Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jul 8;52(5):304-309.
doi: 10.1055/a-2448-3403. eCollection 2025 Sep.

Successful Surgical Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination Related Upper Extremity Lymphedema: Case Report

Hyung Hwa Jeong  1 , Dong Jin Kim  2 , Hyunsuk Peter Suh  2 , Chang Sik John Pak  2 , Joon Pio Hong  2
Affiliations

Successful Surgical Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination Related Upper Extremity Lymphedema: Case Report

Hyung Hwa Jeong et al. Arch Plast Surg. .

Abstract

Lymphedema is rare adverse effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination that has been reported in several studies. We present a case of surgically treated secondary lymphedema after COVID-19 vaccination. The patient presented lymphedema at the upper extremity with no specific history except the COVID-19 vaccination 18 months before the visit. Lymphaticovenous anastomosis and liposuction were performed on the posterolateral aspect of the forearm and the upper arm. The volume of the affected arm was reduced to more than 54% at 8 months postoperatively. With precise surgical planning, secondary lymphedema resulting from COVID-19 vaccination could be successfully treated surgically.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccines; adverse effect; lymphedema; secondary lymphedema; surgical procedures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest H.S.P. and J.P.H. are editorial board members of the journal but were not involved in the peer reviewer selection, evaluation, or decision process of this article. No other potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
( A , B ) Preoperative findings. Ext., extremity; Inj., injection; Lt., left; Rt., right.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Preoperative lymphoscintigraphy.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
( A, B ) The picture after the lymphaticovenous anastomosis. ( C, D ) Indocyanine green lymphography of each anastomosis site.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
( A, B ) Eight-month postoperative findings.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Postoperative lymphoscintigraphy (8 months post-op). ANT, anterior; Ext., extremity; Inj., injection; Lt., left; Rt., right.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hagen C, Nowack M, Messerli M, Saro F, Mangold F, Bode P K. Fine needle aspiration in COVID-19 vaccine-associated lymphadenopathy. Swiss Med Wkly. 2021;151:w20557. - PubMed
    1. Tang C YL, Chua W M. Ipsilateral upper-limb lymphedema after COVID-19 vaccine booster. Clin Nucl Med. 2023;48(03):264–265. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hosseinzadeh A, Ebrahimi K, Shahriarirad R, Dalfardi F. Lower limb lymphedema and cellulitis as a complication of COVID-19 vaccine: a case report. Clin Case Rep. 2022;10(12):e6317. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chung J H, Sohn S M, Yoo H J, Yoon E S, Park S H. Transient lower extremity lymphedema following COVID-19 vaccination: a case report. Medicine (Baltimore) 2021;100(48):e28092. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Okazaki T, Matashiro M, Kodama G, Tshubota T, Furusawa Y, Izumi S I. Frequent onsets of cellulitis in lower limbs with lymphedema following COVID-19 mRNA vaccination. Vaccines (Basel) 2022;10(04):517. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources