How to Get Rid of Fibrosis After Lipo, Including at Home

How do you get rid of fibrosis after lipo?

Start with time and the basics. Firm, lumpy areas in the first weeks are usually swelling and normal healing tissue, and most soften on their own. Keep wearing your compression garment, walk every day and ask your surgeon whether lymphatic massage suits you. If a hard area hasn't changed after about 3 months, the point by which treated tissue usually feels soft again according to a review by Dixit and Wagh in the Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery, your surgeon can examine it and talk you through treatment, from therapy sessions to injections, with surgery kept as a last resort.

What is fibrosis after lipo?

Fibrosis is scar tissue in the fat layer under your skin. Liposuction leaves many small tunnels in the fat, and as they heal your body lays down collagen to repair them. Sometimes it lays down more than it needs, or in uneven bands. A 2014 study by Masson and colleagues, in the same journal, describes fibrosis as "hardened plates in the subcutaneous tissues" that can leave the surface irregular and change your contour.

What it can feel and look like:

• Hard or firm patches. Often described as a plate or a cord under the skin, most often on the abdomen and flanks.
• Lumps, soft or hard. In a 2024 Aesthetic Surgery Journal study of 75 women having a second liposuction after earlier body contouring, most had soft nodules and 81% had hard nodules.
• Dents and pulled-in skin. In the same study, 99% had depressions and 47% had adhesions, where scar bands tether the skin to deeper tissue. Dents caused by bands attached to the muscle look worse when you tighten your stomach, according to Dixit and Wagh's review.
• Tenderness. The women with fibrosis in the 2014 study also had pain and swelling, and both eased with treatment.

How common is it? A 2024 review of 60 studies and 21,776 patients in the journal Plastic Surgery found fibrosis or induration reported as a complication in 1% of people who had liposuction on its own. Some firmness while you heal is expected, and it isn't the same thing as a complication.

Why one person scars more than another isn't well understood. Dixit and Wagh write that, rarely, heavy swelling lasts beyond 6 weeks, from extra trauma to the tissue, and that this can lead to more scarring and fibrosis, and the authors of the 2014 study suggest bringing swelling down early may help.

Is it fibrosis, swelling, a seroma, a hematoma or fat necrosis?

Several things can cause a firm or raised area after liposuction, and each is handled differently. Your surgeon confirms which one at an exam.

A seroma feels soft and squishy; fibrosis feels firm. Our guide to fluid pockets and swelling after liposuction covers seromas in more depth, and bruising after liposuction covers bruises and hematomas.

Does fibrosis after lipo go away?

Often it does, at least partly. Dixit and Wagh write that treated tissue tends to return to a normal, soft feel by 3 months, depending on how large an area was treated. A study by Danilla and colleagues, cited in a 2024 series by Borille and colleagues in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open, found most irregularities after high-definition liposuction improved partly or fully on their own within 3 months.

Some fibrosis does last, and that is what the treatments below are for. Nobody can tell you in week 2 which firm spots will stay, so keep your follow-ups and let your surgeon track the area. For the swelling side of the picture, see what liposuction recovery looks like month by month.

How to get rid of fibrosis after lipo at home

At home, your job is to help swelling clear evenly and avoid making things worse. We found no study showing that a home method breaks up established scar tissue, so be wary of anything sold as one.

What is generally safe, within your surgeon's instructions:

• Wear your garment as prescribed. The Aesthetic Society says you wear a compression garment over the treated areas for 4–6 weeks. Smooth out folds and creases: Dixit and Wagh write that a garment that fits badly, especially with poor posture, can leave surface irregularities. If yours digs in, ask for a refit.
• Walk every day. MedlinePlus advises walking as soon as possible after surgery to help prevent blood clots, and The Aesthetic Society says walking soon after liposuction discourages swelling.
• Learn self-massage before you try it. Cleveland Clinic says you can do lymphatic drainage massage on yourself in some cases, but to ask your healthcare provider how to do it properly first.
• Keep foam or boards in place if you were given them. They spread the garment's pressure. Our guide to lipo foam explains how they're used.
• Take photos. One set a week, same light, same pose. It's easier to see a lump softening in photos than in the mirror, and your surgeon will find them useful.
• Keep your follow-up visits. The Aesthetic Society says it's important to see your surgeon as scheduled.

What isn't safe without your surgeon's approval:

• Massage when something may be wrong. Cleveland Clinic lists blood clots, fever, infection and cellulitis among the reasons to avoid lymphatic drainage massage.
• Deep, painful pressure or home tools. We found no study testing rollers, cupping, scraping tools or home ultrasound and radiofrequency gadgets on healing liposuction tissue. The ultrasound in the 2014 study was given by physical therapists with clinical equipment.
• Injections from anyone other than a doctor who is treating you. A 2019 case report described a woman whose steroid injections, given to soften fibrosis after liposuction, left thinner skin, a more irregular abdomen and lighter patches. Cleveland Clinic lists skin lightening near the injection site among the side effects of steroid shots.

Fibrosis treatment after lipo, stage by stage

Treatment depends on how long it has been and how the area feels. The evidence behind each step is limited: the 2024 Aesthetic Surgery Journal study says evidence on managing fibrosis after liposuction "remains limited", and the 2014 study notes there is no consensus on how to treat it.

Lymphatic drainage and therapeutic ultrasound

In the 2014 study, 18 women with fibrosis after liposuction or liposuction with a tummy tuck had 12 sessions of therapeutic ultrasound followed by manual lymphatic drainage. In the liposuction group, fibrosis had gone completely in 62.5% (5 of 8 women) by the end, and the rest had only the mildest grade. Encouraging, but it was a small study with no comparison group, and most of the women also wore garments. There is no standard number of massages; our lymphatic massage guide explains what the evidence says about timing.

Radiofrequency and other devices

We found no controlled study of radiofrequency for established fibrosis after liposuction. The 2024 Aesthetic Surgery Journal study uses devices such as radiofrequency alongside surgery, not in place of it, and in the Borille series seven patients had already tried external ultrasound and enzyme injections without success.

Injections

Dixit and Wagh write that irregularities due to excessive fibrosis may need injections of 5-fluorouracil, with or without the steroid triamcinolone. Injections into the tissue can cause spider veins, thinning skin and lighter or darker patches, according to the 2019 case report, so they belong with a doctor who knows your surgery.

Surgery

For fibrosis that doesn't respond, Borille and colleagues combined liposuction, removal of the scar tissue and a tummy tuck or mini tummy tuck in 23 patients. All had a better-looking abdomen at 12 months, 26% had a minor complication, and the authors call the technique a last resort. They recommend waiting at least six months after the last surgery. If your concern is more about dents and bulges than hardness, our guide on how to fix uneven liposuction covers revision options.

How to prevent fibrosis after liposuction

Nothing prevents it every time, but these steps work with your healing rather than against it:

• Follow your garment instructions, and get a refit if it creases or digs in.
• Walk from day one, then build up as your surgeon allows.
• Report swelling that isn't improving, since lasting heavy swelling is linked with more fibrosis.
• Don't smoke or vape. ASPS describes good candidates as nonsmokers and non-vapers; see who is a good candidate for liposuction.
• Choose a surgeon who explains the risks. Our overview of how safe liposuction is covers what the research shows.

When to call your surgeon

Call your surgeon rather than waiting it out if you notice any of these, which Cleveland Clinic and its guidance on seromas list:

• Severe or long-lasting pain.
• Swelling that keeps growing, or a soft bump that is getting bigger.
• Fluid or blood leaking from an incision.
• A fever, or an area that becomes discolored and very painful, which can be a sign of infection.
• Shortness of breath or chest pain. Call 911 or go to the emergency room.

A hard area that hasn't changed by about 3 months isn't urgent, but it's worth an exam.

If you also had a BBL or a tummy tuck

Fibrosis can follow a tummy tuck too: in the 2014 study, half of the women treated after liposuction with a tummy tuck were free of fibrosis by the end. If you had liposuction as part of a BBL, our guide to massages after a BBL covers what differs, and tummy tuck recovery covers the tummy tuck side. If you are still planning surgery, our tummy tuck page compares the types, their prices and the recovery.

If you are recovering from liposuction at Alluring, point out any firm area at a follow-up visit so Dr. Victoria Karlinsky, MD, FACS, can examine it. If you're still deciding, a liposuction consultation is a good time to ask how recovery and follow-up work.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Dixit VV, Wagh MS. Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery: Unfavourable outcomes of liposuction and their management (2013)
• Masson IF and colleagues. Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery: Manual lymphatic drainage and therapeutic ultrasound in liposuction and lipoabdominoplasty post-operative period (2014)
• Mera-Cruz G and colleagues. Aesthetic Surgery Journal: Fibrosis Management Algorithm in Secondary Liposculpture (2024)
• Aljerian A and colleagues. Plastic Surgery: Complications of Aesthetic Liposuction Performed in Isolation, a systematic review and meta-analysis (2024)
• Borille GB and colleagues. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open: Surgical Correction of Abdomen Irregularities after Liposuction (2024)
• Chacur R and colleagues. Case Reports in Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery: Aesthetic correction of lesion by post-liposuction corticoid infiltration (2019)
• The Aesthetic Society: Liposuction aftercare and recovery
• MedlinePlus: Liposuction
• Cleveland Clinic: Liposuction
• Cleveland Clinic: Seroma
• Cleveland Clinic: Hematoma
• Cleveland Clinic: Fat Necrosis
• Cleveland Clinic: Lymphatic Drainage Massage
• Cleveland Clinic: Cortisone Shots (Steroid Injections)
• American Society of Plastic Surgeons: Are you a good candidate for liposuction?