What causes lumps after liposuction?

Swelling and inflammation accompany any area that is healing after surgery. This will create contour abnormalities that will improve as the swelling subsides.

There's always swelling and inflammation after liposuction and it can make the treated areas seem lumpy and bumpy. That almost always goes away with time, unless there is some retained fat that may benefit from a small finessing procedure. Be patient. It will take months to see the final result. Keep in touch with your surgeon for your follow-up visits.

Lumps after liposuction can mean many different things including fluid collections, blood, fat necrosis, and under resected areas to name a few.

Perfectly done liposuction almost always has areas of firmness or even visible lumps.These are caused by inflammation in the tissues from mechanical trauma, collections of bloody fluid, gravity pulling fluid into a specific area,  or irregular compression.  Lymphatic message definitely hastens their disappearance. At 4-6 months the tissues have usually returned to baseline for evaluation of the results.  If a lump persists sometimes minor touch ups will resolve them. 

Liposuction is a effective way to remove fat through small incisions.  In liposuction small lumps and firm areas are the norm rather than the exception usually starting at 3 weeks and lasting a couple of months.  In surgery with a large incision, we expect the incision to get firm as your body heals the injury.   In liposuction there is minimal incision but a large area has been injured and needs to be healed by your body's wound healing powers.  This usually results in lumps and bumps that were not present right after surgery but represent scar tissue made by your body in response to injury.  These usually improve in short order as your body absorbs the excess scar tissue it has made.  Ask your surgeon if you are concerned.