compression garment philosophies

I'm struggling here. I came from the camp that had folks wearing compression garments for at least 6 months if not more - with the idea that it helps the skin to 'remember' the new place and keeps it's tighter and that's what I had done for my original lbl. My (newer) surgeon's office provided a bolero garment for my brachio and breast work and just a binder for the revision work on my mons and the fleur de lis revision. His nurse said wear for 4 weeks then wean my self off of it. I don't feel very comfortable with that idea - but she said it's so the skin would make it's own adjustment or something to that effect - I've been a little spacy so it's hard to remember....

Any one else out there that has just done compression for about the 1 month and then gone off? How have your results been?  Oh, and they took off 2 pounds of skin with the brachio and breast lift (mostly from that I'd say, probably very little from the mons and abdomen revision. he did say he was as aggressive as possible since mine was just all skin, so that feels good.

YES!  I so get this and feel the same way!  I had my lower body lift in November, whined on this forum about the tight garment, and found out that different surgeons have different instructions about which garment to where and for how long, if at all.  One person posted that it helped with skin reattachment, which I'm all for, so I learned to suck it up and deal with the swelling and wore my garment.  It became my security blanket.  The swelling quickly subsided and I began to feel safe and comfortable and told myself that the garment gave me super-power healing capabilities.  After a while I thought I'd be leaping over tall buildings in a single bound. 
I wore that garment four months - until my brachio/bl/ba three weeks ago.  I was put in a bolero garment in that surgery.  At my two week follow up appointment my surgeon told me not to wear it anymore.  Huh?  Same surgeon who did my lbl.  I reminded my surgeon I didn't want Popeye arms nor a ropey scar line on my arms and wouldn't it benefit me to wear the garment longer?  He said no.  There was lots of skin removed and with the pulling and reattachment on the sides of my breasts and my arms this procedure would go better for me if I just wear a cami with shelf bra at this point.    
I am pleased with the results of both surgeries.  Wish I was further out from this last surgery to know my final results and better answer your concerns.  I hope your results are stellar.  Good luck to you!
Cindy
 

Thanks for the response - I guess I wonder why he said no - that the procedure would be better at that point with just the shelf bra and cami - hmmm. Well, mine says 4 weeks so at least I'll have that much. I'm completely jazzed about my results so far so we'll see! Gone down 6 pounds in swelling and fluids from yesterday, so getting closer to my original day of surgery weight. It'll be fun to get past that again! 

I had Bracioplasty with BL/BA 2 years ago and my surgeon recommended wearing the Bolero garment for 4 weeks 24/7. I followed his instructions and never had a complication with wound seperation, etc. I felt so comfortable and secure wearing the bolero, that I wore it for 4 months! My surgeon got a kick out of me saying "It makes my arms feel good", but from a medical stand point, it wasn't doing anything for me. I am 3 weeks post LBL today. Last week my surgeon told me when I'm comfortable taking my compression garment off and switching to a "Spanex" I could do so. The spanex is much more supportive in my groin area where I have some swelling, but it's a "**tch" to get on and off every time you have to use the bathroom...I was nervous about straining my suture line using it. He says I have to wear some sort of supportive garment for 12 weeks.

Hmm, from the medical stand point it wasn't doing anything is what you got? I guess it does just become more of a security blanket perhaps. I like the comfortable and secure feeling too!

Did he want you to quit the bolero garment as well? A revision to your anchor cut revision and mons area isn't as extensive as the original LBL so I can see why he may not feel you need it that long. I had a revision to my anchor cut 5 weeks ago and that has been a breeze and really wouldn't say I need compression, but I do wear it because I had lipo with it as well. I have worn some type of garment though for the past 9 months. Not because my dr said I had to but because of the swelling I've had. One of my drs always told me to wear it as long as I could stand it but at least 6 weeks. That's what I plan to do with my bolero garment and after that I won't be wearing it to work but I plan to wear it the other 14 or 15 hours a day. That garment just rubs under my arms and I have this area that stays red all the time no matter how I adjust it. Too much trouble to wear long sleeves everyday to cover it up and it's starting to warm up here in texas so that's really the reason. My incisions are healing beautifully and the swelling in my arms has been minimal. Not sure if I answered your question but that's where I'm at with this last round of PS.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I guess I was a little unclear as to what side I'm on now. I would prefer to continue to wear the bolero - it's the mondavi 3/4 sleeve one that everyone seems to talk about ($85) and I wear black constantly anyway, so it's no trouble for me to continue wearing. I live in Las Vegas so yeah, it might start to get uncomfortable for the heat aspect but I like how it makes me feel very supported and secure.

I want my arms to get/stay as tight as possible and just wondered how come my old surgeon liked the continuation of wearing the garments versus my new surgeon who says get off of it after 4 weeks. It's so confusion to hear opposite ideas.  

I'm only 9 days out from surgery, so of course I have a ways to go, but, I'm sort of a planner so I always like to have the plan in my head ready for the next step.  I guess as I 'wean off of it' I can always wear it during the day while teaching and take it off once I'm home. I want as much support as possible! I hadn't even thought that much about my abdoment revision - wearing the  binder right now but I'll switch to something else soon.

I'm 4 months post extended TT and extended Brachioplasty with lipo.  I wear my arm garment - 23.5/7 - I wear it because it keeps my Silicone strips in place and it keeps the swelling down.
For my TT, I wear my full garment only when I'm up and out of the house.  At home and sleeping at night, I do not wear it.  I find that I swell a lot without it - so for me it's something I do because I want to  and it keeps the swelling down.