|
Lipedema, a hardly known disease: diagnosis, associated illnesses and therapy.
Lipedema is a common but rarely diagnosed disease or frequently confused with obesity. Patients are almost exclusively women. It is characterised by symmetrical, circumscribed, in advanced form deforming fat tissue accumulation on the legs that is associated with lymphedema. Spontaneous pain, pain to pressure and tendency to hematoma are characteristic. One of the possible causes of a fat leg, that is a very common complaint, is lipedema. Main differential diagnoses are obesity, lipohypertrophy and primary and secondary lymphedema. It is often associated with chronic venous and lymphatic insufficiency, early degenerative articular disease and obesity. The disease is rarely recognized and the treatment modalities are not widely known. Therefore patients feel very frustrated that leads to psychologic disorders. Until recently only conservative treatment was possible (combination of manual or intermittent pneumatic drainage, compression bandages and garnments and physiotherapy). Nowadays surgical intervention (liposuction) is also included in the treatment possibilities. The significance of lipedema is not only given by the disease itself, but also by the combination of lipedema and the group of associated and secondary diseases (articular and venous diseases, lymphedema, obesity, psychologic disorders). The more illnesses coexit, the worse the prognosis of the disease is. To prevent and delay it, it is indispensable to recognise the disease as early as possible and to treat and follow up lipedema patients expertly. |
|||