Arm Lift (Brachioplasty)

It comes down to skin. If your main concern is extra fullness and the skin still snaps back when you pinch it, liposuction - sometimes with Renuvion skin tightening - can slim the arm without a long scar. If the skin itself hangs, which is common after major weight loss and with age, only removing that skin will fix it, and that is what an arm lift does. A stable weight and realistic expectations matter more than any number on the scale. Dr. Ganz will examine your arms and give you a straight answer.

The incision runs along the inside of the upper arm, usually from the armpit toward the elbow, so it faces your body and is hidden when your arms rest at your sides. Its length depends on how much skin has to go; when the excess sits close to the armpit, a shorter incision tucked into the armpit crease may be enough. The scar is permanent. It fades a great deal over the first year, but it does not disappear, and trading loose skin for a scar is the honest heart of the decision.

You will be up and moving the same day. Most patients return to a desk job within about one to two weeks, wearing a compression sleeve and keeping lifting and overhead reaching to a minimum while the incision heals. Expect swelling, bruising, and a tight feeling along the arm that eases week by week. Harder exercise waits several weeks. Dr. Ganz sees you regularly and adjusts the timeline to how you are actually healing.

Often, yes. Dr. Ganz frequently combines liposuction with an arm lift so the arm ends up slimmer as well as tighter, and so the result blends into the shoulder and the side of the chest instead of stopping at the incision. Whether it adds anything in your case depends on how much fat there is relative to loose skin, which the exam makes clear.

The ones that matter most are a scar that widens or thickens, temporary numbness along the inner arm, a collection of fluid under the skin, slow healing of part of the incision, and some difference between the two arms. All of them are reviewed with you in plain language before anything is decided, and Dr. Ganz plans the incision, the operation, and your aftercare to keep each of them as unlikely as possible.

Removing the excess skin is lasting; it does not grow back. Your arms will still age, and a significant weight change can loosen the skin again, so holding a stable weight protects the result. Most patients keep a firmer, slimmer contour for many years.

Pricing is individualized. It depends on how much skin is removed, whether liposuction is added, and the facility and anesthesia involved, and your exact quote comes at consultation. What you are paying for is a fellowship-trained surgeon, an operating facility, anesthesia, and the care around the operation - not a quick treatment.