This person had a fat graft removed through an excision which required cutting. She had a persistent hard lump 3months after the excision and wanted to know if she should get steroid injections or 5 FU:
The hard lump is not uncommon and can be due to inflammation. Fat is important for many things in the body among them: keeping the body from losing heat, serving as a lubricant of sorts for muscles to move, cushioning the body, etc. This lump is not out of the ordinary with inflammation that can still be present after 3 months. Steroids are an option. But waiting is another option as well. If in doubt do nothing unless it is urgent. Waiting another 3 months is prudent to see if it is inflammation and maybe it will look and feel better. If it has not gone down you could consider steroids to soften up the hard feeling of it. It does help to see the lump as well and hence having your physician examine the lump would be the first thing I would do. I wouldn’t use 5FU before steroids with this medication being a much lesser used drug after oral and injectible steroids.
Thanks for reading,
Dr Young
Dr Young specializes in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and is located in Bellevue near Seattle, Washington