Tumescent Liposuction in Lipoedema Yields Good Long-Term Results
Schmeller W, Hueppe M, Meier-Vollrath I; 2011
Synopsis: This study examined whether tumescent liposuction provided lipedema patients with long-term relief, and found the procedure to be highly effective on a long-term basis.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Lipoedema is a painful disease in women with circumscribed increased subcutaneous fatty tissue, oedema, pain and bruising. Whereas conservative methods with combined decongestive therapy (manual lymphatic drainage, com- pression garments) have been well established over the past 50 years, surgical therapy with tumescent liposuction has only been used for about 10 years and long-term results are unknown.
OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficacy of liposuction concerning appearance (body shape) and associated complaints after a long-term period. Methods A total of 164 patients who had undergone conservative therapy over a period of years, were treated by liposuction under tumescent local anaesthesia with vibrating microcannulas. In a monocentric study, 112 could be re-evaluated with a standardized questionnaire after a mean of 3 years and 8 months (range 1 year and 1 month to 7 years and 4 months) following the initial surgery and a mean of 2 years and 11 months (8 months to 6 years and 10 months) following the last surgery.
RESULTS: All patients showed a distinct reduction of subcutaneous fatty tissue (aver- age 9846 mL per person) with improvement of shape and normalization of body proportions. Additionally, they reported either a marked improvement or a com- plete disappearance of spontaneous pain, sensitivity to pressure, oedema, bruis- ing, restriction of movement and cosmetic impairment, resulting in a tremendous increase in quality of life; all these complaints were reduced signifi- cantly (P < 0001). Patients with lipoedema stage II and III showed better improvement compared with patients with stage I. Physical decongestive therapy could be either omitted (224% of cases) or continued to a much lower degree. No serious complications (wound infection rate 14%, bleeding rate 03%) were observed following surgery.
CONCLUSIONS: Tumescent liposuction is a highly effective treatment for lipoedema with good morphological and functional long-term results.
APA Citation: Schmeller, W., Hueppe, M., & Meier-Vollrath, I. (2011). Tumescent liposuction in lipoedema yields good long-term results. British Journal Of Dermatology, 166(1), 161-168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2133.2011.10566.x
AMA Citation: Schmeller W, Hueppe M, Meier-Vollrath I. Tumescent liposuction in lipoedema yields good long-term results. British Journal of Dermatology. 2011;166(1):161-168. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2133.2011.10566.x.
Is there a surgeon in the Boston area who does tumescent/WAL liposuction for lipedema?