Lymphoedema Awareness Week – 1-6 March 2021
Lymphoedema Awareness Week – 1-6 March 2021
The British Lymphology Society has launched the EveryBodyCan campaign- raising awareness of lymphoedema and encouraging people with lymphoedema to become more active.
More information is available here
What is Lymphoedema?
A healthy lymphatic system is a key to overall health. It supports immunity and helps maintain fluid balance in the body. When the lymphatic system isn’t working properly, fluid builds up in the tissues, causing lymphoedema – a serious condition affecting over 400,000 people in the UK with numbers increasing all the time.
Lymphoedema results from a failure of the lymphatic system. Consequences are swelling, skin and tissue changes and predisposition to infection. It most commonly affects the lower or upper limbs, but may also affect midline structures such as the head and neck, trunk, breasts or genitalia.
The Wiltshire Health and Care Lymphoedema Service
The service is for patients with lower limb swelling associated with leg ulceration and skin integrity issues and supports colleagues in community teams and GP practices with bandaging and compression garment options.
Many patients are referred to us following treatment for cancer or following infections.
Early recognition and intervention is very important and means that treatments are simpler and likely to be more effective. As this is a lifelong condition, patient education is vital to managing long-term health. Poor management can result in repeated infections, loss of mobility and poor quality of life.
More information on the Wiltshire Health and Care Lymphoedema Service can be found here