Night garments are a great way to complement day garments when your edema needs a little more help. Night garments can help reduce the chance of rebound edema (edema created at night after a day of too many edema-inducing factors such as high heat or intense activity). Some night garments have foam chips that help break up fibrosis so that your day garment can have an easier time containing the edema. Some people with stage 1 (or just the beginning of lymphedema) manage their LE entirely with night garments. There are complicated cases in which one needs some form of containment for 24 hours a day, at which point night garments become necessary, as regular flat knit and circular knit garments should not be worn while sleeping.
Traditional night garment
Caresia is a ready made blue garment. For the full leg it comes in two parts, below the knee and the thigh. This can double up as a bandage liner if wanting to do an actual reduction later.
Tribute Wrap comes in two pieces: toes to knee and knee to groin. This is a velcro closing system so that if you get a little smaller it will get smaller with you. It also makes it easier to get into. It comes with a sleep liner so that the velcro does not catch on the sheets.
Custom Tribute is a big one-piece that goes from toes to groin. This can be remade once within the first year you have it, if you get smaller. You can choose colour and between original or thin thickness of the garment. As it is custom we can have such things as a zipper or velcro closure, if you like.
Velcro systems
Both options have a system in place that will allow you to make sure that you do not create a tourniquet.
Lastly, L&R makes the Ready Wrap. I recommend the fusion kit with the knee and upper leg portions for a night garment. Like the Circaid Reduction Kit, this system is often used in the reduction phase and allows greater size changes than the Juxtafit. While I cannot cut it down as the velcro fasteners are sewn in, I have been assured that L&R will do that for us if necessary. It comes with an undersock with compression for the foot area and then a velcro bandaging system that mimics the 50% overlap of traditional bandages. The 50% overlap makes this system less demanding to put on than the medi systems. However, it does not have any tension guide relying on “what is comfortable” to reduce the risk of a tourniquet.
At FLOW we will find the best fit for your needs. Contact our compression garment fitters Leslie or Melissa for more information.
Melissa Krull is a compression garment fitter, registered massage therapist and co-founder of FLOW Lymphatic Health Services.