Lymphatic Drainage Certifications and How to Check Them

Lymphatic drainage practitioners list letters such as CLT, CLT-LANA and MLD after their names. Each comes from a different body. This page shows who issues each one, the hours the issuer states, and where to look a holder up, using the issuers' own pages.

Published by Lymphatic Massage Finder Editorial Team.

Who issues each credential

Hours, formats and tuition are as each issuer's page states them on October 14, 2026. Where a page does not say, we say so.

Lymphatic drainage credentials, issuers, stated hours and how to verify a holder
Credential	Issuer	Stated hours and format	How to check a holder
CLT-LANAExam credential (not a course)	Lymphology Association of North America (LANA)	135-hour training course required before the exam.Exam at a testing site; the training comes from an accredited school.Application fee $430.	Public searchSearch LANA's public specialist directory by state. Open
Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT), Complete Lymphedema CertificationSchool certificate	Academy of Lymphatic Studies (ACOLS)	135 hours.Course pages list live, online, hybrid and Spanish-language versions.	Public searchSearch ACOLS's Find a Therapist database. It says every therapist listed was trained by ACOLS and shows the courses each one attended. Open
Manual Lymph Drainage certification (MLD-C), Vodder techniqueSchool certificate	Academy of Lymphatic Studies (ACOLS)	5 days, 40 hours.In person; ACOLS also lists hybrid and online versions.	Public searchSearch ACOLS's Find a Therapist database; the MLD-C entry shows the course was completed. Open
Lymphedema Therapy Certification (CLT)School certificate	Klose Training	135 hours (75 online plus 60 live).Hybrid: online home study, then classroom lab over 6.5 days.Tuition $3,300.	Public searchSearch Klose's therapist directory by location. Open
Manual Lymph Drainage (MLD) Certification, Vodder techniqueSchool certificate	Klose Training	5.5 days; 45 CEU hours.In person.Tuition $1,550.	Public searchSearch Klose's therapist directory by location. The directory is headed as a CLT directory, so for an MLD-only certificate ask the practitioner for a copy and contact Klose. Open
Dr. Vodder School training: Level 1 Basic, Level 2 Applied MLD, Level 3 LymphedemaSchool certificate (modular)	Dr. Vodder School International	Hours not stated on the pages we read.Online theory plus in-person practical; dated classes listed on its site.	Public searchUse the school's Find a Professional pages, which sort therapists by category such as Lymphedema Therapist and Applied MLD Therapist, then filter by location. Open
Full CDT Lymphedema CertificationSchool certificate	Norton School of Lymphatic Therapy	Hours not stated on the course page we read.Scheduled sessions with a home-study portion.	Email form onlyNo public search. Send the therapist referral form with your ZIP code and the school emails you a list. Open
Lymph Drainage Therapy (LDT) coursesSchool certificate	Chikly Health Institute	Hours not stated on the page we read.Online and in-person courses.	No public search foundWe did not find a public practitioner search on the home page. Ask the practitioner for the certificate and the school's contact for confirmation. Open

Who can enter each course

Lymphology Association of North America (LANA), CLT-LANA. Complete a 135-hour course in Complete Decongestive Therapy; hold a current, unrestricted license or registration in a listed profession (the list includes massage therapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist and registered nurse); meet a 12 college-credit-hour science requirement; submit the application and fee.
Academy of Lymphatic Studies (ACOLS), Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT), Complete Lymphedema Certification. ACOLS describes the course as certification training for medical professionals.
Academy of Lymphatic Studies (ACOLS), Manual Lymph Drainage certification (MLD-C), Vodder technique. None stated on the course page. ACOLS says this course is separate from its lymphedema certification.
Klose Training, Lymphedema Therapy Certification (CLT). Klose lists prerequisites on the course page.
Dr. Vodder School International, Dr. Vodder School training: Level 1 Basic, Level 2 Applied MLD, Level 3 Lymphedema. Courses are open to licensed or certified health care practitioners who have graduated from a practitioner training program. A separate esthetician track exists.

Check a practitioner's credential in four steps

Ask which school or body issued it, and when.
Find that issuer in the table and open its directory.
Search by name and location. Match the name and city to the practitioner you plan to book.
If there is no public directory, ask for a copy of the certificate and confirm it with the school.

Do the license check too: find your state's massage license lookup. LE&RN's own guide to finding a qualified lymphedema therapist lists the schools it considers qualified and links their directories.

How our listings label these credentials

Across the 14 verified practitioners in Texas we recorded 26 lymphatic certifications: 7 confirmed in a school or LANA directory and 19 self-reported on the practitioner's own site. A certification is labelled confirmed by registry only when we found the holder in one of those directories. Read how we verify listings, see the full Texas list, or run the Texas check yourself.

Certifications: common questions

Is a CLT the same as a CLT-LANA?

No. According to LE&RN, a CLT certificate comes from a school after a training course of at least 135 hours, while the CLT-LANA credential also requires passing an accredited board exam run by the Lymphology Association of North America.

Where do I look up a therapist trained at a particular school?

Use that school’s own directory, linked in the table: ACOLS, Klose and Vodder publish searchable lists, Norton emails a list when you send a ZIP code, and LANA publishes its specialist directory by state.

What if the school has no public directory?

Ask the practitioner for the certificate with the school’s name and the completion date, then contact the school with that information. Our listings mark a certification “self-reported” until a registry or school directory confirms it.

Does a certificate replace a state license?

No. A school certificate shows training. A state license is a separate record held by the state board; look it up first.

Sources and date checked

We opened every page below on October 14, 2026. If a link has moved or a fact is out of date, tell us and we will correct the page.