Description

The gentlest true compression. Feels like a firm athletic sock and pulls on with one hand. Enough to counter fluid pooling from gravity, not enough to treat a diagnosed vein problem. A safe place to find out whether you tolerate compression at all.

Medical conditions

• None required — this is a comfort and prevention level
• Tired, heavy, aching legs
• Mild ankle or foot swelling that clears overnight
• Spider veins (cosmetic)
• Early pregnancy heaviness

Use for

• Desk days and long sitting
• Short flights and car journeys
• Standing shifts under 8 hours
• Post-exercise recovery wear
• A first trial before stepping up

Target market

The mass consumer market. Office and remote workers, retail and hospitality staff, travellers, older adults who want light support, and complete beginners. This is the impulse-buy tier: bought off a shelf or a marketplace listing, rarely on anyone's advice, and it drives the highest unit volume of any level.

Description

Distinctly firm at the ankle but still easy to get on unaided. The strongest level most people can buy and wear all day without a clinician involved, and the level most airlines and midwives point to. If one pair is going to live in a suitcase, it's this one.

Medical conditions

• Minor to moderate varicose and spider veins
• Mild oedema and end-of-day swelling
• Pregnancy swelling and varicosities
• Travel-related leg swelling
• Lower-risk DVT prevention on long flights
• After small-vein sclerotherapy

Use for

• 10–12 hour shifts on your feet
• Flights over roughly 4 hours
• Pregnancy into the third trimester
• Swelling that keeps coming back
• Training and recovery wear

Target market

Working people on their feet and frequent flyers: nurses, teachers, chefs, warehouse and retail staff, cabin crew. Plus pregnant customers, runners, and older adults with recurring swelling. Commercially the sweet spot — medically credible, no prescription, and the tier most premium consumer brands are built on.

Description

Where real medical compression starts, and the strength a doctor names most often. Sold without a prescription in the US, prescribed in much of Europe. Getting it on takes effort and correct measurements matter — a garment this firm on a badly sized leg can cut in behind the knee or slide down and act like a tourniquet.

Medical conditions

• Moderate to severe varicose veins
• Early chronic venous insufficiency
• Moderate oedema that doesn't clear overnight
• After vein surgery, ablation or sclerotherapy
• Post-thrombotic syndrome prevention after a DVT
• Mild lymphoedema
• Orthostatic hypotension, POTS and fainting on standing

Use for

• All-day wear on a clinician's instruction
• Recovery after a vein procedure
• Long-haul travel with a clotting history
• Standing work with diagnosed vein disease
• Holding swelling down between appointments

Target market

Patients rather than shoppers. People with a diagnosed venous condition, post-surgical and post-DVT patients, POTS and dysautonomia communities, and a slice of endurance athletes. Bought through pharmacies, medical supply stores and specialist e-commerce, often on a doctor's note even where none is legally required.

Description

Serious therapeutic pressure, dispensed against a diagnosis and measured by a trained fitter. Most people cannot pull these on by hand and use a donning frame, silk slip or rubber gloves. Reimbursed by insurers and health services in many countries because it prevents expensive complications.

Medical conditions

• Severe varicose veins
• Established chronic venous insufficiency
• Healed venous leg ulcers and stasis dermatitis
• Lymphoedema, maintenance phase
• Post-thrombotic syndrome
• Severe oedema and lipoedema

Use for

• Stopping a healed ulcer from returning
• Holding limb volume after decongestive therapy
• Long-term venous disease management
• Swelling that 20–30 mmHg failed to control

Target market

A clinical market, not a retail one. Patients under vascular, wound-care or lymphoedema specialists, typically older or post-DVT, often with mobility limits. Sold through DME suppliers, hospital clinics and certified fitters; repeat purchase every 3–6 months makes it a high-value, low-churn customer.

Description

The strongest routinely prescribed hosiery, reserved for limbs that lower pressures could not control. Frequently made to measure, sometimes flat-knit rather than circular-knit for a badly misshapen limb, and often layered or paired with bandaging and pneumatic pumps. Arterial circulation must be checked before it goes on.

Medical conditions

• Severe chronic venous insufficiency
• Recurrent or non-healing venous ulceration
• Severe lymphoedema
• Severe post-thrombotic syndrome
• Advanced lipo-lymphoedema

Use for

• Limbs unresponsive to 30–40 mmHg
• Long-term control of gross swelling
• Ulcer prevention in high-risk legs

Target market

A narrow specialist population managed by vascular surgeons and lymphoedema therapists. Almost entirely funded by insurers or national health services, supplied by a handful of manufacturers, and never bought casually.