Lymphoedema

Lymphedema is the major manifestation of the lymph system when it goes wrong. The lymph system is responsible for draining fluids, cells, all materials back from the peripheral tissues back to the center of the body. It's a cleansing system, an overflow pipe, a recycling service, so that when it goes wrong the The lymph drainage doesn't work properly and consequently materials, particularly fluid, build up within the tissues. Now this will manifest usually with swelling of a leg, but it could be swelling of just one foot. It could be swelling of any part of the body, like an arm or face, and that's what we call lymphedema. The other consequence of the lymph system not working very well is infection. Everyone's familiar with the fact that if you have a sore throat, lymph glands come up. So the lymphatic system is important for policing against infection, and if the lymph system's not working very well, then infections, particularly cellulitis, can occur. So patients with lymphedema are often plagued by recurrent infections. So a patient who presents with lymphedema will usually present because they've got swelling of a foot or an ankle or a leg or perhaps both legs and then be expected to come along and be investigated, usually with a lymph scan. Now the sad thing about the lymph system is we don't have one drug at the moment that makes the lymph system work better and there's no one operation that universally fits all forms of lymphedema. So we treat it by using physical methods to improve lymph drainage and that relies heavily on using compression, so either bandages and compression stockings as well as massage and of course exercise. Not perhaps the most fashional form of treatment in this day and age in the 21st century but that's what we use at the moment.