Neiva Cimini,
the specialist surgeons call
when the outcome is on the line.
Certified massage therapist and specialist in lymphatic dysfunctions, creator of the Neiva Cimini® Method. Based in Belgium since 2016, built from scratch, today a reference in her field.
From zero in Belgium to the reference doctors recommend.
In 2016, I arrived in Belgium with no valid local diploma, no client base, no network. I had experience, I had method, but I had to prove everything again, in a language I was still learning, in a market that didn't know me yet.
I started with lymphatic drainage. It was what I knew how to do well, and it opened the first doors. But I soon understood that the real difference lived in the reasoning behind the technique: why the fluid moves where it does, what happens when the fascia sticks together, what the surgery did to that specific body's lymphatic system. That's what most people who practice drainage never learn.
Over time, my name started to circulate among doctors, less for flattering results than for the difficult cases I resolved: the fibrosis nobody else wanted to take on, the swelling that hadn't gone down after months, the person who had gone abroad for surgery and come back with no support at all. Those were the doors that brought me into medicine.
Today I work inside a plastic surgery practice in Brussels, following up on highly complex lymphatic surgeries, training doctors and teams, and in 2026 I was invited to speak at ISAPS Body Masters, in Barcelona, alongside the world's leading body contouring surgeons.
Getting here was the logical outcome of choosing rigor when it would have been easier to stay generic, not luck.
Over time, I realized the biggest problem in postoperative recovery was the lack of reasoning about timing.
I've seen plenty of fibrosis caused by strong massage applied too early. I've seen seromas get worse because someone tried to “drain” them with excessive pressure. I've seen surgical results undone by what happened, or failed to happen, in the weeks that followed, far more often than by the surgery itself.
That pushed me to study deeper: wound healing physiology, collagen histology, fascia biomechanics, inflammation pharmacology. The goal was never to prescribe: to guide a process well, you need to understand what you're guiding.
That's when the Method took shape, less a set of techniques than a reasoning framework applied to postoperative recovery. A way of thinking before touching.
"My goal goes beyond aesthetics. It's functional: restoring function to damaged tissue."
What is verifiable (and how to verify it).
ISAPS Body Masters 2026, Barcelona
Invited to speak at the ISAPS elite course (International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery), restricted to board-certified plastic surgeons from around the world. One of the rare non-physician specialists in a space reserved for medicine at its highest level. Confirmed in writing. Friday, July 3, 2026.
Reference postoperative care for lymphatic surgeries in Brussels
Works regularly inside a plastic surgery practice in Brussels, following one of the most complex procedures in medicine: microsurgical lymphatic anastomosis surgery. That's why she's in Brussels twice a week. That's the level of trust surgeons place in the Method.
Doctors trained in Belgium and Germany
Has trained surgical teams who wanted to bring postoperative care into their own practices. When a doctor pays to learn from you, that's a different category of authority.
Marie Claire Belgium
Featured in an editorial piece in the Belgian edition: an unpaid, unsolicited mention.
Lipedema Training
Trained with Prof. Jaqueline Baioco / Brazilian Lipedema Association. Participant at LipeWorld, the international lipedema congress, in Rome.
Postoperative care since 2016 · 500+ sessions
Ten years of practice in Belgium. Built on real cases, many of them complex: complications other professionals wouldn't or couldn't handle.
Partnership, not competition.
A lymphatic dysfunction specialist works as a certified massage therapist, not as a physician. She does not perform medical assessments, does not prescribe, and does not compete with the surgeon.
What I do is carry forward the result the doctor created on the operating table, and give the doctor something he rarely has: predictability in recovery.
Most postoperative problems don't start in the operating room. They start afterward: the moment the doctor “loses control,” and what happens to the tissue depends on whoever is guiding recovery. When that person works with method, structured reasoning, and open communication with the surgeon, the result is more stable, complications drop, and satisfaction with the surgery goes up.
I always work in partnership with the doctor in charge. Any question beyond my scope, I consult on. Any complication, I report. Supporting the doctor is part of the protocol.
If you're a surgeon and want to talk about partnership or training for your team:
Talk directly →"Doctor, when you have postoperative care in place, you get more predictability in your result."
I've also been on the other side of the table.
I've had plastic surgery myself. I know firsthand what it feels like to be fragile after an operation: the swollen body, the doubt about whether it will turn out well, the fear of doing something wrong, the dependence on someone who truly understands what's happening.
That experience changed the way I work. There isn't a single client I look at without thinking that this person trusted me with her body at a moment of real vulnerability. That's not a detail: it's the center of everything.
I don't watch the clock or follow a standard package: I stay as long as the session requires, because my commitment is to the result, not to the schedule.
I also don't work in a single language: I offer sessions in Dutch, English, French, and Portuguese. Because in Belgium, recovery shouldn't be limited by language.
"I care for the person behind the body. My clients feel heard as individuals, not treated as numbers."
Now that you know who I am:
Want to learn the method, or refer someone to it?
For training or professional partnership.
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