6 Ways Compression Garments Help Healing After Plastic Surgery

Posted March 02, 2022 in Plastic Surgery, Plastic Surgery Recovery

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Plastic surgery is a controlled and purposeful injury to the body. And because your body is being injured, you need to allow it to heal. While any surgical procedure will carry side effects, such as bruising, swelling, discomfort, and tenderness, your recovery period can be helped by wearing a prescribed compression garment.

Compression garments are elastic bindings worn after surgery to promote healing. They are worn on the part of the body that underwent the cosmetic surgery. 

While some bindings fit over a large part of your body, almost like an entire suit worn under your clothing, other garments are smaller in size, simply securing the specific surgical area. 

And while compression garments may seem to be a hassle, it is important to understand the impact they have on your recovery. 

Below are six ways that wearing a compression garment can help you in your postsurgical journey.

1. Reduce Swelling

Whether you undergo a breast procedure, such as breast augmentation surgery or breast lift surgery, or a body procedure like a tummy tuck, thigh lift surgery, liposuction, or a butt augmentation, you will have swelling in the area during the weeks after your surgery. 

A compression garment helps to limit the amount of swelling and the duration of that swelling by placing continued pressure on the surgical area. 

2. Reduce Pain

The same pressure from the compression garment that helps reduce swelling also helps limit the amount of pain that you feel in the surgical area. It’s the same as when you stub your toe; as soon as it happens, you grab your toe and hold it tightly, which takes away the pain. This constant pressure from the compression garment allows you to feel more comfortable while your body heals itself.

3. Provide Support

Whether you’ve had plastic surgery on your breasts or somewhere else, your body, both inside and outside, has gone through a tremendous ordeal. One of the body’s natural reactions is to protect itself, but this sometimes leads to unsightly inconsistencies in your appearance, like lumping and sagging in the skin. 

To help you achieve your desired results, you need to stabilize your newly sculpted contours. The compression garment does this by holding your skin and internal tissues and muscles in place while they heal.

4. Increase Circulation and Blood Flow

Compression garments raise the skin temperature, which increases blood flow and circulation. This promotes healing because the increased blood flow brings oxygen-rich blood to the surgical area, which helps the body recover and allows the muscles in the specific area to relax. The elevated skin temperature is also what helps to lessen swelling and minimize pain.

5. Protects Incisions

With any invasive plastic surgery, you will have incisions that have been closed, either with sutures, surgical tape, or glue. While these incisions are closed, they are still actively healing, which means that you want to protect them. You don’t want to accidentally catch the sides of the incision on something, like clothing, and have the incision open back up. 

To protect against this, compression garments act like band-aids, covering the parts of your skin that have been opened and then closed again and helping with overall healing.

6. Reduces Risk of Blood Clots

Though rare, blood clot development is a risk with any surgery. Blood clots form when the blood thickens into a mass, which usually happens after an injury, and since plastic surgery is a purposeful injury, the blood in your body tries to protect and heal. However, this is not always the safest thing for you. 

Because compression garments increase the blood flow in your veins, you will have less risk of blood pooling and clotting in response to the injury. This is important because blood clots are a very dangerous concern. Fortunately, with your compression garment, you can rest easy knowing that your body is safely recovering from your plastic surgery procedure.

Want to Learn More?

If you are interested in learning more about the plastic surgery procedures that Dr. Chin offers in Fresno, California, schedule a consultation by calling 559-435-9654 or filling out our online contact form.