“I’ve always felt embarrassed by my out-of-proportion, chunky upper arms”

Presenter and showbiz journalist Ellie Phillips recently opened up to the Daily Mail about undergoing a mini brachioplasty procedure with Mr Paul Tulley and how the results have transformed her self-confidence.

“I’ve always felt embarrassed by my out-of-proportion, chunky upper arms that, in my opinion, simply didn’t match my size 8 body. I’m ashamed to admit that I have even used photo-editing apps to slim them down for social media posts.

“So, what changed? Last September, I became one of very few people in Britain to undergo a highly specialised arm lift procedure costing £8,500 to remove the stubborn excess skin and fat once and for all.

It’s major surgery, very painful, will take six months to fully heal and — due to my insistence on returning to work too soon — resulted in complications. But my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.

I had already heard of arm lifts, or brachioplasty, but was put off by the potential risk of scarring from the elbow to armpit. Then, early last year, during one of my regular Google searches for new arm procedures, I started to see mentions of a less invasive procedure, dubbed a ‘mini’ arm lift.

A standard brachioplasty involves two incisions from armpit to elbow. The loose skin is removed and the skin stitched together along that line — leaving a long scar on each arm.

With a mini brachioplasty, however, there is a single incision under the armpit through which skin and fat is removed. It meant you’d just be left with one small scar under each armpit, invisible from almost every angle.

Finally, after speaking to several doctors, I found Dr Paul Tulley at the London Welbeck Hospital, one of just a handful of UK specialists in the procedure.

I knew he was the one for me because he really listened and was the only one to say he’d rather do the mini arm lift on me. In fact, he flat out refused to do a full brachioplasty.

Admittedly, not everyone can have a mini arm lift — the key factors are the elasticity of your skin, which decreases with age, and the amount the arms need to be reduced.

Now, three months on, you can’t see the scars at all with my arms down. Even if you were to look directly at my armpit, you’d just see a flat, red line through the crease, which will fade to white and become almost invisible.

My arms are so much smaller, and will keep shrinking until they’re fully healed in another three months.

Now, I finally have arms that fit my figure. In the summer, I’ll jet off on holiday to hot countries without packing voluminous cover-ups. I can go on nights out and dance with my hands in the air wearing strappy dresses, and I’ll never stoop to delete unflattering photos or crop parts of myself out of the frame ever again.