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Relief from Radiation Fibrosis Syndrome

Posted by stephenrfleury @stephenrfleury, May 13, 2025

Had SCC on the base of my tongue and a couple of lymph nodes in 2020 and was treated with radiation and chemo. Like many of you, I had pretty severe fibrosis in my neck.

In the past month, I had a combination of 2 treatments at Mayo in Phoenix. First, I had Botox injections in my neck to relieve some of the stiffness in the muscles. Those were followed up with a surgery called fat grafting, where they harvest fat cells from your body (belly for me), and inject those cells into your neck to soften the fibrosis. They also breakup some of large fibrotic cords. It has relieved just about all of my pain and much of the stiffness.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Head & Neck Cancer Support Group.

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krayh | @krayh | May 23 11:14am

Thanks Colleen. My primary care physician has sent a referral and I have had my intake call. The referral is now making the rounds and I hope to hear something back in the next week or so. Fingers crossed!

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sandy8043 | @sandy8043 | May 24 12:57pm

Attempted humor.

I always say....Radiation is bad for you...even if you pay a guy $10,000 a day to do it to you 30 times! 😂😂

Maybe replace "even" with especially!

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chubbell42 | @chubbell42 | 3 days ago

What’s the doctors name at mayo clinic that is doing fat grafting for radiation treatment?

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stephenrfleury | @stephenrfleury | 3 days ago

@chubbell42 I was referred by Dr. Keole to the Plastic Surgeon Dr. Rebecca (can't remember her first name). Good luck! Let me know if I can answer any questions for you

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chubbell42 | @chubbell42 | 3 days ago
In reply to @stephenrfleury "@roblem You can get Botox injections every 90 days for every if they help you. For..." + (show)
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@roblem You can get Botox injections every 90 days for every if they help you. For me, I pretty tired of dealing with discomfort or even the threat of discomfort and have decided to get for the foreseeable future.

As far as the fat grafting, I don't think there is a limit and you can get it again if need be. For me, I'm good after the two.

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@stephenrfleury what doctor at Mayo Clinic used fat grafting on your fibrosis ?

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krayh | @krayh | 2 days ago
In reply to @stephenrfleury "@chubbell42 I was referred by Dr. Keole to the Plastic Surgeon Dr. Rebecca (can't remember her..." + (show)
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@chubbell42 I was referred by Dr. Keole to the Plastic Surgeon Dr. Rebecca (can't remember her first name). Good luck! Let me know if I can answer any questions for you

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@stephenrfleury Dr Rebecca is on leave this summer. I am going to be seeing Dr Garvey for an evaluation on August 11.

How are your results holding up?

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stephenrfleury | @stephenrfleury | 1 day ago

@krayh I have had good results so far. I had my first one in April 2025 and the pain in my neck was gone right away. Since I had most of the radiation on my tongue and left side lymph nodes, the left side still had some fibrosis. I had a second surgery in October 2025 and my neck feels great and the fibrosis is mostly gone.

For me, the liposuction created the most discomfort.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

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krayh | @krayh | 5 hours ago
In reply to @stephenrfleury "@krayh I have had good results so far. I had my first one in April 2025..." + (show)
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@krayh I have had good results so far. I had my first one in April 2025 and the pain in my neck was gone right away. Since I had most of the radiation on my tongue and left side lymph nodes, the left side still had some fibrosis. I had a second surgery in October 2025 and my neck feels great and the fibrosis is mostly gone.

For me, the liposuction created the most discomfort.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

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@stephenrfleury Good for you!

Was the entire procedure outpatient? Did your insurance cover it? How many total visits with followup? I will be flying in from the east coast.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

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