"Draining" Massage As Post-op Therapy with Liposuction

Milking the wound so the drain fluid instead of close up sounds like a great way to encourage a severe post surgical infection.  The body does not need this kind of help.  What swelling is present in the tissues following liposuction, the body is more than capable of removing on its own.  

The body defends itself from infection by rapidly sealing up the small holes made to perform liposuction. Frustrating this defense by the message you are describing will only interfere with the extremely powerful mechanisms the body has to prevent infection.

A month or more after liposuction, the equipment that performs lymphatic drainage massage should not interfere with the insertion scars but if done sooner, there may be trauma which will upset the healing and appearance of them.

I provide a lymphatic drainage massage (LDM) for all patients after surgery, and some opt to do them up to twice a week.  My therapist is certified in LDM and understands the proper way to manipulate the tissues.  It is a fairly light touch.

Most of my patients experience an improvement in their swelling after LDM.

Sometimes massage can be very helpful with tough areas for lymphatic drainage to avoid contour irregularities and to help with swelling in stubborn areas.

Liposuction removes fat traumatically. While various forms of trauma exert different degrees of trauma, their common denominator is the fact that they all use high vacuum which literally pulls fat out. Like all injuries, liposuction is associated with variable degrees of injury to the lymphatic vessels and resulting soft tissue swelling.

Lymphatic massage literally directs such fluids to the areas which contain the highest concentration in lymphatics to help the body mobilize and absorb excess fluid. If done well, lymphatic massage will reduce swelling and hasten recovery.  BUT the massage therapist  should NOT work on the former liposuction access ports or try to have them "opened by the therapist to drain during each session" . The more manipulation of these surgical incisions, the higher the likelihood of poor scarring and infection.

Hi.

We use this massage routinely after liposuction, specially of the stomach, because it helps produce a totally smooth result.  But it is not to remove collected fluid!  If you have a seroma (very rare), it should be treated surgically.