[Benign symmetric lipomatosis]

Benign symmetric lipomatosis is a rare disease that predominantly affects males. A close correlation with alcohol and nicotine abuse, metabolic disturbances and malignant tumours of the upper airways has been observed. We report the case of a 61-year-old female patient whose first clinical lesions had appeared more than 30 years earlier. The huge enlargement of fatty tissue had also involved her face. Case history, laboratory findings and radiological and ultrasound examinations allowed us to exclude metabolic disturbances and associated diseases.