Comparative study of the manual and mechanical lymphatic drainage effectiveness in the dermolipectomy postoperative period

Abstract

The abdominoplasty or dermolipectomy is a surgery that removes the abdomen’s skin excess and the fatty tissue of patients with skin ptose or flabbiness in women after multiple gestations. The lymphatic drainage is a massage technique accomplished with soft pressures following the itinerary of the lymphatic system and nowadays is one of the most suitable resources in the plastic surgeries postoperative period. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) and of the mechanical one (MELD) in the dermolipectomy postoperative period. A randomized clinical research was accomplished with 14 women from 35 to 45 years old, between the eighth to twentysixth postoperative days, appraised after a period of ten attendances by means of perimeter measures and symptoms relief. There was also a qualitative approach accomplished with a questionnaire in order to analyze both the patient’s and the researcher’s satisfaction level in relation to the applied treatments. Improvement was observed regarding the postoperative symptoms and their intensity in the two treatment groups. DLM showed to be more effective than DLME in the reduction of the edema, especially in the abdominal measures (p=0.01). The researcher’s and the patients’ subjective analysis also revealed a greater acceptance index for MLD, 57.1% and 85.7%, respectively. Therefore, it is concluded that the two techniques were effective and that MLD showed to be more efficient than MELD in the postoperative period of the patients submitted to abdominoplastydermolipectomy.