he disproportionate proliferation of fatty tissue, medically called lipedema, is a common disorder of the adipose tissue. The disease, also known as adiposis dolorosa, is estimated to affect almost 11 % of all adult women worldwide. That is why new treatment methods have been developed for it.
Has lipedema been of medical interest for a long time?
Dr. Salama: When the disease was first named by Dr. Edgar Allen and Dr. Edgar Hines, Jr. in 1940, there were initially very few ways to research the relatively common fat disorder, which is often confused with simple obesity. The clinical diagnosis is adipose tissue or fat metabolism disorder. Interest in lipedema and lymphatic disorders has increased greatly in recent years, as evidenced by an increase in relevant studies.
How to identify the disease?
Dr. Salama: A typical patient is a woman with large hips and disproportionately large Arms . Lipedema also occurs in the upper arms. Significantly, lipedema fat is relatively unresponsive to diet and exercise. Measures can lead to weight loss in other areas, but hips and legs still remain disproportionately large.
What are the symptoms?
Dr. Salama: Lipedema is a disorder in which spontaneous fat deposits typically occur in both legs, sometimes in both arms. There may be fat cuffs on ankles or fullness in the upper arms and even the forearm. Lipedema often affects women. Symptoms are usually triggered during or after pregnancy, menopause, or gynecological surgery.Pain and empfindability of affected areas are typical symp- toms. A healthy weight and physical therapies are very important for treatment! Diet is of little help in reducing the size of the affected extremities or pain. On the other hand, fat removal by liposuction offers improvements.
What are the treatment options for lipedema?
Supporting of the lymphatics are useful. This includes full decongestive therapy such as compression garments, manual lymphatic drainage, exercise therapy, combined with dietary recommendations and skin care.
Because of common associated psychosocial disturbances, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, counseling and treatment are important. Among surgical treatments, liposuction is the least invasive means of removing painful fats. "Lymphatic-sparing" fat removals cause less damage to lymphatic tissue than conventional techniques.
We at the LBCL Surgery & Vein Clinic have included the "Lipedema" in our treatment scope. This is a highly individualized treatment method for conservative and surgical treatments. We use a modern, water-jet assisted liposuction machine and a non-traumatic catheter, both of which have been developed for this purpose and thus lead to "lymphatically gentle" fat removal. This technique allows the procedure to be performed under outpatient conditions.
The new machine also enables an enormously wide range of medical and aesthetic treatments, such as normal aesthetic liposuction or complex scar treatments. With regenerative stem cell therapy, medically as well as esthetically unsurpassed long-lasting results can be achieved.
