Honestly how bad were your arms?!?!?

Ive suffered from severe biaxiallary hydadenitis for years now like over 10.... and insurance approved the removal of my skin from like the side of my ribs up into the armpit where all the scar tissue is and is preventing sweating and continuing my daily infections... the surgeon reccomends getting rid of my arm skin at the same time so the scar will just flow... i will have a incision from my rib cage all the way through to my elbow.... with lots of work done in the armpit area.... how long do you think the recovery will be? is this going to suck? ivuess th epain will be worth not having to dealth with chronic infections the rest of my life... but im wondering in all honesty how bad was this... thanks for the info!

Katie

i hope you find the info you are searching for sounds like it is going to be rough but, well worth it. my arms bother me a little (the extra skin) but, i dont have infections or any problems with that - so, i think i will just stick with 3/4 length sleeves for now and be done with it.  kf

Hi Katie. I had the incision you're talking about, along with BL/BA, and was back to my desk job in 2 weeks. This was the easiest, least painful surgery. (Also had LBL and th-th-th-thighs owch!) It was sore like a very intense workout. You know what they say: everybody's different, so your pain may be different than mine.  The scar versus skin tradeoff for me was a no-brainer, my upper arms are 9 inches less around now. 

Good luck.

Lisa

I also had arms done along with bl, ba, tt, and butt lift. I was very surprised how  much mobility I had after the brachioplasty. For me, the recovery wasn't that bad. The doc took off 4 inches of hanging skin off of each arm. The scar and recovery were well worth getting rid of the hanging skin. I tried all kinds of weight lifting exercise to try and tone the muscles underneath before doing p.s. The problem is not the muscle, its the hanging skin that just HANGS. If I had infections on top of the hanging skin, it would be a no-brainer for me...bye-bye arm skin!! The pain is temporary, the result is permanent. We women can handle a lot more than we give ourselves credit for. You can do it and deserve this!! Good luck! Misty mymexicopsjourney.com Pics, blog, and my journey to getting plastic surgery in Mexico. Updated pics 6 weeks out!!

I have HS under my arms as well, although I have had no new lesions since my RNY. It's very tricky to do plastics on people with HS because the chance of infection is so very high. Hopefully, I can stay lesion free until my surgery, which I hope will be in the end of this year. I have a LOT of arm to lose-- probably 8-10 inches, see below. Easy to see where my arm ends and my flap begins, eh?

Thank you all for your responses.... i know it will be so worth it... im looking forward to having the LBL and BL/BA as well but with the constant infections i cannot do anything else with the arms so i was hoping for a short recovery period then on to the tummy and boobs =) i dont care if im banded and bruised and swollen all summer cause next summer ill be strutting my stuff covered in scars and damn proud of myself for where i have come  in the last 11 months =) Ill let you know how tomorrow goes... and will eb calling to set up the arm surgury this week insurance has already covered most of it ill just have to pay a little extra for the bracio part of it.... thanks so much ill keep you all posted! Katie