Lymphatic therapy (aka manual lymphatic drainage, MLD, or lymphatic massage ) is frequently recommended by surgeons for post-op care after plastic and cosmetic surgeries. This specialized therapy has many benefits for post-surgical recovery. It is very gentle, and very effective.
Swelling (or Edema)
Any trauma to the body, surgery included, causes swelling. It is normal and expected to experience swelling after surgery. It is our body’s way of starting the healing process.
However, after the first one to four day "inflammatory phase", further swelling is no longer advantageous. And swelling can actually last 6 months or longer after a surgery/procedure. This ongoing swelling can lead to a more lengthy recovery time, reduced mobility, increased pain/discomfort, potential risk of infection, and increased chance of fibrosis/seroma/thick scar tissue formation.
MLD mimics the lymphatic system to promote and accelerate removal of excess surgical and trauma fluids in order to optimize healing during your recovery.
Bruising
Bruising happens when blood leaks from blood vessels — and this is a normal side effect of surgery. A bruise is made of collected red blood cells under the skin. In general, a bruise will be dark purple, blue, or black for the first 3-4 days. It will usually start to lighten around day 5-6, and is usually dissipated at the two week mark. (Length of time can vary for each individual.)
MLD can assist the lymphatic system in removing these dead cells from the tissues more quickly, resulting in less amount of bruising as well as less time of bruising. This helps reduce overall recovery and healing time.
(Also of note — cellular debris from bruising can potentially harden if the body does not remove or reabsorb in a timely manner.)
It has also been noted that a pre-surgical lymphatic massage session can help with reduction of bruising post-surgically. It helps to detox body tissues and clear lymphatic pathways, helping the body's preparation for surgery.
Hardness, Lumps, Fibrosis
Post-surgical firmness in tissues happens when there is formation of fibrous tissue along with swelling.
Collagen, cellular debris, fibroblasts, inflammatory cells, and large molecules become hardened and form this fibrous tissue. These issues may begin to be noticeable around two weeks post-surgery. This is why several lymphatic sessions during the first 2-3 weeks after surgery is recommended.
MLD assists the lymphatic system in regaining optimal function, meaning that fluid buildup, large protein structures, and dead cells are absorbed more quickly, leaving room for healthy healing and minimizing or even inhibiting fibrosis formation.
Your therapy may also include fascial stretching, at the appropriate stage in your healing, to reduce lumps or fibrosis.
Scarring
Scar tissue is the body’s natural response to healing incisional areas after surgery, and scar tissue is made up of collagen.
Factors that can affect the degree of scarring are:
Size of the incision
Depth of the incision
A person’s age
Genetics
Ethnicity
It is very important to follow all post-op instructions from your surgeon in order to heal as well as possible, including eating healthy (minimize sugars, salt, and simple carbs), staying well-hydrated, and avoiding smoking and alcohol. Caring properly for post-surgical wounds is a must, in order to avoid infection and give the wounds the best advantage to healing well. Compression garments, and easing back into activity/exercise appropriately, are additional important factors to healing.
Healing can be delayed when there is excess fluid pressure (swelling) along the incision lines. Lymphatic therapy helps boost your body’s ability to remove excess inflammation fluid, excess large protein molecules, and cellular debris. This allows collagen (scar tissue) formation to be as optimal as possible (along with the other measures listed above).
Scar massage is also included in your sessions when your body’s healing stage allows, and with your surgeon’s approval.
MLD Benefits
There are many important benefits to receiving lymphatic therapy after cosmetic surgery.
To summarize, this very important specialized therapy helps to:
Accelerate the healing process
Reduce post-surgical swelling
Reduce pain, discomfort, and bruising
Reduce chance/severity of lumps, fibrosis, and seromas
Helps scar tissue appearance and thickness
Detox surgical anesthesia and tumescent
Improve mobility and activity tolerance
Improve sleep and comfort
Giving your body the best chance at optimal healing, and optimal results, includes scheduling a series of lymphatic massage therapy sessions by a certified lymphatic therapist with experience in post-surgery lymphatic therapy. If you need post-op care, there is no compromising on this point.
I look forward to providing quality post-op lymphatic therapy for your recovery!
Please schedule online at donnabettin.com, or contact me at 303-330-1858 if you have additional questions.
Comments