The time it takes to recover after lipoma surgery is directly related to the amount of bruising you have.
Local anaesthetic repairs have a quick recovery.
Bruising can be a problem after lipoma surgery and effect the wider area around where the lump was. In the rare occurrence of a very large bruise I nearly always advice to leave it alone and wait for it to resorb by itself over time.
In addition to bruising the space left by removing the lipoma can sometimes fill with fluid - known as a seroma. This can become tense. Again the best advice is to leave it alone and allow it to resorb over time. Some people drain these with a needle but they just recur. Repeatedly draining them increases the risk of infection in the space left and the collected fluid becoming walled off so it doesn’t go down in size and further surgery is required. I try to close the potential space that seromas occur in, but no preventative technique is 100% effective. If it happens be patient and wait for it to go down.
There are a lot of factors that influence the extent of bruising and seroma formation. Including:
• Size and complexity of the lipoma
• Being over weight or obese
• Medical conditions that affect bone marrow and tissue healing
• Regular medication to thin your blood
• Age and general frailty
The older and less generally fit you are the more important early mobilisation after surgery becomes.
As you can tell from this list, it is complex; the things you can do to help maximise your recovery and outcome are:
Consider any options you are given by your surgeon on the treatment options available to you.
Follow the pre-operative advice.
Follow the post operation advice.
"Mr Kirkby-Bott was very professional and discussed my appointment in a very open manner that made me feel relaxed"