Question:
How tight should the compression garment be?

i bought a couple of girdles before surgery. They were very tight the first couple of weeks but I am now out 3 weeks and the swelling is starting to go down. They are still fairly snug, but should I be squeezing into them. How important is this?    — Gail O. (posted on July 4, 2004)

July 4, 2004
My compression garment got looser, too, as time passed but my doctor said as long as it's still snug. I used the same ones the whole 6 weeks.
   — Susan C.

July 4, 2004
As long as it is providing some compression it should be providing a benefit. My zoot suit, as I call it, definitely goes on easier now than 4 weeks ago but still provides comfort to the lessor amount of swelling I have now. If your garments get to the point that they pull on easily and don't provide any support then I would go smaller but most likely you won't need to buy any others. You don't have to wear them forever.
   — zoedogcbr

July 4, 2004
I checked your profile; I assume this is for your PS and not WLS surgery. For PS you should have been given an adjustable binder to wear... if so I would use THAT over a store bought girdle. especially since its adjustable. You should wear your binder until your PS resleases you. in my case it was 3 months but that was because I had a seroma to fix. Call or ask your PS what his time frame is. I found that I started to enjoy wearing mine it felt good. in fact the ps said some people are like that scared to take theirs off. IF you dont have an adjustable one, call and have your surgeon give/or prescrib one for you (you need a prescription to get it).
   — star .

July 5, 2004
Orig poster here. Yes I had a full torso plasty. The PS told me to stop with the binder they gave me and switch to a girdle, because the adj binder didn't go low enough and everything was settling down low. I am still snug in the girdle so will continue with that from the way it sounds. I still have a drain, so I guess I don't want to try to pull anything much tighter on until that finally comes out.
   — Gail O.

July 5, 2004
A long line bra might also work good. My zoot suit goes from my calves to just under my breasts. It has zippers and hock/eyes on each side to ease getting into it when you are first out of surgery and hurt like heck. I also bought some back support long line bras. My main goal was to get some compression on the upper incision I have just below the breasts that goes all the way around the body. But I also found I could not wear my usual underwisre bras as the wires hurt way too much on the incision. So long line was the best solution. It hooks in the front to make it easy to get in. It provides good support and compression. Mine stops just above the belly button. Ideally it would go lower but it combined with an adjustable binder would cover your whole abdominal area. It's important to keep things compressed as it helps to anchor the tissue down and form your new shape.
   — zoedogcbr