The compressiongarment

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The compression garment — the faja — does roughly half the work of recovery. It limits swelling, it stops fluid pooling in the spaces surgery created, and it helps the skin reattach evenly to the tissue underneath.

The problem is that it's hot, uncomfortable, awkward in the bathroom and it leaves marks. In other words: everything invites taking it off, and that is exactly what must not happen.

How many hours a day

The most common pattern:

• Weeks 1 to 3 — 24 hours a day, removed only to shower.
• Weeks 3 to 6 — 12 to 20 hours a day, often moving to a softer garment.
• Weeks 6 to 8 — at night, or during physical activity.
• After that — as needed.

The total runs around six to eight weeks for most contouring surgeries. Some surgeons go to twelve weeks on larger lipos.

These are the benchmarks from published protocols. The surgeon comes first, always.

Stage 1, stage 2: the difference

The stage 1 garment is the firmest. It closes with hooks and is worn in the first weeks, when swelling is at its peak. It's built to contain, not to be comfortable.

The stage 2 garment is softer and thinner. It's worn from roughly week three to six, once volume has dropped enough that the first one becomes too large.

The surgeon gives the go-ahead for the switch. Not everyone uses this system: some prescribe a single garment for the whole recovery.

Too tight? The signs

A garment should feel firm, not suffocating. It is too tight in the presence of:

• numbness or tingling that persists
• skin changing colour, going white or blue
• a cold extremity
• difficulty breathing deeply
• pain that appears on putting it on and goes on taking it off
• marked ridges forming above or below the edge

That last point matters more than people think: a garment that carves a groove in the same spot for six weeks can leave a lasting irregularity in the contour.

The costly mistakes

• Skipping the foams. Lipo foam boards spread the pressure and stop seams from marking. They aren't a luxury accessory.
• Layering two garments to "tighten more". It doesn't compress better, it compresses badly and unevenly.
• Only owning one. Two are needed: compression cannot be interrupted while one dries.
• Keeping a garment that's become too big. Once swelling drops, a loose garment does nothing at all.
• Taking it off to go out. The days with the most movement are exactly the days it works hardest.

Caring for it

Wash it by hand in cold water with a mild soap, or on a delicate cycle in a mesh bag. Dry it flat, never in the dryer: heat destroys the elastane, and a garment that has lost its stretch compresses nothing.

A garment worn continuously usually needs replacing once during recovery, separately from any change of stage.

Garment and post-op care

Compression and drainage work together, and either one alone gives an average result. Drainage moves the fluid; compression stops it settling back in the same place.

Practically: arrive at the session with a clean garment, and put it back on right after the treatment. That's when it's most useful — the tissue has just been worked and the fluid has just been set moving.