Large Lipoma removal recovery estimates? How much pain, drainage, time off work?

Thank you for your question and I am sorry to hear of your pain.  With a lipoma this large, I would anticipate needing a few days to weeks off of work but this will largely depend on your job responsibilities and any opportunity of light duty work.  See a board certified plastic surgeon for an in-person evaluation and better discussion of your anticipated recovery time. 

It is difficult to say how long recovery will be after resection of such a large lipoma in the neck area. Meticulous resection will reduce the time that it will take for serous drainage from the area to stop. Best to get guidance after an in person examination as there are many factors involved.Dr H Karamanoukian

When dealing with a lipoma of this size, I would remove it in the OR as an outpatient (go home that day), place a drain and a pressure dressing overnight. I would remove that the next day and replace a pressure dressing.  Assuming all went well I would expect you would be able to be doing computer work in a 3-5 days, light activity in 7 days and heavy activity in 2 weeks.  Post operative scar management will be very important as generally the scars are large to remove some of the excess skin that remains after lipoma removal.  There are a large number of critical arteries, veins, and nerves that criss-cross the neck that need to be preserved.  I would see a board certified Facial Plastic Surgeon as during our ENT training, we have extensive experience operating on the deep tissues of the neck.  All the best, Dr Compton

It's hard to address this via this forum.  In general, an isolated lipoma that's not too large has a pretty straight-forward recovery, with some discomfort but not usually too much pain.  Drains are more likely to be used for larger lipomas.However, with a lipoma of this size in the location you describe, you would need to be seen in person for any sort of a helpful opinion.  You may, for example, need to have a neurosurgeon involved (or be the primary surgeon), particularly in view of your neck injury and ongoing symptoms.  You should in any event be evaluated in person by a plastic surgeon and/or a neurosurgeon as a first step, after which you can decide what to do, who will do it, and what the attendant recovery will be like.I hope that this helps and good luck,Dr. Alan EnglerMember of #RealSelf500