When you’ve been doing your best to live an active and healthy lifestyle, it can be discouraging and demoralizing to see excess skin and fat stubbornly stick to certain trouble spots. One area that can be difficult to keep trim and toned is the upper arm area, where skin and fat can accumulate to create the dreaded appearance of batwings.
If your batwings are driving you crazy and making you feel self-conscious, Joseph Fodero, MD, PA, the board-certified plastic surgeon at Northeastern Plastic Surgery in Florham Park, New Jersey, can fully remove your trouble spot with an arm lift. Here’s why you should consider an arm lift to get rid of your batwings this year.
Batwings is a term for the excess skin and fat that can accumulate in the upper arm area. You can have batwings at any size, even if you have toned upper arms or are generally active.
Batwings can come from getting older, as our skin gets less elastic and sags more as part of the aging process. You’re also at higher risk of getting batwings if you’ve undergone massive weight loss or are genetically predisposed to them.
The majority of what causes the appearance of batwings is usually loose skin. It is not possible to tighten up this skin by doing arm-toning exercises or weight loss. A procedure like liposuction only removes fat. It will not tighten or get rid of excess skin.
Instead, Dr. Fodero recommends an arm lift as the ideal solution for most people who have batwings. If you’re self-conscious about how batwings affect your appearance or are dealing with skin rashes or other health issues from excess arm skin, an arm left is your best bet for getting rid of them.
An arm lift, also known as a brachioplasty, is a surgical procedure that gets rid of the excess skin and fat you have in the upper arm area extending from your shoulder to your elbow. An arm lift also tightens any remaining skin that was sagging.
After getting an arm lift, your arms look slimmer and have a more defined and toned appearance. Thanks to surgical advancements, you can expect any scarring from the procedure to be minimal.
Before you get an arm lift, you have a pre-surgical consultation with Dr. Fodero, where he customizes the arm lift to your goals and instructs you on what to expect. On the day of your surgery, you can expect the procedure to take around three hours.
Dr. Fodero performs arm lifts under general anesthesia. Once you’ve been given anesthesia, Dr. Fodero will start by removing the fat through liposuction to debulk the arm. When this is complete, an incision will be made on the underside or back of the arm. The incision typically ends above the elbow, but can extend further for a better result when there is excess laxity in the forearm.
Once the removal and tightening is complete, Dr. Fodero uses sutures to close your incisions. You can expect recovery from the procedure to take about two weeks if you carefully follow Dr. Fodero’s surgical after-care instructions.
If you believe you would look and feel better without the dreaded batwings, why not shed yourself of them for good this year with a safe and effective arm lift? To learn more and schedule a consultation, book an appointment online, or give us a call.
