The latest statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons show that since the year 2000, upper arm lifts in women are up more than 4,000 percent. In 2000, a little over 300 women had arm lift surgery. Last year, more than 15,000 did. In a typical week, that’s a surgery every 10 minutes!

Natalie Robinson shows off her before-and-after photos. The ones she “couldn’t wait to take.” Over the last 36 months, Natalie has lost more than 170 pounds, and before having surgery to remove excess skin on her arms.

“They’re a reminder of that heavier person and you couldn’t get rid of it and it was just something else to worry about.” So Natalie decided to have arm lift surgery to tone her upper arms.

She had a type of upper arm procedure called brachioplasty, which is rising in popularity. “We did do more brachioplasties last year than we did the year before and we’ll probably do more this year,” said Natalie’s plastic surgeon Dr. David Reath. “We get rid of the skin, we leave a scar,” he explains. So as long as there’s enough improvement to be made in the shape of the arm to justify the scar, then it’s a great procedure.”

Brachioplasty was enough for Natalie. Despite the dramatic weight loss she had achieved on her own, she knew that when it came to the shape of her arms, she would need a plastic surgeon’s help. “Very happy,” she says. “It was well worth the investment. I would do it again.”