Lipedema is diagnosed late due to lack of information – 06/25/2023 – Equilíbrio

Camile Stefano, 41, spent her teenage years and adult life trying to lose weight. At the age of 18, she had liposuction surgery on her legs, but the procedure did not solve her problem either. A little over a year ago, she finally received a diagnosis: lipedema.

The condition, characterized by an unusual accumulation of fat in the legs, arms or hips, affects mainly adult women and was recognized as a disease by the WHO (World Health Organization) in 2022.

However, according to Abeso (Brazilian Association for the Study of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome), the condition was first described in the 1940s and is not rare or recent. It is estimated that it affects about 10% of Brazilian women.

Camile’s condition, however, has been repeatedly linked to obesity by health professionals. “We start to believe it’s in our heads,” she says.

Since her early teens, the image consultant has suffered from discomfort in her legs, pain and dissatisfaction with her own body. “I’ve lost a lot of weight, but only from the waist up. This only highlighted my disproportionate body even more.”

Despite being characterized by the accumulation of fat, the condition differs from obesity in several aspects. The illnesses can occur simultaneously, but they are not necessarily related.

In the case of lipedema, there is inflammation and accumulation of subcutaneous fat, that is, in the lower layers of the skin. The only way to remove the excess is through surgery, but some medical interventions can help improve symptoms such as pain and inflammation.

It is a chronic disease and therefore there is no cure. However, physiotherapist Jaqueline Baiochi, a specialist in the treatment of the condition, says that surgical interventions are usually successful because recurrence is uncommon. For this, you need to maintain treatment with diet and physical activity.

“Untreated lipedema has a progressive character”, indicates Baiochi. Each time inflammatory triggers such as food are activated, the disease can be intensified. In the absence of treatment, the main consequences are vascular damage and impairment of the spine and joints.

For Baiochi, the lack of knowledge of health professionals and the population about the disease is what leads to the difficulty of diagnosis.

Plastic surgeon Fernando Amato, member of the Brazilian Society of Plastic Surgery, reinforces that the disease is not recent or uncommon, but there is a delay in identification because many professionals do not see it as a separate diagnosis. “Obesity is a risk factor, but they are two different things,” he says.

In addition to appearance, some of the symptoms are swelling, purple and red spots on the skin, pain and sensitivity to touch. According to the specialist, the most common surgical treatment is tumescent liposuction, but it is also important to maintain clinical follow-up.

He indicates that the disease also affects men, but mainly affects women. This is because it is associated with estrogen, a female hormone.

Iris Ramadas, 35, started experiencing symptoms shortly after her first period. “I’ve struggled with the scales my whole life. I started putting on weight when I was 11 or 12,” she says. A few years later, she started doing diets with nutritional monitoring.

“I looked for a doctor and did a lipo, but my body did not improve”, he says. Throughout her life, Iris experienced some changes in weight, but whenever she lost weight, she was unable to reduce the measurements of her legs and hips. “Each time I gained weight and lost weight, my legs got worse, the difference got bigger. It was a notable thing for everyone, this disproportion of my body.”

After looking for a series of treatments for weight loss, cellulite and other aesthetic procedures, Iris only suspected the disease when researching the subject.

In 2022, she had her condition confirmed by a specialist and was referred for surgery in September. “After the diagnosis, I realized that I was already undergoing conservative treatment, without even knowing it. That’s why I ended up having the surgery very quickly.”

Iris continues with clinical follow-up and is scheduled to have a second surgery, this time on her arms, but considers that the first intervention brought not only aesthetic improvement, but also functional improvement.

“It’s not a perfect leg, but it’s a normal leg. It doesn’t seem like I’m a person from the torso up and the other from the torso down”, he says.