affect the surface level of the skin. While an arm lift focuses more on lengthy incisions to stretch and tighten skin, arm liposuction focuses more on the underlying fat.
As such, its results aren’t as immediately obvious as an arm lift, but will still look beautiful once you’re fully healed.
- The most common form of anesthesia for arm liposuction is localized, which means your plastic surgeon will only numb the area they’re working on. However, you may receive general anesthesia if you plan on combining your surgery with other popular procedures, like a tummy tuck.
- Once you’re numb and comfortable, your surgeon will make very small incisions to insert a thin cannula. They’ll gradually remove excess fat deposits using the most appropriate liposuction technique, ranging from laser-assisted to ultrasound.
- After they’ve removed enough excess fat to change your arms’ appearance, they’ll close the incisions.
- Just like any form of liposuction, you’ll need to follow a post-operative recovery process to reduce the risk of complications. Your surgeon will provide you with diet and lifestyle guidelines, as well as a compression garment, to help reduce swelling.
- Scarring is more minimal than an arm lift due to smaller incision sites.
Frequently Asked Questions: Arm Lift vs Arm Liposuction
Still have a few questions about arm liposuction or arm lifts? We’ll answer them below so you can better prepare for your visit to a surgical facility.
Does Skin Sag After Arm Liposuction?
A little sagging skin can occur after arm liposuction, depending on the patient’s age and how much fat they’re having removed. As such, it’s common for patients to seek arm liposuction and an arm lift to enjoy more dramatic results.
Does Liposuction Get Rid of Crepey Skin?
If you’ve been struggling with thin, papery skin, arm liposuction isn’t nearly as effective as an arm lift. Since arm liposuction focuses more on deeper fat deposits, it leaves less of an impact on the surface.
Do Compression Garments Help Tighten Skin After Liposuction?
Compression garments are crucial to help speed up your skin’s natural scarring and healing process. They can even reduce sagging by providing the skin with more physical support, encouraging a firmer and more toned appearance.
Contour and Slim Your Upper Arms With Zahedi Plastic Surgery
Improving your appearance and comfort with plastic surgery isn’t a decision to make lightly. If you need advice on which path you should take, we’re ready to sit down and talk with you.
Dr. Sanam Zahedi is a board certified plastic surgeon with a background in arm fat removal and liposuction, helping patients remove extra skin or stubborn fat deposits to help them reach their cosmetic or health goals.
Contact us today for an in-depth plastic surgery consultation to see which procedure would be best for you.
