Hi Friends,

I know so many ladies with lipedema and lymphedema.  We are all at various stages of trying to figure out how to manage, or even ignore our lipedema symptoms and hope they’ll go away.  A question I get a lot from those who are just learning about lipedema involves the use of compression.  Does it really work?  Do I have to wear it?  Can I wear athletic compression instead?  Do I wear it at night, while exercising, or while swimming?

Here’s a fantastic answer for you based on research.  Compression helps those of us with lipedema/lipoedema and lymphedema, if we will wear it.  Not only does it help prevent further swelling and disease progression, but frankly, we look and feel better when we’re wearing the right compression for us.

A new research article just published in 2023 discusses compression.  If you’re into reading the true medical information, here’s link to this article:

The Usefulness of the Application of Compression Therapy among Lipedema Patients-Pilot Study.  

I hear the doctors I work with in the Lipedema Education Group say it all the time.  “The best compression is the one you’ll actually wear.”  It does you no good to have the strongest compression if you won’t put it on.

For now, I continue to personally wear Bioflect Compression because it feels comfortable and does provide a lot of benefits for me.  On days when I think I will skip the Bioflects, I regret it.  I also have other brands like Absolute, that I really enjoy wearing with shorter dresses because it looks like black tights or pantyhose in a more traditional sense, and the extra compression it provides me really slims up the look of my legs.  However, when I wear this type of compression (circular knit) for very long, it digs into the backs of my knees, and I’ve literally left events to stop at a convenience store and remove it because I cannot take even 15 more minutes of the incessant digging!  (I do regret it that one day after leaving a Girl Scout ceremony in downtown OKC, I had temporary insanity caused by compression digging, and I stopped at a convenience store and THREW MY COMPRESSION AWAY in the Kotex hamper.  OK that was dumb.  They’re expensive!!!)

Here are some links to brands I personally wear:  Absolute Support, Bioflect, Mojo, CzSalus (summertime weight)

Source:  

Czerwińska M, Teodorczyk J, Spychała D, Hansdorfer-Korzon R. The Usefulness of the Application of Compression Therapy among Lipedema Patients-Pilot Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(2):914. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20020914