dedicated compression garment thread?

KS1

What do you think about us creating a thread for compression garments? For me, finding day garments that work is kind of like the quest for the holy grail (haven't found it yet). It seems like we have a lot of collective wisdom about what works (and doesn't work) for particular issues, peculiarities about different brands, European vs, American compression classes, innovations, sales etc. It is hard to imagine even a very experienced fitter knowing as much as we know as a group.

The step-up site on garments is a terrific resource, but i am thinking about something to supplement it that is less formal and would capture the weird things each of us has learned through trial and error. I'm always searching for new stuff on garments on the LE board, but it is so spread out among threads and, if you don't know what terms to search for, it's hard to find. If we each posted what we have found, we could create a resource that would grow and evolve as garments change. Who knows, maybe garment manufacturers would even take notice.

--KS1

BeckySharp

As I am new to garments--just got my first jobst daytime sleeve and nighttime jovipak-- I really like your idea KS1.  I remember reading some pros and cons on garments somewhere here but I wasn't at that point yet. When it was time to order my therapist laid out a lot of prototypes.  It had me so confused.  I went mostly with her recommendations.

KS1

To start the ball rolling -  here are my impressions of the 4 types of CUSTOM gloves I have tried:BARTON-CAREY CUSTOM:   I had a Barton-Carey sleeve and glove made at the same time.  I wore the glove (rotating it with other brands) for about 5 months before my recent flare..  I had problems with it (the bulk created by seams make it difficult to hold a pen or pencil or do other fine work), but I wore it and was glad that I had it. The person who fitted me suggested this brand because the fabric is silky like a slip. They will also line the gloves. That said, the gloves have many more seams than the mediven or elvarex gloves, and the seams themselves are potentially irritating. Last, at least one person said that, in her experience she found that the BC didn't do a great job compressing and that it was not that much better than an isotonic glove. It may or not be related, but I had a bad hand flare during the period I wore the BC and non-custom farrow.  A warning about the colors of the Baron-Carey beige.  The person who fit me warned me that the lightest beige borders on pink, so I got the second from the lightest.  It originally was ever so slightly darker than my skin, but the material faded very quickly with washing and soon was lighter than my skin.  Bizarrely, the material faded, but the stitching did not, so the glove's seams became more obvious withe time and, well uglier. Comment:  Another person also posted that their fitter said that the Barton-Carey wasn't that great at controlling hand LE. ***************JOBST-ELVAREX CUSTOM:   -- the fabric is really rough and it pills and gets mangey looking, but. It did seem to do a reasonable job compressing, and a fitter told me that she thinks of the class 1 gloves, it does a better job holding its shape and providing even compression.  A warning - the Jobst Elvarex has latex in it.  I don't have a late allergy, but after I had been wearing the glove for about 4 or 5 months, my hand looked pretty irritated when I took it off.  A fitter told me that some non-latex material is wrapped around the latex in the Elvarex and she wondered if it had begun to break down.  If you have delicate skin, I wouldn't recommend it. A comment - it seemed like the fingers of this glove shrunk in length   **********MEDIVEN ESPIRIT CUSTOM- the material is smoother than the elvarex, and it doesn't pill, but the fabric is very thick and I found my hand cupping and that it difficult to move my fingers. Over the course of a couple of months, I lost a lot of strength in my pinky. My physiatrist said my muscles had atrophied some like I had been wearing a cast. (note: I have neuropathy and the glove had closed finger tips, so the stiffness problem might not be a problem for most people.)  A month ago, in desperation waiting for a new custom glove, I cut the very tip of the fingertips off.  It seemed to make it a bit easier to move my fingers.JUZO HELASTIC CUSTOM.  I've only had the glove for about 6 weeks, so I can't say how it will be in the long run, but so far, it seems pretty good.  The fabric is NOT the same as the fabric of the Juzo soft sleeve (which I love), but it is smoother and less abrasive than the Elvarex, and not quite as stiff as the mediven (espirit). The seams are reasonably flat.  It doesn't pill as much as the Elvarex.   It gives good finger compression, but I don't think it does as good a job on the back of the hand as the Elvarex.  This may not be a fair comparison as I have more LE in my hand than I did when I wore the other 3 gloves.   ********************I think the secret of a successful glove is having one fits perfectly, and doing this requires a really talented, experienced fitter.  Hands are really complicated, and even 1/4 cm difference in measurement in a pinky finger may create problems that would not happen with a 1/4 cm  measurement difference in an arm sleeve.  Also, what works for one person might not be good for another.  For example, I think the standard recommendation is to have the fingers of a gloves end at the nail bed. But, I find if the fingers are REALLY long (ending half way up the nail), I get less discoloration and numbness in my finger tips. I had a hand flare in May and have been working with some success to get my hand back to where it was pre-flare.  I find that my hand looks much good when I wear a piece that I fashioned out of Komprex under the glove. KS1