Hi, It would have been easy if you mentioned duration in your query. Any way, water retention in body may be due to-low protein in blood. - heart or kidney fail - long duration of sitting - obstruction to drainage [lymph accumulation] seen with filariasis - some birth defects - some post surgery complications Now coming to your doubt, when Gp examines and confirms it as water, he can put patient on diuretics which drain excess water out. Then he will go for tests to determine cause of water retention and treats root cause if he thinks its lymph treatment depends on cause of lymph accumulation. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Sagar