Arm & Thigh Lift - 4 weeks out - Pics

Jul 12, 2011

Sunday was the 4 week anniversary of my inner thigh and arm lift following a TT with muscle repair and breast lift 7 weeks before then.

Overall I'm doing well - I developed a hematoma in my right thigh about 2 weeks after surgery which had to be manually drained (yuck) and then syringe drained a week later which I've blogged about before.  As a result of the extra weight of the hematoma I also popped some stitches in my groin incision and also along the innner thigh which meant that the incision didn't heal up as quickly as the left leg.  It also means that I'll need to have minor revision work done once I'm healed.  The right thigh is still not fully healed up, but it's getting better each day and i'm confident that by my next appt with the surgeon the incision will be fully closed up. 

I have to admit I'm getting somewhat fed up of dressing/redressing wounds - seems like I've been doing it for the last few months - and I guess apart from a 2 week gap between my TT/breast lift recovery and thigh/arm lift - that's true ! - it will be nice to move to not needing to dress any wounds and just being able to leave them alone !

Despite the complication (and the swelling which is still a lot) I'm pleased with the results on my arms and thighs and whilst the thighs are the hardest surgery to recover from in terms of discomfort and swelling, it's still worth it !  I think that the thighs are still very swollen and will take longer to go down than the arms etc.

I'm still not cleared for driving - he wants my incisions to be fully healed up first - and whilst this is frustrating - I think he's right - as the tension does pull and make it uncomfortable when I get in & out of my 4x4 - and I know I would be in the car constantly if I was cleared to drive !

I'm cleared to start using silicon strips on my arms and one of my thighs so have started on this, plus I am using Contractubex on the scars which is what my surgeon recommends for scar management - it smells pretty vile, but seems to be doing the job on my other surgery incisions so I'll carry on working with it. 

I'm still wearing compression 24/7 - my surgeon wants me to stay in them as long as possible - suggests 2 months 24/7 will give the best results as my skin is quite thin and he said that there is a danger the skin can stretch whilst it's swollen - so whilst I have a big love/hate relationship with the compression garments - I'll follow his instructions and carry on wearing them - I am hunting for some new ones but am having problems sourcing items to be shipped to the UAE - I'll persevere and am sure I'll get some soon.  I would like to move to second stage garments which don't have the open crutch and are a little tighter - plus I'd like to order some garments in black which I think will be easier to hide under my workout gear etc - not that I'm cleared for working out - it's just that I am more comfortable wearing sports gear at the moment.

Anyway, must stop rambling - I've included some pictures to show progress. 

I've included a couple of the hematoma - you can see what amazing progress my body has made in healing in 2 weeks on the hematoma - once he drained it - it seemed to improve daily - I'm still bruised and swollen more in that area - but I think it's incredible how quickly we can heal after major surgery.




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