The discovery is often a surprise. You’re going along living your life when one day you lift your arms and BAM! — bat wings. What happened? Why? And more importantly, how do you make it stop? At Mia Aesthetics, we’re happy to share with you everything you need to know about the dreaded batwing phenomenon and how you can fix it.
What Causes Bat Wings? Is It All Genetic?
While it would be nice to shrug and blame our bat wings on genetics, the real cause isn’t quite that simple. It depends in part on what your bat wings are made of. Some are comprised mostly of loose skin. This loose skin can form if you lose a substantial amount of weight or if you simply lose enough muscle tone to make your skin appear looser.
Sometimes bat wings are made of fat. This can happen for a number of reasons. Packing on extra pounds can cause extra arm fat to develop, as can stress and a lack of sleep, both of which can cue an increase in your body’s fat production. Your hormones can do the same. Too much food and too little exercise can trigger fat anywhere on your body, and your arms are no exception. Of course, genetics do also play a role as does age. Bat wings become increasingly more likely as you get older.
Can Exercise Help Naturally Get Rid of Bat Wings?
You can firm your arms and help get rid of bat wings with a targeted exercise program. Some of the best exercises for eliminating bat wings include:
- Tricep pushups
- Pulley triceps extensions
- Lat pulldowns
- Overhead presses
- Deltoid raises
- Reverse fly
Unfortunately, a lot of the exercises that help the most with bat wings require weights or other equipment that you may not have, so it’s probably a good idea to join a gym. Another benefit of a gym membership is that it can grant you access to professional trainers who can teach you how to do these exercises correctly so that they’re as effective as possible without causing injury.
Note that these exercises can help you tighten your muscles and get rid of fat, but they will never eliminate excess skin. If your bat wings are mostly hanging skin, you aren’t likely to get the results you want even if you spend hours at the gym. Note too that bat wings comprised of fat often contain stubborn fat that doesn’t go away quietly. If exercise works for you, it can be a great way to avoid surgery and live a healthier lifestyle. But if it doesn’t, there is no shame in getting an arm lift. Bat wings can be hard to get rid of, and turning to a plastic surgeon for help is not a sign of weakness or personal shortcomings. It’s a faster solution, but it’s in no way taking the easy way out.
How to Get Rid of Bat Wings
When exercise fails to get rid of your bat wings, an arm lift can come to the rescue. The process is fast and the results instantaneous, so you can enjoy your new arms right away, although you may experience some swelling and inflammation for a few weeks after surgery. During an arm lift, your surgeon cuts away the excess skin and fat that hangs below your arms, thereby removing your bat wings. For some patients this is enough. If you desire an even more toned look, your doctor can also perform some liposuction on your arms to sculpt and shape them.
The results of your arm lift, sometimes called a brachioplasty, will be permanent. As with many plastic surgeries, large fluctuations in your weight could alter your surgical results. If you follow your after-care instructions and maintain a fairly steady body weight, however, your arm lift results should remain fairly stable. Your surgeon can’t stop the aging process, of course, so your arms could slowly start to sag again in several years, but most patients report lifelong satisfaction with their arm lift results.