Our Star Skin by Tana Parry

While tweaking my lectures for an upcoming "Wholisitic MLD for the Neck and Face" class, I am reminded of the frequency in which I have clients with this issue post-operatively. Here are some thoughts regarding excess fluid (edema) and filtration.

Can doing too much after surgery actually create MORE swelling?

Yes. And there’s a physiological reason for it.

If you’re recovering from surgery and frustrated by swelling that just doesn’t seem to improve, I want you to understand something about how your body manages fluid.

When you exercise, blood flow increases. Depending on the activity and intensity, this can increase capillary filtration—the movement of fluid from your blood vessels into the surrounding tissues (loose connective tissue).

Normally, your lymphatic system helps maintain that fluid balance.

But surgery changes the equation.

Surgical trauma creates inflammation and may temporarily affect local lymphatic drainage. Your body is already managing changes in fluid balance while those tissues recover.

Now add too much physical activity, too soon.

You may increase the amount of fluid entering the tissues at a time when local lymphatic drainage is already working to keep up.

More filtration + limited drainage capacity = potentially more swelling.

Does that mean you shouldn’t move? Absolutely not!

Appropriate movement is an important part of recovery. And once your surgeon confirms your incisions are healed and clears you for pool activity, walking through water can be especially helpful.

Here’s why: Water creates hydrostatic pressure, providing gentle, consistent compression around the submerged body. Combine that with walking, which activates your muscle pumps, and you have two mechanisms working together to support fluid return. Even just standing in the water may be beneficial!

And while simply being immersed in water provides hydrostatic pressure, I’m talking about walking through the water, not just floating around in it!

Of course, timing matters. Follow your surgeon’s instructions for returning to exercise and getting into the pool.

And don’t wait until swelling becomes frustrating to think about MLD.

Vodder Manual Lymphatic Drainage can be incorporated into your care before surgery and, when appropriate, very early afterward. I can begin working with clients as soon as 24 hours post-op, provided their surgeon has cleared them, there are no contraindications, and treatment is well tolerated.

Planning ahead allows us to coordinate care rather than waiting until swelling becomes a concern.

If you’re experiencing persistent or worsening swelling, check with your surgical team rather than trying to push through it.

Anatomy tells us where. Physiology tells us why.

☀️ Our Star Skin | Vodder Manual Lymphatic Drainage

What an awesome way to spend the beginning of the week and for a great cause!!

This is a great description about having a reaction to a treatment. Whether it’s a new way of eating or a supplement/medication change or manual lymphatic drainage, a “Herx” reaction is fairly common . My first recommendation is to drink more plain, filtered water and wait. Either way this is a good read!!

What’s Herxing? Why You Might Feel Worse Before You Feel Better Understanding Herx-like Reactions: Why Certain Protocols Can Sometimes Trigger Uncomfortable Symptoms

There’s so much more to this technique but this is a great introduction to the history of the Vodder technique for Manual Lymphatic Drainage.

This is not a massage, this is a different modality all together and it’s effective and fascinating and so many other things wonderful for our bodies!!

The Vodder Method That Revolutionized Lymphatic Wellness How One Doctor's Revolutionary Touch Became the Gold Standard of Lymphatic Wellness In the 1930s, at a physiotherapy clinic in Cannes, Dr. Emil Vodder was doing something his medical colleagues considered forbidden: gently manipulating swollen lymph nodes. ¹ At the time, medical protocol strictly a...

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/what-is-lymphatic-drainage/ -transcript

What is lymphatic drainage, anyway? A new wellness trend focuses on stimulating the lymphatic system. What does this system do, and is there science to back these claims?

My office for the day!
(Just ignore the laundry, that’s part of the deal)

Hard to believe it was three years ago this week when I first fell in love with Petaluma!
The experience of visiting the Laurel Skin “Barn” learning how the products are made. Watching from start to finish each individual ingredient’s transformation from raw flower/root/petal etc. to infused product and how they sit for no more than two weeks in “the shed” prior to being shipped to us estheticians was beyond fascinating!

It was through our educator, Andrea where I found out about Gay Lee and where to find the absolute best training for traditional Vodder MLD!

I cannot wait until May ‘27 to come back for a new retreat but until then I will continue to wave at the Barn as I go to and from School of MLD for classes!

There’s so much yummy goodness in the connections I’ve made with California,
I am so happy I get to visit so often. You just never know when a chance meeting becomes a lifelong friend (or two or four or more)

I have loved California ever since my first visit in 1988. Keep up the good work y’all and I’ll bring back some Cali love for the Midwest!!

Fall classes will officially begin this weekend School of MLD
First up is the first half of Applied Vodder MLD.
Two lectures and a few demos. One lecture I have done before and the other is a new one for me! The demos will be all new and the class is full!

Let’s Go Lymph Flow!

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