Women's Compression Hosiery

Graduated pressure is what defines compression hosiery, built tightest at the ankle and easing gradually as it climbs the leg. Pressure is measured in mmHg, millimeters of mercury, the same unit used for blood pressure, and that number decides what a pack is chosen by rather than denier or fabric weight.

Sheer pantyhose and tights are graded by denier and chosen for how they look, with no engineered pressure gradient at all. Knee-highs and thigh-highs share the shape of many compression styles but hold up through fit and grip alone, with none of the graduated pressure built in. Fishnet tights and hosiery leggings sit even further from this category, chosen for pattern or fabric weight rather than for any physical support. Compression hosiery is the only shape on this shelf chosen by a medical measurement rather than by appearance.

Long flights and long car rides are a common reason to buy a pair, since sitting still for hours is what compression is built to counter. Jobs spent mostly standing, such as retail, nursing or hospitality work, are another. Pregnancy and ordinary end-of-day leg swelling send plenty of people looking for a pair as well, since easing pressure at the ankle is exactly what a gradient does.

Over the counter compression, usually in the 15 to 20 mmHg range, is reasonable to choose without medical advice for travel or ordinary standing work. Medical grade levels above that exist specifically for circulation conditions a clinician has already diagnosed, and those levels should be chosen with a clinician rather than picked off a shelf, since too much pressure for a given condition can cause harm instead of helping. Anyone with diabetes or an existing circulation problem should ask a doctor before wearing any graduated compression at all, because reduced sensation or reduced blood flow can change what pressure is safe on that particular leg. Numbness, increased pain or skin that changes color under the hosiery is a reason to remove it and ask a clinician, not a reason to keep wearing it and wait it out.

Sizing runs on ankle, calf and sometimes thigh measurement rather than shoe size or height alone, and a size chosen too small pushes the pressure gradient higher than intended at every point. Put a pair on first thing in the morning before any swelling has built up during the day, since that is when the fit is most accurate. Wash according to the label, generally cool water and air drying, since the elastic doing the graduated compression work is damaged by the same heat that damages ordinary hosiery elastane, only here the loss is a support function rather than just a look.