Abstract
The most important factor to maintain the effect of any therapy is the use of compression garments. Garments should be prescribed in such a number so that the edema does not recur. A common mistake is that the patient receive one, or if lucky two garments, after treatment. When the arm or leg is swollen again, the patient comes back to the therapist and treatment starts again, and so on. Instead the patient must be followed up at regular intervals during the first year in order to find out the exact number of garments that the patient needs in order to prevent recurrence. This means that treatment must be individualized. An elderly woman may need two garments every 6 months, while a young active patient with a heavy work may need two garments every month. One can draw a parallel to the dosage of insulin to a patient with diabetes that in the same way must be individualized. You do not prescribe two vials of insulin for 6 months, when the patient needs that same amount for 1 month.
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Ohlin, K., Svensson, B., Brorson, H. (2015). Controlled Compression Therapy and Compression Garments. In: Greene, A., Slavin, S., Brorson, H. (eds) Lymphedema. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14493-1_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14493-1_18
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