If you’ve recently had liposuction, a tummy tuck, a BBL, or another cosmetic procedure, you’ve probably heard the term “lymphatic drainage.”
But not all drainage techniques are the same.
In fact, there is a major difference between:
✔️ Evidence-informed manual lymphatic drainage (MLD)
✔️ Surgeon-directed drain management
❌ Aggressive “squeeze” or incision expression techniques
❌ Brazilian Lymphatic Massage
Understanding that difference can protect your healing and your results.
What Is Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD)?
Manual lymphatic drainage is a gentle, light-pressure technique designed to support the body’s natural lymphatic system.
After surgery, your body experiences inflammation and temporary fluid shifts. MLD works by encouraging internal lymphatic movement toward functioning lymph nodes, where fluid is naturally reabsorbed and processed.
Proper MLD:
- Uses light, rhythmic pressure
- Does not force fluid out of incisions
- Does not reopen wounds
- Is not painful
- Is adapted to your stage of healing
MLD supports the body’s physiology — it does not override it.
What Is “Incisional Drainage”?
After surgery, fluid may leave the body through:
- Surgeon-placed drains
- Small passive openings left by the surgeon (depending on procedure)
These are medical decisions made by your surgical team.
This is very different from forcefully pushing fluid out through incisions using massage pressure.
Is “Squeeze Massage” Safe After Liposuction?
Techniques sometimes marketed as “squeeze drainage” or "incisional drainage" involve pressing or compressing tissue to push fluid out through surgical incisions, and often include the reopening of closed incisions!
This is NOT evidence-based manual lymphatic drainage.
Outside of sterile procedures performed by a surgeon, forcefully expressing fluid through incisions:
- Disrupts fragile healing tissue
- Increases risk of fibrosis
- Increases inflammation
- Raises infection risk
- Can contribute to wound separation
- May prolong swelling
- Does not replace proper medical evaluation
If a fluid collection such as a seroma requires intervention, it must be evaluated and managed by your surgeon.
Massage pressure should never substitute for medical care.
How Wings Wellness Approaches Post-Op Recovery
At Wings Wellness in Stoughton, MA, our post-operative manual lymphatic drainage is:
- Gentle and anatomy-informed
- Adjusted to your healing stage
- Respectful of incision integrity
- Performed within surgeon guidelines
- Focused on long-term healing, not dramatic drainage visuals
Healing tissue requires protection.
We do not perform incision expression.
When to Contact Your Surgeon
Contact your surgical team immediately if you experience:
- Fever or chills
- Increasing redness or warmth
- Foul-smelling drainage
- Sudden severe swelling
- Escalating pain
- Incisions reopening
Manual lymphatic drainage supports healing — it does not replace medical care.
The Bottom Line
Not all “lymphatic drainage” is the same.
Safe manual lymphatic drainage works internally, gently, and in alignment with your body’s healing process.
Aggressive incision expression is not evidence-based post-operative massage care and can jeapordize your results.
If you are recovering from cosmetic surgery in Massachusetts and want safe, informed support, Wings Wellness is here to help.
👉 Read Our Post-Op Safety Guide
👉 Schedule your post-op manual lymphatic drainage session in Stoughton, MA.
