Recognizing and treating lipedema today

With Obesity Medicine Association’s Fall Summit right around the corner, conference attendees — just like myself — are taking a look at the schedule and planning their 2022 conference experience.

This year’s theme is “Overcoming Obesity,” and the line-up is jam-packed with sessions on breakthrough research and emerging pharmacotherapy treatments in obesity medicine.

I’m not only attending the OMA Fall Summit, but I am also leading a session and sharing my clinical expertise on lipedema. My session, “Emerging from the shadows — recognizing and treating lipedema,” sheds light on this chronic medical condition, explains how it differs from other adiposity-related disorders and explores cutting-edge treatment strategies.

As a physician, I see many patients who suffer from lipedema, a condition that is often unrecognized and misdiagnosed. Even though the disease is prevalent and affects an estimated 10% of the female population, it is still relatively elusive and can be an extremely challenging diagnosis for patients.

What is lipedema?

Lipedema is a connective tissue disease that causes increased symmetric adipose tissue on the lower abdomen, legs and arms — usually sparing the upper trunk of the body, head hands and feet. The condition has a much higher prevalence in women with rare reports of men experiencing symptoms. Lipedema tissue is fibrotic with a nodular feel, and very difficult to lose by usual lifestyle changes — including bariatric surgery — which differentiates the condition from obesity. Additionally, well before obesity causes lymphedema (swelling on one side of the body or hands and feet), patients with lipedema may develop pain and easy bruising.

How is lipedema treated?

Treating lipedema is complicated and should be considered more of a journey than a destination. Standard care for patients includes an anti-inflammatory diet and treatments that improve lymphatic flow, such as:

• eating healthy foods;
• exercising and increasing activity;
• receiving manual lymphatic drainage therapy;
• treating with deep tissue therapy; and
• using compression garments and pneumatic compression pumps.

In addition to the medical treatments, there are also natural and homeopathic methods that have shown positive results in the treatment of lipedema. Supplements like diosmin and hesperidin are often used to reduce inflammation in patients, and deep therapeutic cupping as well as suction-assisted devices or the Graston or Astym tools have also proven to be effective.

Bariatric and lipedema reduction surgeries are also treatment options for lipedema that should be considered under the advice of a physician. If a surgical solution is determined to be the best path forward, surgeries such as liposuction, excision, skin removal and manual lipedema extraction are some of the most common procedures for patients with lipedema.

Want to learn more about lipedema? Join me on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 11:30 a.m. for my session, “Emerging from the shadows — recognizing and treating lipedema.”

To register and learn more about the Fall Obesity Summit, visit: https://obesitymedicine.org/fall/pricing.

Reference:

Herbst K. Emerging from the shadows — recognizing and treating lipedema. Presented at: Fall Obesity Summit; Oct. 14-16, 2022; Anaheim, CA.