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How surgery affects your body

Surgery will cause a shock to your body in short to medium term. During your post-op, you have to deal with side effects. It’s essential for you to know that when your body is exposed to a significant trauma (surgery, liposuction, etc.), it will respond with side symptoms (side effects). Remember they are normal and are part of the healing process. But in order to get rid of them fast and have better outcomes, you should start your manual lymphatic drainage sessions as soon as you are allowed by your surgeon. Some of these side effects are:

  • Pain in the area for some time
  • Fatigue
  • In some cases, loss of appetite
  • Swelling
  • Numbness
  • Bruising
  • Sometimes bleeding
  • Water retention

The role of your circulatory system is important

Your circulatory and lymphatic systems work together to maintain the fluid balance in your tissues. First, your Arteries deliver blood to these tissues; then, this nutrient-rich fluid cleans your cells; after that, the fluid returns with the collected toxins via the veins and the lymph to be eliminated from the body.  Your circulatory and lymphatic systems need to be functional to maintain an appropriate fluid balance in your tissues. When something fails or there is no balance, swelling (water retention), hardness, hematoma, bruises, and lymphedema (chronic venous insufficiency) can appear; for these reasons, it is so important to start manual lymphatic drainage just after surgery.

How Lymphatic drainage works and why it is important in your recovery

Manual Lymphatic Massage helps to move the fluid, toxins, and waste products by gently pumping them back into the lymph vessels.  Then, it redirects the fluid into parts of the body where there is a high concentration of lymph nodes. Typically, these are areas such as the neck armpits, stomach, or groin. The toxins and wastes are filtered by the lymph nodes then they are eliminated by the urine. As a result, all the previously mentioned side effects and pain will be reduced. Without Lymphatic Massage (MLD) the inflammation can evolve into fibrosis (scar tissue formation, a permanent hardening of the tissue) or a seroma (pocket of serum). Many doctors prescribe Manual Lymphatic Drainage Therapy after liposuction or other plastic surgery procedures to make sure their patients get the best possible results from their procedure.

Conclusion

The key role of the lymphatic system is to gather excess fluid from tissues. It then purifies the fluid and returns it to the bloodstream. Lymphatic drainage massage improves the efficiency of your lymphatic system. It can also boost circulation. It can take up to 6-12 sessions to see results depending on what surgery you had and if there was significant trauma to the tissues, with sessions scheduled close together up to 2-3 sessions a week in the beginning of your treatment.

PereaClinic.com