The best tweakments for arms

Have you seen Karren Brady lately? She’s looking incredible  — particularly her arms. They’re slim, sleek and firm and she credits their transformation to sessions at the Dr Rita Rakus clinic, where she’s been having a specialist skin-reconditioning treatment.

“I never thought I’d have the confidence to wear short sleeves again,” says Baroness Brady, “but after a course of Exion skin tightening with radio frequency, I can.”

I haven’t tried Exion, but I know it uses radiofrequency and targeted ultrasound to rev up the production of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic in the skin, all of which will, in time, yield firmer, smoother skin. How many sessions will you need? Up to 10, if your skin is really floppy, suggests Dr Rakus.

If you’re wondering how to get rid of bingo wings and you’re inspired to tighten your arms, here are my six top arm-firming treatments.

1. Hone and tone your muscles

First things first: you need to build up your arm muscles (and let go of the idea that doing this will make you look like the Incredible Hulk. From mid-life onwards it takes a lot of work to just maintain muscle). Press-ups, tricep dips and bicep curls at home or in the gym will help, and clinics now offer ways to supercharge that effort.

Devices such as EmSculpt Neo use powerful electromagnetic pulses to contract muscles thousands of times in one session, while radiofrequency heat melts fat under the skin at the same time. The result? Leaner, more defined arms. I’ve only tried a single session on my triceps but they were popping afterwards.

Cost: from £300 per session. Find a practitioner at btlaesthetics.com;

2. RF Microneedling – but make it comfortable

“Arms are probably my most requested concern,” says body-contouring specialist Dr Galyna Selezneva, “both the so-called ‘bingo wing’ but also skin quality and texture.”

Her approach starts with muscle toning via Deleo Cristal Fit (£300 per session), similar to EmSculpt Neo. To improve skin texture, she then turns to radiofrequency microneedling with Sylfirm X. I’ve tried Sylfirm X on my face and can vouch for the fact that it’s not painful, especially after numbing cream.

“Why I so madly love Sylfirm X is that with this device I can ‘cover’ the entire arm, armpit, inner and outer elbow area, forearm and hands in one treatment,” says Dr Galyna. “And there is very little downtime and virtually no pain.”

Armpits included? I’m intrigued. I think we need to come back to that another time.

Cost: from £1,200

3. The skin-smoothing injectables

For crepey skin, injectable skin boosters can be transformative. One option I’ve tried with great results is Profhilo Body (£1,500 for two sessions, drpreema.com). This involves injections of the much-loved hydrating product used in face treatments, and a month after my second session the wrinkly skin on the inside of my upper arms was noticeably firmer.

Some doctors combine Profhilo with other regenerative injectables such as polynucleotides and PRP (platelet-rich plasma). Dr Sach Mohan mixes this cocktail and injects it into freshly lasered skin for a double effect on crepey texture. It’s not cheap – from £1,400 at revereclinics.com – but having tried this cocktail myself (on my face, here’s the video), I know it works.

4. Laser-‘coring’ to shrink the skin

This one sounds dramatic but is astonishingly effective. Laser ‘coring’ with the Ultraclear laser involves creating thousands of tiny channels in the skin. As they heal, the tissue contracts, tightening the area.

“We’re making holes in the skin large enough that when the edges of those holes close up they tighten the skin, but not so large that they leave a mark on the skin’s surface,” explains Dr Raj Thethi, who leads the Yorkshire Skin Centre.

“This blows other types of treatment out of the water – we can shrink the skin area by five or six per cent, permanently, in a single session.”

You need to know that immediately afterwards, you may look a bit gory and bruised for a few days, but after a week or two you will be amazed at the improvements.

Cost: from £3,000 for both arms (yorkshireskincentre.co.uk).

5. Minimally invasive fat-dissolving

Classic fat-freezing has rather fallen out of fashion. What’s getting the airtime now for non-surgical fat reduction is now dominated by fat-melting treatments.

• Endolift (around £3,000, with Dr Priya Verma) uses a fine laser fibre slipped beneath the skin to break down fat and remodel tissue.
• BodyTite (around £3,500, widely available) works with radiofrequency energy delivered under the skin via a probe. The heat both melts fat (which is then suctioned out) and stimulates collagen production for added firmness.

Both procedures are more invasive than surface treatments, but deliver visible sculpting alongside skin tightening.

6. Fat reducing semi-surgery 

AirSculpt can reduce fat elegantly anywhere on the body – so if your untoned arms are more of an excess fat issue than slack skin, it’s a really good option. However, it is definitely the most ‘surgical’ treatment on the list. While it doesn’t require stitches or use scalpels as full blown surgery would require, it is pretty invasive – ‘spinning out fat’, and requiring you to wear compression bandaging afterwards. So, you do need to commit a little more time (and compromises) to get those great results.

Bonus: Two photo tricks for instant arm definition

While you’re waiting for your tweakments to kick in, try these tricks to make arms look firmer in photos:

• Hands on hips: Face the camera with hands on hips, lean slightly forward and push elbows back. Your arms appear slimmer instantly.
• The ‘pinking point’: Stand side-on, arm relaxed. Stretch your fingers outward, then push your little finger as far as you can. It subtly engages muscles and reduces the droop of a bingo wing.

Find out more about treating your ‘bingo wings’ and other arm-related concerns, in our dedicated sections on the website.