Does anyone know about wrapping right after surgery?

its_real

Hi All - I have read a little about wrapping my arm right after surgery? Is this a 'good' or recommended prevention technique? When I asked the NP in the surgeons office I felt like I got the brush off - and wonder if they simply don't know how to do it . . .

Other quesitons -

what are the trusted cerifications for a lymphedema specialist? Shockingly the major hospital that has a great cancer center do not have anyone trained and I want to make sure as I research in this area I know what to look for.

DO folks advocate wearing compression sleeves for prevention?

Moderators

Hi its_real!

We're sure others will be by shortly to weigh in with their knowledge and experience in this area. In the meantime, we wanted to share these pages with you from the main Breastcancer.org site that may be able to help:

• Reducing Lymphedema and Flare-Up Risk: Things to Do
• Compression Sleeves and Garments
• Finding a Lymphedema Therapist

We hope this helps!

--The Mods

amygil81

I've often wondered this, whether routine compression for all patients after BC surgery would reduce the overall incidence of LE. The only study that I've seen is this one, in which patients were randomly assigned to compression sleeves or not immediately after their BC surgery: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28797867 . The study was small, only 45 patients total. But light compression seems to have been effective in lowering the incidence of LE within the first year after surgery. Your mileage may vary, and I'm way past the point where that would have helped me at all. But anyone about to undergo BC surgery might as well ask her surgeon about it.