Lymphedema is a condition where excessive lymph fluid builds up, limiting its pathogen removal capabilities and cellular debris from your body. This build-up commonly occurs in the legs, causing swelling, infection, inflammation, and various skin conditions. By wearing compression socks , this swelling can be minimized. The compression keeps the skin from expanding, requiring excess fluid to spread out instead of pooling, reducing swelling overall. Post-surgery, you are at risk of developing DVT or deep vein thrombosis.
DVT is caused by blood clots in the legs. These blood clots can break apart and travel throughout the body, eventually blocking blood vessels. These blockages are called embolisms and can be dangerous, particularly a pulmonary embolism. To reduce the risk of development, compression is applied to the lower legs to encourage regular blood flow and resist accumulation. In turn, your veins return blood to your heart, preventing clotting and swelling.
Poor circulation can result in the development of spider and varicose veins. As veins flow upward, they can become blocked, leading to a bulging and darkening and potentially causing pain and achiness in your legs. Blood is responsible for carrying the amounts of oxygen and nutrients your body needs to function. It also helps the healing process and speeds up post-surgical wound healing.
By exerting consistent, gentle graduated pressure, the diameter of the veins in your legs is reduced, causing blood to flow swiftly. This prevents the accumulation of blood or lymph fluid in the area and instead returns blood to the heart.
Graduated compression socks come in different pressure levels, with the most common being mmHg for mild compression and mmHg for moderate compression. For anyone at risk of developing lymphedema or varicose veins, a firmer pressure level may be prescribed by your doctor.
The trial was led by Imperial College London and involved patients at seven hospital trusts across the UK, including our hospitals. The researchers found that patients at medium to high risk of blood clots following surgery were no more likely to develop clots if they wore compression stockings and took the anti-coagulant medication heparin than patients treated with heparin alone.
The researchers are calling for present treatment guidelines to be revised urgently and believe this could lead to significant cost savings for the NHS. It is estimated that 25, patients a year in the UK die from VTE contracted in hospital, including both surgical and non-surgical patients. Undergoing surgery, and inactivity following surgery, can cause deep vein thrombosis DVT where a blood clot develops in the deep veins of the legs or pelvis causing pain, swelling or long-term complications.
There is a risk that part of the clot can break off and lodge in the lungs, blocking blood supply known as pulmonary embolism which can be fatal if not treated quickly.
Together these conditions are known as venous thromboembolism, or VTE. The specially woven fabric in compression socks does not allow the skin to expand, so fluid is forced out of the legs and into general circulation instead of settling in one place.
It is not unusual to develop varicose veins or spider veins after an operation, particularly after an operation on the lower legs.
Circulation in tiny veins becomes sluggish, and the walls of the veins expand to accommodate the pooling blood. Spider veins are mostly a cosmetic problem. Varicose veins, on the other hand, can become itchy. They can ache or sting.
They bleed freely if the skin is cut. They can even become ulcerated. Post-surgical compression socks improve circulation and reduce the formation of both spider veins and varicose veins. Compression socks improve circulation. They make it easier for oxygen and nutrients to reach the tissues affected by your incision.
They help medications circulate to the locations where they are needed. Compression socks do not substitute for doctor-ordered wound care and taking care to take all your pills, but they can help you get back on your feet faster — often literally. If you have had knee surgery, you may be directed to wear compression socks on days the ankle or calf of the affected leg seems swollen.
Taken together, the benefits of post-surgical compression socks promote faster, safer, uncomplicated recovery after almost any kind of surgery. But then there is the consideration of when to remove compression stockings after surgery.
It is always best to discuss how long you should wear compression socks after surgery with your doctor. Generally, wearing compression stockings at night results in the same benefits mentioned above, but always check with your doctor post-surgery to be sure. There are some procedures, such as the ablation of one or both of the saphenous veins in a leg, for which you will be directed to wear a compression sock and not take it off until it is removed by the doctor.
And there will be rare instances for instance, you have a rash on your leg that you should not wear compression socks at all. Now let's see a quick recap of what after-surgery compression socks offer. At Dr.
0コメント