A brachioplasty, commonly called an arm lift, is a surgical procedure to reshape and provide improved contour to the upper arms and connecting area of chest wall. [1] Although "brachioplasty" is commonly used to describe a specific procedure for the upper arms, the term can also be used to describe any surgical arm contouring. Brachioplasty is often used to address issues such as excessive loose skin or excessive fat in the arms when it does not respond well to diet and exercise. [2] Brachioplasty is a common procedure for patients who have experienced massive weight loss and has gained popularity since 2000.[ citation needed ]
The least-invasive manner to contour the upper arms is to simply remove extra fat via liposuction. However, traditional deep liposuction often leaves sagging and wrinkled skin. An alternative to this is Circumferential para-Axillary Superficial Tumescent (CAST) liposuction, which maximizes the skin retraction. [3]
Under the right conditions such as adequate skin elasticity and minimal excess skin, the surgical incision for the brachioplasty can be placed under the arm. This allows for easy concealment of the scar. Minimal incision brachioplasty includes lipoplasty of the upper arm, wide-axillary and upper-arm skin excision, and dermal suspension of the upper-arm skin to the axillary fascia. [4]
The typical brachioplasty involves removing excessive loose skin via surgical excision, leaving a significant scar along the bottom of the upper arms.
If there is also a significant amount of loose skin that goes from the upper arms and continues along the chest wall, an extended brachioplasty may be called for. In an extended brachioplasty, the incision and excision of skin continues along the upper arm onto the area under the arm along the chest wall.
This method is used for patients with an enormous amount of soft tissue excess. Fish-incision brachioplasty uses mathematical measurements and anatomic marking that allows the preoperative marking of the incision in the shape of a fish. [5]
This technique is used to decrease the post- operative seroma formation and nerve injury. In this method liposuction is done for the arm with excessive liposuction under the area of excision to make it paper thin. Only the skin over the marked area is excised followed by invagination of the tissue and closure with dermal to dermal sutures and skin edge closure.
In this procedure anchoring of the arm flap to the axillary fascia is secured along with strong superficial fascial system repair of incisions. This method reduces the risk of widening or migration of scars and unnatural contours. [6]
This technique uses a mold to mark the incision in an italic double S-shape for better incision control, symmetrical and smaller scars. This method has often been used in association with other brachioplasty procedures. [7]
Some of the possible complications associated with brachioplasty include: [8]
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation as a preventive measure. Alternatively, some women can choose to have a wide local excision, also known as a lumpectomy, an operation in which a small volume of breast tissue containing the tumor and a surrounding margin of healthy tissue is removed to conserve the breast. Both mastectomy and lumpectomy are referred to as "local therapies" for breast cancer, targeting the area of the tumor, as opposed to systemic therapies, such as chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, or immunotherapy.
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, microsurgery, and the treatment of burns. While reconstructive surgery aims to reconstruct a part of the body or improve its functioning, cosmetic surgery aims at improving the appearance of it.
Rhinoplasty, commonly called nose job, medically called nasal reconstruction is a plastic surgery procedure for altering and reconstructing the nose. There are two types of plastic surgery used – reconstructive surgery that restores the form and functions of the nose and cosmetic surgery that changes the appearance of the nose. Reconstructive surgery seeks to resolve nasal injuries caused by various traumas including blunt, and penetrating trauma and trauma caused by blast injury. Reconstructive surgery can also treat birth defects, breathing problems, and failed primary rhinoplasties. Rhinoplasty may remove a bump, narrow nostril width, change the angle between the nose and the mouth, or address injuries, birth defects, or other problems that affect breathing, such as a deviated nasal septum or a sinus condition. Surgery only on the septum is called a septoplasty.
Abdominoplasty or "tummy tuck" is a cosmetic surgery procedure used to make the abdomen thinner and more firm. The surgery involves the removal of excess skin and fat from the middle and lower abdomen in order to tighten the muscle and fascia of the abdominal wall. This type of surgery is usually sought by patients with loose or sagging tissues, that develop after pregnancy or major weight loss.
Breast augmentation and augmentation mammoplasty is a cosmetic surgery technique using breast-implants and fat-graft mammoplasty techniques to increase the size, change the shape, and alter the texture of the breasts. Augmentation mammoplasty is applied to correct congenital defects of the breasts and the chest wall. As an elective cosmetic surgery, primary augmentation changes the aesthetics – of size, shape, and texture – of healthy breasts.
Reduction mammoplasty is the plastic surgery procedure for reducing the size of large breasts. In a breast reduction surgery for re-establishing a functional bust that is proportionate to the woman's body, the critical corrective consideration is the tissue viability of the nipple–areola complex (NAC), to ensure the functional sensitivity and lactational capability of the breasts. The indications for breast reduction surgery are three-fold – physical, aesthetic, and psychological – the restoration of the bust, of the woman's self-image, and of her mental health.
Otoplasty denotes the surgical and non-surgical procedures for correcting the deformities and defects of the pinna, and for reconstructing a defective, or deformed, or absent external ear, consequent to congenital conditions and trauma. The otoplastic surgeon corrects the defect or deformity by creating an external ear that is of natural proportions, contour, and appearance, usually achieved by the reshaping, the moving, and the augmenting of the cartilaginous support framework of the pinna. Moreover, the occurrence of congenital ear deformities occasionally overlaps with other medical conditions.
A facelift, technically known as a rhytidectomy, is a type of cosmetic surgery procedure used to give a more youthful facial appearance. There are multiple surgical techniques and exercise routines. Surgery usually involves the removal of excess facial skin, with or without the tightening of underlying tissues, and the redraping of the skin on the patient's face and neck. Exercise routines tone underlying facial muscles without surgery. Surgical facelifts are effectively combined with eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty) and other facial procedures and are typically performed under general anesthesia or deep twilight sleep.
Blepharoplasty is the plastic surgery operation for correcting defects, deformities, and disfigurations of the eyelids; and for aesthetically modifying the eye region of the face. With the excision and the removal, or the repositioning of excess tissues, such as skin and adipocyte fat, and the reinforcement of the corresponding muscle and tendon tissues, the blepharoplasty procedure resolves functional and cosmetic problems of the periorbita, which is the area from the eyebrow to the upper portion of the cheek. The procedure is more common among women, who accounted for approximately 85% of blepharoplasty procedures in 2014 in the US and 88% of such procedures in the UK.
Gluteoplasty denotes the plastic surgery and the liposuction procedures for the correction of the congenital, traumatic, and acquired defects and deformities of the buttocks and the anatomy of the gluteal region; and for the aesthetic enhancement of the contour of the buttocks.
Male chest reconstruction refers to any of various surgical procedures to masculinise the chest by removing breast tissue or altering the nipples and areolae. Male chest reconstruction may be performed in cases of gynecomastia and gender dysphoria. Transmasculine people may pursue chest reconstruction, also known as top surgery, as part of transitioning.
A breast implant is a prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast. In reconstructive plastic surgery, breast implants can be placed to restore a natural looking breast following a mastectomy, to correct congenital defects and deformities of the chest wall or, cosmetically, to enlarge the appearance of the breast through breast augmentation surgery.
Mastopexy is the plastic surgery mammoplasty procedure for raising sagging breasts upon the chest of the woman, by changing and modifying the size, contour, and elevation of the breasts. In a breast-lift surgery to re-establish an aesthetically proportionate bust for the woman, the critical corrective consideration is the tissue viability of the nipple-areola complex (NAC), to ensure the functional sensitivity of the breasts for lactation and breast-feeding.
Liposuction, or simply lipo, is a type of fat-removal procedure used in plastic surgery. Evidence does not support an effect on weight beyond a couple of months and does not appear to affect obesity-related problems. In the United States, liposuction is the most common cosmetic surgery.
Zygoma reduction, also known as cheekbone reduction surgery, is a surgery used to reduce the facial width by excising part of the zygomatic bone and arch. Wide cheekbones are a characteristic facial trait of Asians, whose skull shapes tend to be more brachycephalic in comparison with Caucasian counterparts, whose skull shapes tend to be more dolichocephalic .This surgery is popular among Asians due to their inherent wide cheekbones. Due to the advanced surgical skills of Korean surgeons who perform facial contouring surgeries, the number of Asian people undergoing this surgery is increasing.
Clitoral hood reduction, also termed clitoral hoodectomy, clitoral unhooding, clitoridotomy, or (partial) hoodectomy, is a plastic surgery procedure for reducing the size and the area of the clitoral hood (prepuce) in order to further expose the clitoral glans of the clitoris.
A lip lift is a plastic surgery procedure that modifies the cosmetic appearance of the lips by reshaping them to increase the prominence of the vermilion border; and to enhance the facial area above the lips into a more aesthetically pleasing shape. In corrective praxis, a lip lift procedure is distinguished from lip enhancement, the augmentation of the lips, which can be effected with a non-surgical procedure.
The cheek constitutes the facial periphery, plays a key role in the maintenance of oral competence and mastication, is involved in the facial manifestation of human emotion, and supports neighboring primary structures.
Free-flap breast reconstruction is a type of autologous-tissue breast reconstruction applied after mastectomy for breast cancer, without the emplacement of a breast implant prosthesis. As a type of plastic surgery, the free-flap procedure for breast reconstruction employs tissues, harvested from another part of the woman's body, to create a vascularised flap, which is equipped with its own blood vessels. Breast-reconstruction mammoplasty can sometimes be realised with the application of a pedicled flap of tissue that has been harvested from the latissimus dorsi muscle, which is the broadest muscle of the back, to which the pedicle (“foot”) of the tissue flap remains attached until it successfully grafts to the recipient site, the mastectomy wound. Moreover, if the volume of breast-tissue excised was of relatively small mass, breast augmentation procedures, such as autologous-fat grafting, also can be applied to reconstruct the breast lost to mastectomy.
Fat transfer, also known as fat graft, lipomodelling, or fat injections, is a surgical process in which a person's own fat is transferred from one area of the body to another area. The major aim of this procedure is to improve or augment the area that has irregularities and grooves. Carried out under either general anesthesia or local anesthesia, the technique involves 3 main stages: fat harvesting, fat processing, fat injection.