Real arm lift results from patients treated at our Baker Street day surgery facility. Jump to Brachioplasty, Arm Lift with Liposuction or Full Brachioplasty.
Results vary from patient to patient. All photos are published with written patient consent and are examples of outcomes achieved at Centre for Surgery, not guaranteed results. After photos were taken at least six months after surgery unless the caption says otherwise. No photograph has been retouched or filtered; some are cropped or masked only to protect patient privacy. Full disclaimer below, and how to read these photos — including why the scar, not the arm, is the thing to look for.
Arm Lift (Brachioplasty) — Before & After
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An arm lift removes loose skin from the upper arm and tightens what remains. It is an operation about skin, not fat: where skin has lost its elasticity — after substantial weight loss, after pregnancy, or with age — no amount of exercise or fat removal will make it retract. The trade is a scar, and the scar is discussed honestly below. Techniques range from a mini arm lift to a full brachioplasty; see types of brachioplasty for how they differ.
Arm Lift with Liposuction — Before & After
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Where an arm carries both excess fat and lax skin, arm liposuction is performed alongside the skin excision. Where your surgeon recommends it, liposuction of the upper arms is performed at the same session and included in your written quote, using either power-assisted liposuction (PAL) or VASER lipo depending on tissue quality. The order matters: liposuction alone removes volume and leaves the skin envelope behind, which in an arm with poor elasticity produces a looser arm, not a tighter one. Fat is why the arm is heavy. Skin is why it hangs. Only one of them responds to liposuction.
Full Brachioplasty — Before & After
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A full brachioplasty addresses skin laxity running the whole length of the upper arm, from the armpit towards the elbow. It removes the most skin and it leaves the longest scar. Where laxity extends past the upper third of the arm, a shorter-scar technique cannot reach it — the choice between mini and full is a choice about how far the looseness goes, not about how good a result you are willing to accept.
About These Arm Lift Photos
The arm lift photos above are presented for educational purposes only and should be interpreted subjectively. They do not represent the opinion or view of any patient regarding their result, and they are not intended to suggest the result that any other patient may achieve. No two patients are alike, and no two results are necessarily alike. Only a personal consultation with your surgeon can provide you with a reasonable expectation of the results you may achieve from any specific procedure. We only publish photographs of patients who have given full written consent for their images to be used.
The photographs above are a small selection. You will see a considerably wider range at your face-to-face consultation, including cases whose starting point resembles yours.
How to Read Arm Lift Before and After Photos
There is no honest way to write this section without saying the difficult thing first. An arm lift trades loose skin for a scar, and the scar is permanent. Every other consideration is secondary to that one, and a gallery that shows you only the outer arm has quietly declined to show you the operation.
Look for the scar. If you cannot find it, ask why
A full brachioplasty leaves a scar running along the inner arm, from the armpit towards the elbow. It is long, and it is visible when the arm is raised or held away from the body. Photographs taken with the arms down, or from the front, or from behind, can conceal it entirely. This is not necessarily dishonest — it is how most clinical photography is standardised — but it means the gallery is showing you the benefit and not the cost. At consultation, ask to see the arm raised.
Mini and full are decided by your anatomy, not your ambition
A mini arm lift places a short scar within the armpit and tightens the upper third of the arm. It works when the laxity is confined there. If your loose skin continues towards the elbow, a mini arm lift will not remove it, and choosing one because the scar is shorter buys a shorter scar and a worse result. Read what a mini arm lift can and cannot do.
Liposuction is not a lift
An arm that is heavy because of fat, with skin that still recoils, can be improved with liposuction alone. An arm that hangs because the skin has lost its elasticity cannot — remove the fat and the skin has less to fill it. Whether liposuction alone is enough for you is decided by pinching your skin, not by looking at a photograph of somebody else.
Weight-loss skin is different skin
Arms after substantial weight loss, particularly after bariatric surgery, have skin with little capacity to retract, and often more of it. Compare yourself against a before photograph that resembles your own arm — not against an arm that was merely a little loose. Read which areas of the body are most affected by excess skin after weight loss.
Arm position, tension and light
An arm held slightly away from the body, with the triceps engaged, looks tighter than the same arm relaxed at the side. Overhead lighting throws a shadow beneath the arm that reads as definition. In a trustworthy pair, the arm sits in the same position in both frames, and the light comes from the same place.
What Stage of Healing You’re Looking At
Arm lift surgery is performed as a day case, and the arm you see in an after photograph is at a particular point in a long scar timeline.
The arm is swollen and bruised for the first weeks, and a compression garment or sleeve is worn to control that swelling and to help the skin settle onto the tissue beneath. Fluid can collect under the skin — a seroma — and may need draining. Swelling settles substantially over the first two to three months, and the contour continues to refine beyond that.
The scar is the slow part. It is raised, firm and red or pink for several months, then softens and fades through pale pink towards white over roughly twelve to eighteen months. In some patients, and particularly across the inner arm, it thickens rather than flattens. Its final appearance depends on your skin, your genetics and how the wound was closed, and it is not fully known until a year has passed.
A photograph at three months shows a settled arm and an angry scar. A photograph at eighteen months shows a settled arm and a mature one. Where an arm lift gallery does not tell you which it is showing, it is showing you the flattering one.
The after photographs in this gallery were taken at least six months after surgery, unless the caption says otherwise. For what to expect at each stage before then, see our arm lift recovery guide.
What These Photographs Cannot Show You
There is a limit to what any gallery can tell you, and a clinic that pretends otherwise is selling rather than informing.
- The scar as it actually looks. Its length, where it sits, how visible it is with the arm raised, and how it matured. This is the single most important omission in every arm lift gallery published anywhere, including this one.
- Which technique was used. A mini arm lift and a full brachioplasty produce different scars and address different degrees of laxity.
- Whether liposuction was performed alongside. It changes the contour and it changes nothing about the skin.
- Seroma. Fluid collecting beneath the skin is one of the more common complications of this operation and may require drainage.
- Numbness. Altered sensation along the inner arm is common after brachioplasty and can persist.
- Wound healing at the armpit. The armpit is a mobile, moist area and wounds there are slower and more prone to problems than wounds elsewhere.
- Swelling of the forearm or hand in the early weeks, which is common and settles, and lymphatic disturbance, which occasionally does not.
- Weight change afterwards. Skin removed does not come back; skin that stretches again can.
- Whether the scar was revised. Scar revisions are rarely photographed and never published.
None of this is a reason to distrust before and after photographs. It is a reason to treat them as the beginning of a conversation with a surgeon rather than the end of one.
Arm Lift Results: Common Questions
How is an arm lift done?
Loose skin and fat are removed from the upper arm through an incision on the inner arm. A mini arm lift uses a short scar hidden in the armpit and suits looseness close to the armpit. A full brachioplasty runs the scar from the armpit towards the elbow for more extensive loose skin. Liposuction is often combined to refine the shape.
How painful is arm lift surgery?
Most patients describe tightness and discomfort rather than severe pain, mainly in the first week. Raising the arms is restricted for a few weeks to protect the scar, and heavy lifting is avoided. Most people return to desk-based work within about two weeks.
Will an arm lift leave a scar?
Yes, and it is permanent. In a full arm lift it runs along the inner arm, where it is visible when the arm is raised. Scars are usually pink and firm for several months and continue to fade for 12 to 18 months. An arm lift trades loose skin for a scar, so ask to see healed scars at consultation.
Arm Lift Surgery at Centre for Surgery
Centre for Surgery is a private hospital for plastic and cosmetic surgery on Baker Street in Marylebone, London, registered with and independently inspected by the Care Quality Commission. Our plastic surgeons perform arm lift surgery at our Baker Street day surgery facility, for patients with loose skin following weight loss, pregnancy, or the natural effects of ageing.
Mini Arm Lift and Full Brachioplasty
For skin laxity confined to the upper third of the arm, a mini arm lift uses a short scar positioned within the armpit. Where the laxity extends further towards the elbow, a full brachioplasty is required, with a scar running along the inner arm. Either may be combined with arm liposuction where fat as well as skin is contributing to the shape. Your surgeon will tell you which applies to your arm, and will tell you where the scar will be before you decide.
Body Contouring After Weight Loss
Our surgeons operate on arms following bariatric surgery and substantial weight loss, where skin quality and the volume of redundant skin differ from arms that have simply aged. Where skin has lost its capacity to retract, skin excision is the only intervention that will address it, and the extent of the excision determines the extent of the scar.
Day-Case Surgery and Aftercare
Arm lift surgery is performed as a day case at our Baker Street facility. You have your surgeon’s direct number for the first 24 hours after surgery, and your surgeon will review your progress at follow-up appointments throughout your recovery, including scar management over the first year. Every plastic surgeon on our team is GMC-registered and independently verifiable on the General Medical Council register.
Verified Patient Reviews
We invite you to read what our arm lift patients say on independent, verified review platforms. Every review is publicly verifiable, dated, and linked to a real named patient.
- Google Reviews: Read our Google reviews — rated 4.6 stars based on hundreds of verified patient reviews.
- Patient reviews page: Read patient reviews by procedure — Google and Trustpilot reviews brought together on our own site.
As a CQC-regulated provider, every surgeon on our team is GMC-registered and independently verifiable. View our CQC rating.
Related Reading
- Types of Brachioplasty
- What Is a Mini Arm Lift?
- What Is Arm Liposuction?
- How Much Does an Arm Lift Cost?
- When Can I Exercise After Arm Lift Surgery?
- Which Areas Of The Body Are Most Affected By Excess Skin After Weight Loss?
Explore More Before and After Galleries
View our full collection of plastic surgery before and after photos, or browse related body contouring galleries: Thigh Lift Before and After Photos | Liposuction Before and After Photos | Mummy Makeover Before and After Photos
Subject to status, we offer finance options with Chrysalis Finance. For a full price breakdown, see our arm lift cost guide. Learn more on our About Us page, browse our Plastic Surgery Blog, or find answers in our Clinic FAQs.
To book a face-to-face consultation with an arm lift surgeon, call us on 020 7993 4849 or complete the contact form below.
