Post Liposuction Massage

At Harley Skin & Laser Clinic

No Of Sessions:
1-12

Treatment Time:
45 - 60 mins

Recovery Time:
Immediate

Price:
From £35

Post Liposuction Massage

At Harley Skin & Laser Clinic

1-12
Sessions

45 - 60 mins
Treatment Time

Immediate
Recovery Time

From
£35

A post-liposuction massage could consist of many techniques depending on the advice of your surgeon. However, the most common modality we use is lymphatic drainage through the use of a machine that vibrates the body, but your surgeon will guide you as to what is the best massage for a complete and effective therapy for your specific needs. Everyone is different and requires a plan specific to your personal healing and process. Whatever they suggest, we’ll be able to provide a mix of techniques used at varying intensity based on your recovery following your liposuction.

Why do you have to massage after lipo?
Immediately following your liposuction surgery you’ll suffer from swelling, bruising and discomfort due to the tissue damage caused during the procedure. A lot of people don’t realise that fat is an important tissue, which is both active and living and contains good cells as well as the bad, blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. These play an important role in energy storage and hormone regulation which is why we often put weight on around our middle when our hormones change during menopause. It stands to reason that when we remove the fat, these vessels and cells are damaged. This causes blood and lymph fluid to accumulate and as we’ve created more space for it to pool, it sits in what we recognise as lumps.

This is in addition to the damage we have done to our lymphatic system during the procedure, one of the systems along with our venous system which we need to balance fluids. When these are out of balance, as they are in this situation, swelling occurs (lymphoedema).

Whilst some swelling is good for natural healing (it carries the body’s natural healing system) in this case, the excess swelling is due to the imbalance. We remove this with a lymphatic drainage massage in which your legs are placed in a ‘legging suit’ which is inflated and pressurised using compressed air for a period of time.  This pressure is able to move muscles that pump lymph throughout the body easing any excess swelling.

Our Step By Step Guide To Treatments

Step 1:
Consultation
Nothing is more important to Harley Skin and Laser aestheticians than your health and well being. During your initial consultation, we will talk through your medical history to ensure that lymphastim is the most suitable treatment for you. The appointment also provides a great opportunity for you to ask us any pressing questions. We always answer honestly and openly.
Share your concerns and goals
Discuss Lymphastim step−by−step
Prepare a personalised procedure plan
Step 2:
During Your Treatment
Make yourself comfortable. and wear leggings or loose lightweight clothing. You do not need to remove your clothing while having this treatment. This is not a particularly relaxing massage because it aims to correct damage – you may therefore feel some temporary pain during your treatment. If this is unbearable, please feel free to let your therapist know and they will adapt the pressure. During a post lipo massage your body releases toxins. This process can mean that your temperature can lower, so please do say if you become cold. Likewise, if the pressure is too light or hard, then please feel free to say as everyone is different.
Calm, contemporary clinical environment
Quick procedure of less than one hour
Cash in on some much−needed me time
Step 3:
After The Treatment
Following lymphastim, you will be able to go about your day as normal. To see the best results from your treatment, drink plenty of water to aid optimum lymphatic drainage. Always follow aftercare advice as provided by Harley Skin and Laser.
No downtime, immediate recovery
See results gradually over a few weeks
Enjoy a cleansed body and calmed mind

A post-liposuction massage could consist of many techniques depending on the advice of your surgeon. However, the most common modality we use is lymphatic drainage through the use of a machine that vibrates the body, but your surgeon will guide you as to what is the best massage for a complete and effective therapy for your specific needs. Everyone is different and requires a plan specific to your personal healing and process. Whatever they suggest, we’ll be able to provide a mix of techniques used at varying intensity based on your recovery following your liposuction.

Why do you have to massage after lipo?
Immediately following your liposuction surgery you’ll suffer from swelling, bruising and discomfort due to the tissue damage caused during the procedure. A lot of people don’t realise that fat is an important tissue, which is both active and living and contains good cells as well as the bad, blood vessels and lymphatic vessels. These play an important role in energy storage and hormone regulation which is why we often put weight on around our middle when our hormones change during menopause. It stands to reason that when we remove the fat, these vessels and cells are damaged. This causes blood and lymph fluid to accumulate and as we’ve created more space for it to pool, it sits in what we recognise as lumps.

This is in addition to the damage we have done to our lymphatic system during the procedure, one of the systems along with our venous system which we need to balance fluids. When these are out of balance, as they are in this situation, swelling occurs (lymphoedema).

Whilst some swelling is good for natural healing (it carries the body’s natural healing system) in this case, the excess swelling is due to the imbalance. We remove this with a lymphatic drainage massage in which your legs are placed in a ‘legging suit’ which is inflated and pressurised using compressed air for a period of time.  This pressure is able to move muscles that pump lymph throughout the body easing any excess swelling.

Consultation
Nothing is more important to Harley Skin and Laser aestheticians than your health and well being. During your initial consultation, we will talk through your medical history to ensure that lymphastim is the most suitable treatment for you. The appointment also provides a great opportunity for you to ask us any pressing questions. We always answer honestly and openly.
During Your Treatment
Make yourself comfortable. and wear leggings or loose lightweight clothing. You do not need to remove your clothing while having this treatment. This is not a particularly relaxing massage because it aims to correct damage – you may therefore feel some temporary pain during your treatment. If this is unbearable, please feel free to let your therapist know and they will adapt the pressure. During a post lipo massage your body releases toxins. This process can mean that your temperature can lower, so please do say if you become cold. Likewise, if the pressure is too light or hard, then please feel free to say as everyone is different.
After The Treatment
Following lymphastim, you will be able to go about your day as normal. To see the best results from your treatment, drink plenty of water to aid optimum lymphatic drainage. Always follow aftercare advice as provided by Harley Skin and Laser.

Frequently Asked Questions

To answer this, we’ll go backwards a bit and answer ‘what is liposuction?’ as this is the process from which you’re healing. During your liposuction procedure, your surgeon will place a plastic suction tube under your skin and move this from one area to another under your skin to suck out excess fat. This creates wounds that heal not just where the suction tube has been inserted, but also where your skin has been separated from your internals in order to move the tube around and suck out this fat.

Part of your healing process can very often result in fibrosis which is where connective tissue will thicken and scar. The result of this can be an uneven surface under your skin giving the appearance of ‘fat’ lumps and bumps. Obviously as everyone heals differently the visual effect of this is also different from person to person, but your surgeon will very often advise that you have a post surgery massage to break down some of this scar tissue will be effective in getting the best possible results from your liposuction.

Lymphatic drainage massage (MLD) after liposuction will help you detoxify and remove excess fluid that may be sitting in what can often be hard pockets under your skin. This is a very gentle and therapeutic massage that uses soft rhythmic movements to move toxins in to your bloodstream so your body can expel them. You may have heard of lymph drainage therapy after liposuction. This is what people are talking about.

Having a lymphatic massage after liposuction may speed up your ability to heal: it is a special type of massage because it will reduce swelling and bruising, ease your body’s ability to remove cellular debris and other waste from the area (including free fats), reduces inflammation, and decreases your risk of infection by improving your immune response. It may decrease scarring and the accumulation of fibrotic nodules (hard fat lumps). This will have the knock on effect of improving your skin texture and tone.
Everyone is different and so was your surgical procedure. However, if you’re having a post op liposuction massage, we do see clients coming regularly for up to approx eight weeks following their procedures.
We’ve explained above why we suffer with post operative swelling, and the role of MLD massage in post liposuction, post surgery recovery. This is also the reason that you’ll be put into a compression garment before leaving the operating theatre, and you’ll wear this for weeks after. The pressure will help you to seal the tissue separation caused by the sweeping action of the suction tube. If you’re given a drain, that also serves to help your system remove the excess fluid. Proper management of the effects of liposuction are important, because without them, you will be more likely to end up with a poor aesthetic outcome.
The post surgical recovery process varies from person to person. It depends on how your body reacts to the surgery, the level of work that was done internally by your surgeon, your general health and wellbeing and also how well you look after yourself post liposuction procedure.
We would always recommend a series of lymphatic drainage massages following liposuction. But don’t take our word for it. You’ve had a medical procedure and you’re in a postoperative state, we encourage you to check with your doctor about what he says is the ideal massage because they know exactly what you’ve been through and may have their own recommendations. Don’t be surprised if they tell you to have several MLD massages in close succession post lipo surgery though. The reason for this is that we’re trying to drain fluid faster than your body has the time to replenish it.

Essentially it will go into overdrive post liposuction and you’ll not only be in pain, but you’ll swell. Manual lymphatic drainage could help prevent and alleviate any build up of fluid and also scar tissue. Following your massage you’ll often be able to visually notice a reduction in your swelling

This very much depends on how much swelling you have to start off with, which harks back to the points we made earlier about how much work the surgeon had to do, the process that they went through to achieve your results and how your system deals with this. You can expect this to be a good few weeks though. We often treat our clients with post liposuction massage for six to eight weeks following their procedure.
Swelling may be greater than it needs to be if you don’t wear your compression garment, or if you remove them too early. You need this pressure to help you heal. If you choose to have a post liposuction massage come along early. Check with your consultant, but some recommend it as soon as just a few days post surgery. The longer you wait, the more chance your body has to develop these fat lumps and pockets of fluid (seroma).

We’d always recommend that you take the advice of your doctor about a postoperative massage, however, laser lipo or lipolysis as it is know is non-invasive, but it uses the heat from the laser to ‘melt’ away pockets of fat such as love handles and double chins. In this instance, your body is then left to metabolise (break this down) itself and expel it. For this reason we’d offer post treatment manual lymphatic drainage as this helps you deal with, and drive out toxins naturally.

Your surgeon will give you the best advice on post liposuction care following your liposuction procedures so be sure to ask and to get a sign off. However, most people tend to be told anything from a few days to 2 weeks following their operation is the best time to start swelling reduction massage. We wouldn’t recommend you come within 3 days of your surgery.