Wearing my compression vest for too long? (8 weeks)

[helpmemoobs]

Have I overdone my compression vest? Today is exactly 8 weeks since my surgery and I seem to be healing fine. I have worn the vest 23 hours a day up until today when I said I would try to go to work without wearing it. Now I feel like my chest feels 'vulnerable', it's hard to explain. Am I just paranoid here wearing it for so long? Is it ok to stop?

[zachachez]

Oh man it's my first week after the surgery and I really want to take it off it is so f$&@ tight it put a lot of pressure on my chest.. I don't know how you keep wearing it till 8 weeks and you don't mind to continue .. it must you are wearing t-shirt compression .. not the right one c. garment yeah?
And why you don't ask your doctor when you quite wearing it. I think he is the only one who have the best answer for your question.

[helpmemoobs]

Yes, it was the actual compression garment that I wore for 8 weeks. I wanted to make sure I had the best possible results so I wore it for a long time, but the time flew to be honest. Now I decided to just wear it when sleeping but to be honest, now I feel used to not wearing it the past few days, so I might just quit altogether.

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

It has been my usual recommendation to wear a compression garment for six weeks after surgery -- but that will vary with every patient.  After six weeks, it may not be very helpful but certainly it cannot hurt at all!

And when you stop wearing the garment, there is indeed a feeling of "vulnerability" -- don't worry, this will pass very quickly.  Many patients get so used to wearing it that they call it their "security blanket."

Dr Jacobs