Lipedema
Lipedema is a disorder of fatty tissue generally affecting the legs, which causes the legs, and sometimes the arms, but not the feet, to accumulate fatty tissue. It is part of the spectrum of soft tissue lymphatic disorders treated at City Surgical Care.
It is distinguishable by five characteristics:
- it can be inherited
- it occurs almost exclusively in women
- it can occur in women of all sizes, from the seriously underweight to the morbidly obese
- it involves the excess deposit and expansion of fat cells in an unusual and particular pattern bilateral and symmetrical and usually from the waist to a distinct line just above the ankles
- unlike the typical fat of obesity, lipedemic fat generally cannot be lost through diet and exercise.
Although first identified in the United States at the Mayo Clinic in 1940, lipedema is barely known in the USA – to physicians or to the patients who have the disease. Lipedema often is confused with obesity, and a significant number of patients currently diagnosed as obese are believed to have lipedema, either instead of or in addition to obesity.
In November 2012 the UK’s Health service the NHS first listed lipedema as the abnormal build-up of fat cells in the legs, thighs and buttocks. The NHS listed the only treatment that appears to be effective for lipedema is a procedure called micro cannula tumescent liposuction which is now routinely performed in Holland and Germany. At City Surgical Care, with the enormous amount of venous, vascular, lymphatic and soft tissue disorders that we treat, we are proud to be a center of excellence and bring this modern, minimally invasive, effective treatment to the the United States.
For decades, surgeons in Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. achieving excellent documented success with medically indicated therapeutic micro-liposuction. This specialized form of liposuction, usually performed with tumescent local anesthesia and one of the core issues is to ensure preservation of the lymphatic system while removing the diseased adipose tissue. Our team performs lymphatic sparing therapeutic micro-liposuction at our centers.
Lipedema usually is triggered at puberty, but can worsen during or after pregnancy, menopause and following gynecologic surgery. It can also be triggered by an extremely stressful situation such as a death in the family or a divorce because cortisol (the key stress hormone) levels increase, causing an inflammation cascade, almost always misdiagnosed as weight gain or obesity.