|
|
|
|
One of the most important thing to do following a liposuction is using a compression garment. This will help to press out the fluid, which will try to accumulate in response to the tissue trauma that is always a surgery. By wearing a compression garment, a patient is automatically applying pressure on the tunnels that have been made by the cannulae. This helps keep the fluids from building up in the tunnels, which in turn helps reduce tendencies for long-lasting swelling. Some people naturally think that applying ice is the way to reduce swelling. Ice is not a good idea for at least seven days after the liposuction. Why? The tiny capillaries and the lymphatic vessels, which normally carry blood and other substances to our fat cells and to other layers of the body, are traumatized by liposuction. Ice further shuts blood vessels down, and can thereby starving the tissues of the skin of oxygen and nutrients. Patients with one relatively uncommon disease are particularly sensitive to the bad effects of ice following liposuction. The disease, which is not commonly tested for during routine blood tests, is called cryoglobulinemia. So, patients with CRYOGLOBULINEMIA are advised not to use any ice ever following liposuction. In patients with the disease cryoglobulinemia, little globs of protein that clump up in the blood vessels when it is cold. The little globs of protein, called cryoglobulins, accumulate plugging up the blood vessels and starving the tissues at the end of those blood vessels for air and food. Those tissues die, leaving large scars that could possibly become infected. Unfortunately, ice problems following liposuction in patients who don't know they have cryoglobulinemia has happened many times in the United States. Why? The disease cryoglobulinemia is extremely rare; in fact, many people may not notice that they have any symptoms especially if they live in the southern or warmer parts of the United States, especially Florida! Also, liposuction is an extremely common procedure. So, when we pair an extremely common procedure with an extremely uncommon or hidden event or condition, there can occasionally be a match. The combination of ice, liposuction, and cryoglobulinemia can, however, unfortunately prove disastrous to patients and saddening to their doctors (who, of course, did not intend for this to happen). Tumescent liposuction and other forms of liposuction are safe in patients with cryoglobulinemia, provided that ice is not applied for quite some period of time following the liposuction and that patients have a good warming device used during the liposuction surgery. The Web site author believes that the "non-ice period" might be as long as one week or even a month. The answer to this question is currently unknown, and developing a model to test the amount of time required before ice can be applied could be tricky.
|
Click here
to Contact the Author
|
