Arm Lift Surgery (Brachioplasty)

Who Is A Candidate For Arm Lift Surgery?

Dr. Robert Backstein, Toronto arm lift surgeon, advises arm lift surgery be performed on individuals with loose, hanging arm skin. This problem may be a result of significant weight loss or simply due to the natural aging process. Many people who have lost a significant amount of weight through diet, exercise and especially through weight loss surgery (gastric bypass surgery , gastric banding etc.) will be left with arms with sagging skin. This problem is most evident when the arm is stretched out such as when waving goodbye. The same problem is often noted in patients that have not lost significant weight but have reached an age in which the elasticity of the skin of the upper arm has been lost. In either case, it is essentially impossible to correct using exercise since the issue is one of loose skin and not of muscle or fat. Exercise tones muscle and lessens fat content but has no effect on skin tone. For this reason, many patients find that exercise and dieting actually make the problem of sagging arms even worse since further loss of weight causes the skin to become even more redundant and loose. As such, Dr. Backstein suggests that good candidates for arm lifts are individuals who have hanging skin on the arms and are prepared to tolerate the scars that are left by the arm lift (brachioplasty) surgery. Depending on the extent of loose skin on the arms, either a modified arm lift or full arm lift will be recommended. A modified arm lift is suggested for more minor cases of redundant arm skin and uses a relatively short incision placed in the armpit. A full arm lift is suggested for more extensive cases and uses a long incision placed extending from the arm pit to around the elbow on the inside of the arm. Some patients will also be candidates for alternatives to arm lift surgery to recontour their arms.