Home / What's going on? / Gender-affirming surgery recovery
Post-operative lymphatic care · South Berkeley
Lymphatic Drainage After Gender-affirming Surgery. You are welcome here.
I provide Vodder-certified MLD after top surgery, bottom surgery, facial procedures, and body contouring. My focus is swelling, comfort, movement, and helping you recover in a private space where you do not have to manage anyone else’s feelings about your body.
- Method
- Dr. Vodder MLD, certified since 2009
- Procedures
- Top, bottom, facial, and contouring
- Timing
- Your surgeon decides
- Setting
- Private, one to one, by appointment
First, the question that may be on your mind
You are safe to book with me.
When you are looking for post-operative care, you are not only checking someone’s training. You are also trying to work out whether you will be respected and whether the room will feel safe. You should not have to solve that while you are preparing for surgery.
So I will say it plainly. You are welcome in my office. I use the name and pronouns you give me. I have already supported people through these surgeries, and I take both the physical recovery and your privacy seriously.
Appointments are private, one to one, and held in a quiet treatment room in South Berkeley. What you tell me stays private.
I just want to help everyone in the same way. Removing swelling, increasing range of motion, reducing pain, and helping everyone feel supported during this time.
What I work with
The surgeries I support recovery from.
Every person’s surgery plan is different. The procedures below involve areas and recovery patterns I already know very well from post-operative lymphatic care.
Top surgery
Double incision, keyhole, periareolar surgery, and breast augmentation. Early work focuses on swelling around the chest, armpit, and upper arm. Scar work waits until the incisions are fully closed.
Bottom surgery
Vaginoplasty, phalloplasty, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, and hysterectomy. Swelling in this area can be stubborn and uncomfortable. I work only after your surgeon clears you and within all positioning and care instructions.
Facial surgery
Facial feminization or masculinization, jaw and brow work, rhinoplasty, and tracheal shave. Early swelling can look dramatic. Very gentle, correctly directed drainage may help it settle.
Body contouring
Liposuction and fat transfer involving the hips, waist, chest, or buttocks. This is the same kind of post-lipo drainage work I have done for years, adjusted to your surgeon’s restrictions.
Before your surgery
Calling before surgery gives us time to plan. We can talk about your surgeon’s instructions, do gentle preparation work, and hold recovery appointments before you are sore and trying to arrange everything at once.
Scars, later on
Once the incisions are closed and your surgeon is satisfied, I work on scars with my hands and Dolphin microcurrent. Chest scars may tighten and limit arm movement.
Why lymphatic work, specifically
Your body experiences surgery as an injury.
You may have planned and waited for this surgery for years. Your body still responds to the operation as an injury. It may swell, tighten, and go into a high-alert state even though this is something you chose.
Part of my work is helping your body come down from that braced state. I do not rush that part. Then I can work gently with the swelling and the pathways that are still draining well.
- Swelling and fluid move out rather than sitting in tissue that has nowhere to drain it, because the surgery cut through lymphatic vessels.
- Bruising clears faster and tissue comfort improves as damaged cells are carried away.
- Range of motion returns sooner, which matters enormously after chest surgery.
- Pain eases. MLD has a genuine analgesic effect, quite separate from the relaxation.
- Hardness and fibrosis are less likely to set in when fluid keeps moving through the early weeks.
How this goes
How the work changes as you heal.
- Before
A free phone call
Tell me what procedure is planned or already happened, the date, and what your surgeon has said. I will tell you whether I can help and when it may be safe to start. Call before surgery when you can.
- Early
Drainage, away from the incisions
Early on, I work away from the incisions and focus on the routes the fluid needs to use. I do not work directly on an incision until it is fully closed and ready.
- Middle
Closer in, as you heal
As you heal and your surgeon allows it, I can work closer to the surgical area. The plan changes with what your tissue can comfortably tolerate.
- Later
Scar and fascia work
Once everything is fully closed, I can work with the scars and the tight tissue underneath them, especially when they are limiting movement or pulling.
- Ongoing
You may not need more care
Some people finish recovery and do not need to return. Others continue because the work helps them feel better. Both are fine.
Timing
When to start.
Your surgeon sets the timing, and I stay inside those instructions. Different procedures have different rules about pressure, positioning, drains, compression, and dilation. I need to know all of them so we can begin safely.
Gentle work away from the surgical site may begin earlier than you expect, while direct work near incisions waits until they are fully closed. If you are traveling for surgery, tell me your dates so we can plan safely around your return home.
Bring me your written post-operative instructions. Include compression, movement, positioning, and activity restrictions. I would rather read exactly what your surgeon said than guess.
If your surgeon says to wait, we wait. If they have not mentioned lymphatic drainage, I can tell you what question to ask before we begin.
Worth saying plainly
Where my work ends.
I am not a medical provider
I do not diagnose or replace your surgical team. I provide one kind of supportive care within the recovery plan they have given you.
Anything sudden goes to your surgeon
Call your surgeon for new or quickly worsening swelling, redness, warmth, fever, unusual pain, or anything about a wound that worries you. A possible complication needs medical care first.
Wound care is not mine
Anything open, weeping, infected, or not fully closed belongs with your surgeon or a wound care specialist.
Sometimes I am the wrong person
If the timing is wrong or you need someone closer to home, I will tell you. When I can, I will also help you think through what kind of practitioner to look for next.
One more thing
Recovery can be emotional, and you do not have to hide that.
Any surgery can leave you feeling vulnerable. This recovery may also bring relief, grief, excitement, impatience, or a difficult period when swelling hides the result you have waited for. You may feel happy and unsettled at the same time, and neither feeling is wrong.
Swelling is temporary, but the recovery timeline may be longer than you were told. During that time, you may feel more emotional than you expected, especially while the swelling is hiding the result you waited for. That is not unusual, and it does not make anything awkward. You do not need to apologize, explain yourself, or take care of my feelings while you are on my table.
You do not have to justify your surgery, explain your body, or pretend you are doing fine. You can simply lie down and let me take care of you for the appointment.
Before you call
Questions people ask me.
Have you worked with trans and non-binary clients before?
Yes. I have provided post-surgical lymphatic care for trans and non-binary clients through these procedures. You will be treated with the same skill, privacy, and respect I give every client through every stage of recovery and afterward.
How soon after top surgery can I start?
It depends on your surgeon, your drains, and how you are healing. Gentle work away from the surgical site may begin earlier, while work close to the incisions waits until they are fully closed. Set up a call and we will use your actual dates and instructions.
I am travelling to the Bay Area for surgery. Can you help?
Often, yes. Tell me your surgery date, travel dates, and where you are staying. We will make a realistic plan for the time you are here, or I will tell you when finding someone near home would serve you better.
Will lymphatic drainage change my surgical result?
It does not change what your surgeon created. It may help swelling move, reduce tightness, and make movement more comfortable while your body heals from day to day.
You may also want
These may help too.
The next step
Ask Ida.
Set up a free 15-minute call and tell me what procedure is planned or what you have just been through. I will help you understand when it may be safe to start, what to expect, and whether I am the right person for your recovery.