Brachioplasty with liposuction resection

Chapter 5 Brachioplasty with liposuction resection






Preoperative Preparation


Suitable candidates for L-brachioplasty desire correction of their excess skin and fat of the arm and axilla and at times the upper lateral chest. These patients accept the possibility of long, possibly hypertrophic scars, asymmetry, inadequate resections, scar contracture across the axilla, delayed wound healing, and the general medical risks inherent in this operation. Poor candidates have excessive adiposity. Arms distended by adiposity, or chronic swelling due to lymphatic and/or venous incompetence are contraindications.


Meticulous surgical markings permit expeditious conservative excision of the excess skin and fat, leaving symmetrical closures. The free hand markings are followed by linear distance measurements, creating equal lengths of anterior and posterior incision lines. Thus, there should be little need for intraoperative skin adjustment, except for the heavier, adipose laden arms, requiring considerable liposuction (see video demonstration). At the time of closure, if the resection proves to be inadequate then another centimeter excision along either resection line perimeter can be performed.


The L-brachioplasty marking begins with a hemi-elliptical skin excision of the medial arm, with the anterior straight line at or slightly above the bicipital groove and the descending curved line along the posterior arm. The six critical points are found with the patient’s arm abducted and the forearm flexed 90°. Ink dots are made at point 1 at the deltopectoral groove, point 2 at the widest portion of the mid arm near the bicipital groove, and point 3 the termination of the brachioplasty about the medial elbow or beyond. The straight or slight bowed line connecting these points is the anterior incision line (Fig. 5.1). The width of the mid-arm excision is determined next by gathering and pinching excess skin and fat posterior to the mid-arm point 2 to mark point 4 along the mid-posterior margin of the arm (Fig. 5.1, upper). With the arm raised and the skin put on stretch, a straight line is drawn from that widest posterior arm point 4 to meet the anterior line termination at point 3. The proximal portion of the posterior incision line is then drawn by finding the critical point 5 that can be advanced to the deltopectoral point 1. Pinching the approximation of point 5 to the deltopectoral groove point 1 advances the posterior axillary fold to tightly suspend the posterior arm (Fig. 5.1, lower). So far an incomplete hemi-ellipse has been drawn. The anterior incision from deltopectoral groove point 1 to the elbow point 3 is measured by tape measure to confirm it is equal in length to the curved posterior incision from elbow point 3 to the advancement point 5. With the arm extended, the posterior line continues across the axilla, staying several centimeters away from the posterior axillary fold to descend to a tapered lateral chest point 6 as the posterior incision line of the lateral chest. The length of this line (points 5 to 6) will vary according to the skin laxity and rolls of the lateral chest. A line roughly perpendicular to 1–3 descends from the deltopectoral groove through the axilla and posterior to the lateral pectoral fold to taper to point 6. The skin excision between these last two lines (56 and 16) removes the excess skin of the axilla and lateral chest (Fig. 5.2).



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Jul 23, 2016 | Posted by in Aesthetic plastic surgery | Comments Off on Brachioplasty with liposuction resection

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