Compression socks on a diabetic who just had heart surgery?

My grandfather (63) just had a double bypass surgery and is now at home. He is a full blown Type II diabetic and is overweight. The hospital had him wearing anti-embolism compression socks throughout his entire hospital stay following the heart surgery. Whe we got him home and took the socks off, his legs were purple and bruised and there were indentations in his legs around his ankles and shins from where the socks were. Is this normal?? I'm worried because it looked like the circulation was cut off from his legs and that circulation is so important with a diabetic and their feet. The compression socks were size X-L but by the looks of the indentations you would have thought he was wearing size x-small. We have to wait till Tuesday to call the doc due to the holiday weekend. Does anyone have experience with this? Please help. Thanks!

Compression socks on a diabetic who just had heart surgery?
Overweight %26amp; Diabetic patients commonly suffer from Lymphodema. It's a disease that lymphatic fluid from your lymph glands settle to the lowest gravity point in your body (Feet and Legs) The pressure stockings stop this fluid build up and prevent diabetic foot ulcers from occuring..VERY IMPORTANT! If the feet and ankles are left alone, circulation will be radically reduced and the skin, toes will turn black and could result in a need to amputate the toes , foot and leg.


The stockings will fit tightly at first if there is a lot of fluid built up. Your Dad should be able to remove his stockings when he goes to bed and his legs are elevated, and wear them from the time he gets up till bedtime.


If the stockings he has now are Xtra Large and are still tight, his doctor can prescribe a set of custom made stockings made to fit him. As the lymphadema subsides, he can wear a progressively smaller sock. PLEASE..Make sure you check his feet and legs for any dark spots, reddness or small cuts each day! Diabetic foot ulcers that can result take weeks of specialized treatment and are very slow to heal. If I can answer any more of your questions about this please feel free to write.Good Luck.
Reply:he needs to go to the er! I had something similar happen, but I just got blisters from them being too tight. So he needs to be seen by a doctor.
Reply:Sounds like they were a little too tight to me... don't get me wrong, they are supposed to be tight in order to do there job, but if they caused bruising and indentations then he obviously needed a size bigger... did they measure his legs prior to putting them on?? measuring the calf and the thigh and the length of the leg is one way to prevent getting a size that is too small... If there is no improvement, i would call the doctor that performed the surgery or the one on call for him... usually you can call your local hospital and they will beep the doctor so he can call you back... good luck...

gina