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Improvements in patients with lipedema 4, 8 and 12 years after liposuction
Axel Baumgartner1, Michael Hueppe2, Ilka Meier-Vollrath1
1Hanse Clinic, Specialized Liposuction Clinic, Luebeck, Germany.
Background:
Long-term results following liposuction in patients with lipedema were available only for an average period of 8 years.
Objective:
To find out whether the improvements persist for a further 4 years.
Methods:
In 60 patients with lipedema a single-centre study with a mail questionnaire - often in combination with clinical controls - was performed after an average period of 12 years following liposuction(s). All patients in this group had already been surveyed 4 and 8 years after surgery.
Results:
Compared with the earlier results improvement persisted with regard to spontaneous pain, sensitivity to pressure, edema, bruising and restriction of movement; similar outcomes were observed for self-assessment of cosmetic impairment, reduction in quality of life and overall impairment. While in the period from 4 to 8 years postoperatively complaints slightly increased, this was not the case for the period 8 to 12 years postoperatively. In addition a similar reduction of conservative treatment (decongestive therapy, compression garments) was observed as after 4 and 8 years postoperatively. Compared with the body weight before liposuction, 55% of the patients showed a reduction of 6.2 kg on average and 43.3% had a weight increase with an average of 7.9 kg.
Conclusion:
The results show, that the positive effects of liposuction last 12 years postoperatively without relevant worsening. They imply that liposuction for lipedema leads to a permanent reduction of symptom severity and need for conservative therapy.
