How to Get Rid of Fibrosis After Lipo

The one thing everyone is always worried about is the lumps, bumps, and irregularities after liposuction. But these lumps and bumps can happen after any surgery. 

Fibrosis comes in many forms: web cording, which are thick bands or lines under the skin, lumps, bumps, orange peel/ dimpled skin, harness, and stiffening of the skin, but what is fibrosis, and what causes it?

Fibrosis is an inflammatory process that can happen anywhere and anytime when swelling is present in the body. It’s an aggravated form of swelling. According to the Lymphatic Education & Resource Network , “fibrosis is the excessive scarring that results from any surgery that is the formation of more fibrous tissue than normal.”

Fibrosis is also not just exclusive to plastic surgery. Clients with lymphedema, rheumatoid arthritis, Lyme, fibromyalgia, and any other condition with chronic swelling and inflammation might develop fibrosis as well. 

Fibrosis might look/feel like the following: 

• Lumps and bumps in the treated area.
• Overall hardness of the skin or tissue.
• Stiffness or limited mobility in the treated area.
• Skin that feels “woody” or develops an orange peel appearance.

While fibrosis is something surgeons say is common or you see online that it happens a lot after surgery, it’s not a normal part of the healing process. Fibrosis is not supposed to happen when healing from plastic surgery.

Our plastic surgery recovery online course teaches you the science of how fibrosis is made from swelling, how to prevent it, and how to reverse it if you have fibrosis. 

What Is Fibrosis After Plastic Surgery?

Fibrosis is an inflammatory process. It's a complication of swelling and NO, it is not something that “ happens” or is supposed to happen after surgery.

After any surgery, you're going to have swelling. Swelling is healing juices your body needs to heal and make new tissue. Your swelling is also known as lymphatic fluid once it's reabsorbed back into the lymph vessels, to be urinated out.

This fluid is made up of proteins, white blood cells, fats and the vehicle that moves all of these components is water. 

Fibrosis forms when your swelling becomes thick and stagnant, the proteins start to build up under the skin, and the fluid becomes hard. 

It can start as a thickening/ stiff feeling of your skin and tissue, escalating to lumps, bumps, and pain.

What Causes Fibrosis After Surgery?

Anything that causes swelling will have the potential to become fibrosis. 

Let's take fibrosis post-lipo for example.

The surgery itself causes the swelling, but the swelling isn't the problem. Just because you have swelling doesn’t mean you're going to have fibrosis. Fibrosis is caused during the healing process and here are some examples:

• Wearing a garment that’s too tight or boards, compacting your swelling.
• Dehydration or having things that dehydrate you like caffeine after surgery.
• Aggressive post-surgery massage too soon into your recovery that causes more tissue damage (Incision And Drainage, Wood Therapy, Cavitation/ Machines, Body Contouring, etc.).
• Excessive salt intake.
• Using heat on your surgery area.
• Using rollers or other tools that push fluid around and dig into your body.

When Does Fibrosis Become Permanent?

Fibrosis, when it’s not treated, can become permanent, at the 6-12 month mark.

This is why it's extremely important to get your Manual Lymphatic Drainage Massages. 

lymphatic drainage massage post-surgery triggers the lymphatic system to absorb excess proteins and swelling so they don’t become excess tissue (scar tissue). 

Fibrosis will not just “go away” with time, these proteins are originally used to heal the broken tissue after surgery. Your body needs these proteins, but they shouldn't be clumped and congealed in the tissue.

The lymphatic system only absorbs fluid, fibrosis is a gel-like to hard consistency, leaving the thick build-up of proteins in your tissue to heal and turn into what's known as scar tissue.

How To Prevent Fibrosis After Plastic Surgery? 

Everyone wants to know how to prevent fibrosis post-lipo, but there is a potential for fibrosis anywhere you have swelling. Fibrosis can happen from any plastic surgery or any instance where you have excessive swelling.

The key to preventing fibrosis is understanding how swelling works and how to get rid of your swelling with manual lymphatic drainage massage and proper post-op care. You can get rid of fibrosis and actually stop it from ever happening by taking care of your swelling post-surgery. 

When it comes time to get ready for surgery, it’s easy to research too much and let fear set in. Turning to random forums, TikTok, or “My Journey” surgery videos online is where it all goes wrong. These sources are usually other people who have been through surgery but have no background in post-op care, manual lymphatic drainage, or any certifications or credentials. 

We highly recommend watching our online course on how to heal post-op for this exact reason. 

How Do You Get Rid Of Fibrosis?

There are a lot of “how to treat fibrosis” videos on YouTube teaching you how to get rid of fibrosis at home or do massage for fibrosis without telling you what it is or the science behind treating it. 

Scrapping and smoothing out a lump or bump increases the amount of swelling as the tissue there is already damaged, bringing in more proteins, and causing more build-up. We need MLD to stimulate the lymphatic system and help the body reabsorb the swelling and then get rid of it. You want to get the swelling moving, you don’t want to just compress it more. 

Using boards, rollers, deep pressure or anything that's going to be digging into your tissue will not get rid of fibrosis. You need the Amare Lipo Foams to stimulate the skin 24/7 in your compression garment, making the proteins mobile again, and turning the thick fluid back to water so your MLD massages work to get the swelling off of you. MLD massages are meant for fluid and fibrosis is a thickened state of swelling. 

Not all Lipo Foam moves proteins and turns fibrosis back to fluid. Our foams are made specifically for lymphatic stimulation and fibrosis reduction. To learn how lipo foams work, how to use them correctly in your garment, and how they get rid of fibrosis, watch our YouTube video on how to prepare for post-surgery recovery.

How Manual Lymphatic Drainage Massage Helps with Fibrosis

There are tons of people who offer massage for fibrosis who don’t really understand what fibrosis is. Fibrosis is an inflammatory process as we now know. Massages for fibrosis that are aggressive, hurt, use machines, tools, rollers, and other things can trigger that inflammation, causing more swelling, which has the potential to harden again.

The only thing that will get rid of your swelling, is called manual lymphatic drainage (MLD). This light, skin-stretching technique triggers the lymph vessels to do their normal job of reabsorbing swelling, but at 10x their normal rate and capacity.

MLD gets excess fluid out of your body, and helps get rid of fibrosis the same way it stops it from occurring in the first place: it gets rid of excess swelling, preventing it from being stuck and thickening. Manual lymphatic drainage has been scientifically proven to show reduced swelling and tissue fibrosis in individuals post-surgery. It’s one of the best ways to treat fibrosis, reduce swelling, and help you heal to avoid pain, discomfort, inflammation, and further complications post-surgery.

Manual lymphatic drainage mobilizes your swelling and helps manually dilate and stimulate the lymph vessels to help them absorb excess fluid so your body can drain it out through your urine. 

If you're getting massages that hurt, use tools, machines, rollers, lights, heat or feel like you're just getting rubbed with oil, you're not getting true Vodder MLD. These massages don’t target the lymphatic system, work with the lymphatic mapping of the body, or help with fibrosis. To find a certified MD therapist and learn exactly what should be happening during your massages, enroll in our MLD course. 

Fibrosis is not something that will go away on its one, it's your body asking for help during the healing process. We can get rid of fibrosis and even prevent it from happening. Treating fibrosis is easy when you have the tools and knowledge to work with the body instead of against it. 

Happy Healing.