Whats the deal with post surgery compression? - any research?

Hi - I had a TT and breast lift 6 weeks ago and am scheduled for an arm lift and inner thigh lift in just over a weeks time.

My surgeon put me in a compression garment 24/7 for 1 month and then says down to 12 hours a day for the next month which is what I am doing although I'll be back in compression next week 24/7 with the arm and thigh garments.

When I'm out of the garments, my tummy swells up and feels uncomfortable and then when I'm back in it I feel good and the swelling goes down.  I've been trying to do some research on what the deal is with compression - once the initial swelling goes down is it good to swell up/compress ? - is it best just to let your body deal with it and use no compression? is full time compression the best way? how and when do you wean yourself out of the compression garments?  I'll ask my surgeon when I next see him, but wondered what advice any of you can add to this based on your experiences.

Also can anyone point me to any research (independent from the compression garment suppliers) which I can read on this subject.

Thank you

PS - read my blog if you want to see how I'm doing after surgery

My doctor just had ace bandages on my thighs and said I didn't have to have any compression on them after my visit w/him on day 11.  They do get uncomfortable sometimes & I think compression would help, but I haven't worn anything on them since I have 2 sores that I'm trying to get to dry out & heal.  My tummy has a wrap around compression band on it & he said the same thing.  Can go w/out it & put it back on when I can tell I'm swelling some and then it seems to immediately cause the swelling to go away.  I've wondered like you though if it really helps or what?????     I think most of the posts on here the people say they do feel like it helps....so that's what i've gone with!

I am having a LBL on June 21 and my doctor does not use compression garments  I've read conflicting data on whether they really hel*****t.  I trust my doctor and his credentials so I'll let you all know afterwards how the swelling, etc. goes.  I do know that I will have six drains when I come out of surgery.

 Surgeons seem to have different viewpoints on this subject. My surgeon encouraged me to wear compression and I did. I wore compression with all of my procedures for at least 3 months. I had very little swelling, no open incisions and absolutely no complications with healing or swelling. I am in the camp that compression really helps. At least it did for me. I also have very minimal scarring.

I'll see if I can find the study I read on it, but it seems like most surgeons prefer compression even though long-term results do not indicate any long-term difference in results.  It was a small sample size though, I seem to remember

my doctor provides 2 compression garments, we wear bthem for 8 weeks. 10 days ago i had a lbl, long thigh lift, anchor tummy and butt aug. i can tell you without compression i am miserable. the compression keeps my swelling down so that my sutures aren't strained and it makes the incisions less painful. with my first tt and brachioplasty i wore the garments for three months. i healed well without any open areas. i wore my garments for three months last time and plan to do it the same way this time.

 *Like*

My surgeons wanted me in compression for a few weeks, but once I could be out of it without discomfort, I was to stop.

The longest/most I needed was for my thighs - that was about 6 weeks, high-waist to toes, 23 hours a day. Everything else was
less.

Edit: It might help if you think on what a nurse friend of mine told me.  Swelling is your body's way of trying to immobilize an injured part, sort of a "grown on" cast.  Controlling the swelling via compression because your healing is being monitored is fine - you don't need to swell, but your body is going to try to do it anyway.