The medical term necrosis refers to a condition of tissue death. Fat 
necrosis occurs when fat cells are destructed and the fatty acids are released from connected triglycerides. These fatty acids move underneath the surface of the skin after turning into calcium deposits. They appear to look like white chunks of chalk and can be felt like rubbery nodes beneath the skin.
As the destruction of fat cells occurs, it can mean there is something even more serious taking place in the body, such as acute pancreatitis. Obese patients are prone to develop fat necrosis in cases where thy have undergone a tummy tuck operation. Other people often suffer from fat necrosis when they undergo internal trauma. Pregnant women can develop fat necrosis after enduring a difficult labor and delivery with deposits occurring in the breasts, neonates, and salivary glands. When patients undergo breast augmentation or other surgeries involving physical alternations, they often find fat necrosis occurring in the area of the incision.
Even though you may be immediately concerned to find hard lumps emerging anywhere on your body in fear that they may be tumors or cancerous lumps, fat necrosis is typically not dangerous. If the lumps resulting from fat necrosis are in areas such as in your throat, mouth, eyes or near blood vessels, you may require surgery to prevent the lumps from cutting off your breathing, vision, or blood functions. Otherwise, the lumps will typically dissolve over time without any treatment.
Fat Necrosis Prevention
In order to prevent fat necrosis, you should keep yourself from enduring any substantial trauma to your body. Also, maintain your health and a normal body weight as chronic diseases including acute pancreatitis and obesity can lead to fat necrosis.
Fat Necrosis Treatment
If you are suffering from fat necrosis, you should contact a doctor. Make your doctor aware of the situation and of any surgical procedures or physical trauma that you may have had. If you are not recovering from surgery and you find fat necrosis anywhere on your body, you should see your doctor to make sure there is not an underlying condition that is causing the necrosis. Otherwise, there is no cause for alarm. To treat any irritation from the necrosis, you can place warm compresses on the lump. A doctor may also prescribe you with anti-inflammatory medications in order to reduce swelling and alleviate any pain the lumps may cause when pressing against your skin. In severe cases, however, the affected area may be large enough to require skin grafting after the initial treatment.
There are treatment options depending on your comfort level and the relevance of the lumps. For most sufferers of fat necrosis, the first treatment is called fluid loading as well as the use of diuretics that remove calcium from the body including furosemide. If the lump is large and unsightly, a doctor may be able to remove puffy areas using needle aspiration, or in the most severe of cases, surgery that involves drainage. However, this is often not necessary as fat necrosis will eventually go away on its own and is not dangerous to the body. Some nutritionists suggest using herbal remedies such as vitamins E, B6, or primrose oil to treat the necrosis, but these are not recommended by medical professionals.
