Adding sleeves to reduce edema while pumping - does it reduce pumping effectiveness, and do I need more pressure?
As my pumping has gotten more frequent, and the pressure larger, edema below the glans has gotten much worse. When I first started I was pumping about 6.5-8inHg, and now I'm doing 9-11inHg. Previously I got almost no edema but now if I don't put a sleeve on, I'm guaranteed going to have a big donut. Uncomfortable. My "typical" routine is 6 sets of 5 minutes each, first 7inHg, then 8-9, then 9-10, then around 10 for the last 3 sets. About 1 to 3 minutes rest between sets.
So, I started putting sleeves on. Today I tried a combo: the black sleeve which is looser, toward the bottom of the shaft, then a tighter, thicker sleeve for the upper half, and an additional small band right around the part where edema is the worst.
Well, it was a hassle, but after I took it all off, I had basically zero edema. That's the good news. The bad news, or rather the main question is, is pumping effective with this much compression from sleeves?
I don't know the science of it well enough to know whether the sleeves only help with the edema, or if they actually counter the effects of the pumping in the first place. As a followup question, would I need to use more pressure in the pump due to adding sleeves, or does that do nothing but get me back to where I started, and risk injury from too much pressure?
I have shown here the full view, the zoomed in view of the part which gets edema, and a full view without sleeves, which I would only do currently on my last set maybe.