Lipomas In Thighs

[matt]

Most of my lipomas are in my thighs and most - if not all - have born after some trauma like hitting my thigh into something.

I found a "nice" photo that indicates pretty well how I look like:

Source

I have no idea why the capture says

Localization of the three forms of multiple symmetric lipomatosis.

although to me that looks like a Familial Multiple Lipomatosis.

I think they have just mixed the too image captures since the other capture says:

Symmetric, well-circumscribed, grossly round and protruding masses involving the upper legs (anterior aspect).

Although I don't know why the symmetric word is used here? Because the lipomas appear in both legs? The study is about Multiple Symmetric Lipomatosis but like said, to me the upper image looks like a FML. It even looks like the lipomas are encapsulated and the article actually mentiones that they are encapsulated, which shouldn't be the case in MSL. Oh yes, there's no family history, so it can't be familial either

I think these conditions aren't very well diagnosed currently and the separation between different lipoma diseases is too straightforward.

[Laura]

Although I don't know why the symmetric word is used here? Because the lipomas appear in both legs? The study is about Multiple Symmetric Lipomatosis but like said, to me the upper image looks like a FML. It even looks like the lipomas are encapsulated and the article actually mentiones that they are encapsulated, which shouldn't be the case in MSL. Oh yes, there's no family history, so it can't be familial either

I think these conditions aren't very well diagnosed currently and the separation between different lipoma diseases is too straightforward.[/quote]

Matt, do you think surgery could rid you of the lipomas at least temporarily?

I agree we need a better treatment.

I can't believe I've had these things 30 years and doctors are more concerned about the impact on dogs!

[matt]

Hi Laura, yes definitely surgery would be able remove all my lipomas. I don't think I have any in my muscles. But I just wouldn't want to have 100 scars... I'd rather have a liposuction although I know it doesn't remove all the lipoma tissue and they will grow back. At least I would get fewer scars. Ok, they will probably grow back no matter what...

I'm keeping the liposuction as my last desperate option. My insurance is probably not willing to pay it, at least it wasn't four years ago, so it would cost me thousands of euros.

I don't understand it either how dogs are treated with more empathy and understanding than we are? We are just supposed to silently suffer from our disfiguration and do absolutely nothing. Or if anything we should surrender under the knife and rip our body into a fishing net or something. Nice

I can't believe nothing has happened in the last 30 years!? Crazy.

[Laura]

Matt, I was reading Klaus' blogs and he mentions using Emu oil to heal the scars.
He's had pretty good luck with that.

Maybe try getting a few removed by a good cosmetic surgeon and see how it goes?

If the cuts are nice and thin, the scars are mere lines, not gashes.

But on the legs, yes it is tougher.

I have them in my arms and legs. I keep my hope up by trying to save money to pay for surgery, but
I have so many to remove.

[londoner]

How much does the lipoma surgery cost?

[matt]

Hi, I can only speak from myself but I had 4 of my subcutaneous lipomas surgically removed (from pea to half grape sized) by a plastic surgeon in 2007 and it cost me 500 euro. Luckily my insurance covered it totally so I got my money back afterwords. I needed to confirm both the plastic surgeon and the insurance company that my lipomas did cause me unbearable pain (just one of them really did).

I think the price varies greatly around the world and even between surgeons so the best way is just to ask a doctor and do some comparison.

I was left with nasty looking scars and although I have around 100 lipomas I haven't gone under the knife ever since. I hope to find another way to get rid of them. But if I don't, I'd rather have liposuction done in the future for less scarring. I do realize liposuction leaves bits behind and lipomas will grow back but they would do so in any case unless we find a way to stop them.

[caribou]

Hi Laura, yes definitely surgery would be able remove all my lipomas. I don't think I have any in my muscles. But I just wouldn't want to have 100 scars... I'd rather have a liposuction although I know it doesn't remove all the lipoma tissue and they will grow back. At least I would get fewer scars. Ok, they will probably grow back no matter what...

I was just googling around and a Finnish plastic surgeon called Matti Pakkanen said somewhere online (here) that you could remove all lipomas within a 40cm radius with liposuction, having merely a 0.5cm cut.

I assume you've looked into this, and it doesn't work then, does it? Or the lipomas aren't completely removed? I'd like to know more about it as an alternative.

I hope you notice this Matt, as it's not related to this topic - but do you think it could be possible to change the date showed above each post so that it's not just a week day and time, but the actual full date? Would be nice if people had an idea when the previous posts were made. Cheers.

[matt]

Hi caribou,

I try to notice everything but if I don't feel free to PM me

Yes, I have sent an email to Mr. Pakkanen nad his son removed my lipomas, one by one. I do think it will work and you can get rid of lipomas with liposuction.

But...

Te thing is than when I emailed Mr. Pakkanen aound 6 years ago, he, I and the insurance company had a discussion which ended up that the insurance company is not willing to cover the procedure. Since I'm not a wealthy guy it would be quite heavy on my budget. But I have never closed down the opportunity that some day I'll have it done.

The second problem is the fact that you can never take all the lipomatous tissue away via liposuction. There's always something left behind. So others have reported that the lipomas do come back. Of course it takes years and you can do it all over again then. But I have desided not to take this path. Not yet atleast.

[caribou]

Hmm, that's a shame if the insurance doesn't cover it. :/ I've no idea how much liposuctions cost, but I would imagine that they can be very expensive (even though they're quite useless normally, or at least I've heard that in about a year or a few years, the fat mass comes back because the body wants its natural fat setpoint, and fat setpoint can only be affected by things like lifestyle).

So all the lipomas grow back after some time because they're not completely removed?
If you've talked to people who have had it done, do they generally feel it's the worth the trouble (in terms of the procedure + scarring + eventual reappearance of lipomas, not financially speaking)?

[matt]

Yeah, my facts are from the year 2006 or so. Who knows what has happened in between? The lipos were pretty expensive at the time, some thousands of euros atleast depending of course of the areas.

I have no idea which lipomas grew back, new or old and ow many? But I have read that some do come back after lipo. Some people think that it's worth it, some don't. I'm sorry, I have no better answers since I haven't done it myself.

My own opinion is, having around 100 lipomas, that the only considerable invasive method would be somekind of a liposuction. Not necessarily the old-fashioned one but Smartlipo or similar.

[caribou]

I'm kind of in a hurry so I don't have time to search for a better thread if there is one, sorry.... But does anyone have experience with absorbable sutures placed underneath the skin instead of traditional stitches? It might be something you all know about, I just heard about this in school the other day. Supposedly this would "leave no scar at all" (which of course is an exaggeration). But I was just wondering, maybe excision done by a good plastic surgeon using these absorbable stitches would leave a scar that would look much more subtle or even almost invisible at best. If plastic surgery advances rapidly (as I would think will happen), maybe soon enough we could excise lipomas with minimal scarring to the extent that even hundreds of these scars wouldn't be too hard to live with. This is what I very much hope will happen, in any case.

[matt]

I asked absorbable sutures from my plastic surgeon at the time and he just grinned and said that's not a good idea. If I remember correctly, my scars were in the thighs and these areas are susceptible to stretching. This was his reasoning at the time. I feel still to this date that his explanation was not good enough and that he just didn't want to do more work than was needed.

I hope times have changed.

[caribou]

It's true that areas that are going to stretch because of movement need to be stitched together more tightly, and traditional stitches are better for that purpose. But I would think that if one requests absorbable sutures and highlights the importance of the cosmetic result, doctors would agree to using them? (And you'd have to be more careful with stretching the wounds, obviously). But I really don't know. It would truly suck if you can't use absorbable stitches in areas that move a lot. :/

[sjohn]

Other alternatives that i have heard of is medical Glue and some kind of skin strips that i cant find right now

[Ray]

Hi guys this is my first post. I am 22 years old and I have these lipomas for the past 5 years. I have had one surgery done about 2 years ago on my left arm which was causing me a lot of pain. Ever since the surgery the lipomas grew all over my body such as my face , neck , head, stomach , back , legs , both arm , and lastly my chest. Basically my whole body. The neck and the chest cause the most pain and get crazy headaches every single day. Sometimes my legs go numb just sitting down. I am 5,9 and 180lb from Bangladesh living in New York. The surgery left me a very ugly scar but that's not an issue to me cuz all I care about is making this pain and suffering go away. Is their anyone out their that can give me any advice as to what should I do. I am willing to do anything at this point. I can't even work anymore the same way as I use to because of all the pain and I just had my first child and I wanna be able to be their to support her and my family, so please of any one can help me out any advice I would appreciate it more then u can ever imagine. Please and thank you all and I no their are a lot more other out their like me and I wish u all the best. My prayers go out for ever single one of us for having to go thru this even though none of us deserve this punishment. Thank You.

[speedy]

So..I heard jacking off may cause lipomas.. you guys masterbate alot? at least once a day? sometimes much more??? i'm curious..

[fb88]

That doesn't explain how women get lipomas...

Ray - cut weight down to 165 lbs, don't eat fried food, plan for yearly surgery to cut the painful ones out. Stay positive, it's not cancer.

[theownerofpict]

hi. im the one who u can see my picture on this page. i was surfing on the net, and i found my case report and after that i saw my photo on this site. we all suffer from this meaningless illness. i hope u all get rid of these stupid pieces from ur body. Take care and dont think about them too much.

[matt]

Hi theownerofpict! I hope you didn't get offended by me posting that pic? My thighs look pretty similar, unfortunally. Your pic makes a perfect example of how many of us look like.

BTW, do you happen to know why did they diagnosed you as Multiple symmetric lipomatosis instead of Familial multiple lipomatosis? Your condition doesn't look symmetric judging by the pic above. Is it just because there's no lipomatosis in your family? Or were the captions just incorrectly placed?

Also, have you done anything to your lipomas?