Yes, surgery like arm lift or liposuction can remove batwing arms.
Among our patients, there is one particular gesture that often causes a lot of distress, and that is the “Royal Wave”. This is when you lift your arm to wave goodbye to a friend, and your upper arm skin continues to swing for a while after you have stopped moving your hand. This problem, or “Bat Wings” as it is known in the local parlance along with “Bingo Wings,” is one of the most difficult to get rid of from the standpoint of an aesthetic concern.
Indeed, physically going to a gym and working out by doing tricep dips and push-ups might have been what your body is telling you through your experience that you need, as a new patient at Lin Europe Clinic, but then you are still puzzled about why the gym is not showing results. Well, to be honest with you, exercise might be able to develop muscle, but it will fail to tighten the skin. Once the skin has lost its elasticity either because of aging, huge weight loss, or just the way you are, no amount of muscle toning can reverse the situation. The only way to get back the firm cylindrical shape of the arm is through surgery. The most important question is not if surgery can fix the problem but which surgery is good for you – liposuction or a surgical lift?
The Gym Myth: Muscle vs. Envelope
You need to comprehend the anatomical issue before you can understand the remedy. The upper arm is made up of a bone (humerus), triceps muscle, a layer of fat, and the skin covering the whole.
Bat wings are slim in many cases because of weak muscles. You can have the strongest triceps in the world, but if the “envelope” (the skin and fat) is three sizes too big for the “contents” (the muscle), it will hang. When you exercise, you can increase the size of the muscle a little, thereby filling the envelope, but you cannot get the skin surface area reduced. An operation is always needed to adjust the envelope to fit the arm.
The Deciding Factor: The “Elasticity Test”
So the question is, how can you differentiate whether an Arm Lift (Brachioplasty) or simply Liposuction is needed to resolve your issue? In essence, the answer lies in the condition of your collagen.
- The Person Suitable for Liposuction: On the occasions that you are relatively young with a skin type that is thick and flexible with the ability to snap back quickly and your main concern is “bulk” or “thickness” rather than loose or hanging skin, then liposuction alone will do the trick. Our method involves the use of VASER Liposuction which helps melt the fat and at the same time, causes mild skin retraction.
- The Arm Lift Candidate: If you raise your arm and the amount of loose, crepey skin without much fat that you can pinch is more than 2-3 centimeters then liposuction will worsen the situation. Taking away the fat from under the loose skin is just like deflating the balloon, leaving you with empty, wrinkled skin that will sag even more. Such patients are given Brachioplasty which involves the patient cutting out the excess skin.
The Trade-Off: The Brachioplasty Scar
The full Arm Lift (Brachioplasty) is the gold standard for eliminating bat wings, but along with it comes a big down side: The Scar.
In order to take the skin curtain down, the surgeon first of all, has to make an incision. This is usually from the armpit (axilla) down to the elbow. At Lin Europe Clinic, we believe in being straightforward. If you are dealing with a lot of sagging, you simply cannot have an “invisible” arm lift. However, the scar placement is very thoughtful. We place the incision at the bicipital groove – the valley on the inside of your arm where the bicep and tricep muscles meet. Even when your arms are at your sides, the scar remains entirely hidden against your torso. If you raise your arms, the scar becomes noticeable, but the majority of patients feel that it is a sacrifice that is worth making as they will now have a scar instead of an arm flap hanging down.
The “Invisible” Option: Mini Arm Lift
For those patients whose sagging is only a little and it is mostly near the armpit, a middle ground can be found using the Mini or Short-Scar Brachioplasty.
Here the incisions do not go down the arm but are confined solely to the armpit crease (axilla). With such a small crescent-shaped opening, the physician is able to lift the skin of the upper arm and attach it to the armpit sheath (fascia). This method is capable of bringing about moderate uplift without having any noticeable scar on the arm itself. These are the ones who are basically the early purveyors of aging who would really benefit from such a procedure. On the contrary, people whose skin is overstretched as a result of massive weight loss will find this option inadequate.
VASER Lipo: The Skin Tightening Bonus
We almost only couple with VASER Liposuction even when the operation to lift the arm fully is done. We liquefy the fat layer first before incising the skin by using ultrasonic energy.
It is a twofold advantage. The first one is that it debulks the arm so that the end result is not just tight but also slender. The VASER probe’s heat stimulates the collagen network resulting in skin tightening, which is the second benefit. This enables us to perform a smoother closure and thus the scar is subjected to less tension which means it will be thinner and flatter when healed.
Experience the Lin Europe Difference: Scar Management
At Lin Europe Clinic, we are quite understanding that the #1 reason why people shy away from doing this kind of surgery is their fear of the scar. That is why our treatment heavily revolves around the Scar Therapy.
There is no way that we simply sew and call it a day. For this reason, a multi-layer closure technique is used to remove all tension from the skin surface. To get the redness to fade as soon as possible, a complete scar management program is offered postoperatively, which includes silicone tape and laser therapy sessions. We also do fascial suspension where the skin is firmly attached to the muscle fascia deep down so that the scar will not get wider or migrate downward with time. We turn your ‘bat wings’ into ‘swan arms’ so that you become confident enough to flaunt sleeveless dresses again.
Frequently Asked Questions About Arm Lifts
No scar from a surgery will ever totally disappear. Over a period of 12-18 months, it will slowly change from red to pink to a thin white line; however, the scar will still be visible on the inner arm.
To keep the incision from stretching, you definitely should avoid lifting anything heavier than 2kg for the first 4-6 weeks, after which you can gradually resume upper body exercises to regain muscle.
In most cases, no. Liposuction is aimed at removing fat, not skin. If your skin is not very elastic, simply having lipo may result in loose skin that appears wrinkly; therefore, a skin excision (lift) is required.
Yes, this is an extremely popular surgical combination referred to as an “Upper Body Lift” which allows the rejuvenation of both the chest and arms in one single anesthesia session.
An arm lift is generally regarded as being less painful than a tummy tuck or a muscle repair procedure. A majority of patients refer to the sensation more as “tightness” or “soreness” and not as sharp pain.
Aly, A. S., et al. (2012). Brachioplasty: A structured approach. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Richards, M. E. (2001). Minimal-incision brachioplasty: a first-choice option in arm reduction surgery. Aesthetic Surgery Journal.
Lockwood, T. (1995). Brachioplasty with superficial fascial system suspension. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
