Lymphedema can cause inflammation, tissue thickening, and hypoxia.

“But lymphedema and that buildup causes a number of problems. First of all, the waste products in the interstitial fluid that's accumulating there, because you're not getting enough lymph drainage, can cause local inflammation, which can give way to more global inflammation. It also so happens that you get a thickening of the tissue in that area in response to that inflammation, and that thickening of the tissue causes a kind of hypoxia, or a low oxygen availability, for the cells in that area, so that now you've got more cells that get less oxygen that they need, and the whole thing starts to cascade.”