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Eat to starve lymphedema and lipedema by having foods that fight these conditions (and cancer) and avoiding foods that contribute to symptoms or related conditions. Learn how food choices affect both conditions and how better nutrition can improve symptoms (including pain) and delay changes associated with progression to more advanced stages. Intended for anyone with, or at risk for, lymphedema or lipedema, caregivers, lymphedema therapists, and other health care providers. Signs of lymphedema and lipedema (painful fat syndrome) include swelling (edema), abnormal fat accumulation, pain, skin changes, and infections (cellulitis, wounds or ulcers) in affected areas. Lymphedema and lipedema are progressive conditions that can be depressing, disfiguring, disabling, and (potentially) deadly, without treatment. This guide explains why nutrition is an essential part of treatment and self-care for these conditions, what to eat, and how to change your eating pattern. It also covers vitamins, minerals, and supplements that may be beneficial. You may be at risk for lymphedema if you have chronic venous insufficiency, other venous disorders, heart disease, obesity, a cancer diagnosis (especially breast cancer, reproductive system cancers, or melanoma), or a family history of lymphedema or swollen legs. Eating wisely and maintaining a healthy body weight can help reduce your risk of developing lymphedema symptoms

Lipedema an often overlooked but treatable disease Lipedema is a painful disease that affects some women between puberty and menopause through a subcutaneous fat accumulation especially in the lower extremities. Patients suffer from pain and pressure tenderness. The larger fat accumulation, especially on the inside of the thighs and knees, causes walking difficulties. This can successfully be treated by liposuction with good long-term results in terms of pain reduction and prevention of osteoarthritis development in the knee and ankle joints.

BACKGROUND: Long-term results following liposuction in patients with lipoedema are available only for an average period of 4 years. OBJECTIVE: To find out whether the improvement of complaints persists for a further 4 years. METHODS: In a single-centre study, 85 patients with lipoedema had already been examined after 4 years. A mail questionnaire - often in combination with clinical controls - was repeated after another 4 years (8 years after liposuction). RESULTS: Compared with the results after 4 years, the improvement in spontaneous pain, sensitivity to pressure, oedema, bruising and restriction of movement persisted. The same held true for patient self-assessment of cosmetic appearance, quality of life and overall impairment. Eight years after surgery, the reduction in the amount of conservative treatment (combined decongestive therapy, compression garments) was similar to that observed 4 years earlier. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate for the first time the long-lasting positive effects of liposuction in patients with lipoedema.

Compression therapy is a key component in the effective management of people with lower limb problems associated with venous, lymphatic and fat disorders such as lipoedema. Individuals with lymphoedema, venous ulceration and lipoedema often require long-term compression therapy to prevent and manage problems such as chronic ulceration and skin changes, persistent swelling and shape distortion. Challenges remain in achieving acceptable, safe, effective and cost-efficient compression therapy choices. Adjustable compression wrap devices using hook and loop fasteners, commonly called VELCRO brand fasteners, present new opportunities for improving treatment outcomes, supporting patient independence and self-management in the use of compression therapy. This paper reports the findings of an evidence review of adjustable compression wrap devices in people with lymphoedema, chronic oedema, venous ulceration and lipoedema. DECLARATION OF INTEREST: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

While there is no proven cure for lipoedema, early detection is key as specialist treatments, complemented by self-management techniques, can improve symptoms and prevent progression. There is no universal approach as the correct treatment or treatments will depend on each patient's particular circumstances; however, when chosen early and appropriately, interventions can provide huge benefits. The most common treatments in the management of lipoedema include compression, manual lymphatic drainage (MLD), tumescent liposuction, intermittent pneumatic compression therapy (IPC), kinesio taping, deep oscillation therapy, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

Lipedema is a chronic disorder characterized by abnormal distribution of subcutaneous adipose tissue on the proximal extremities, pain and capillary fragility. Its etiology is unknown but in analogy to central obesity, chronic low-level inflammation in adipose tissue has been suggested. There seems to be an increased propagation of pre-adipocytes into mature adipocytes contributing to the massive enlargement of subcutaneous adipose tissue. We investigated whether tyrosine kinases might be involved. Proteins from adipose tissue harvested during microcannular tumescent liposuction in lipedema and in lipomas were subjected to 10% polyacrylamide-gel, transferred to a polyvinylidenfluorid membrane and immunoblotted with indicated P-Tyr-100 antibody followed by enhanced chemiluminescence reaction. A survey of all blots did not reveal tyrosine-phosphorylated proteins with a molecular weight >100 kD in lipedema tissue and controls. These investigations suggest absence of activated growth factor receptors. Some signals indicating unspecific tyrosine-phosphorylation of smaller proteins were detected in tissue of both lipedema patients and controls. The present data suggest that there is no enduring activation of tyrosine kinase pathways of adipogenesis in lipedema as in lipoma controls.

At present, there is no proven cure for lipoedema. Nevertheless, much can be done to help improve symptoms and prevent progression. Many of these improvements can be achieved by patients using self-management techniques. This article describes the range of self-management techniques that community nurses can discuss with patients, including healthy eating, low-impact exercise, compression garments, self-lymphatic drainage, and counselling.

Frequently misdiagnosed as obesity, lipoedema is chronic condition involving an abnormal build-up of fat cells in the legs, thighs and buttocks that cannot be shifted by exercise or dieting. Estimated to affect up to 11% of the female population, the condition is widely unknown by health professionals. This means women typically wait for many years before diagnosis. This allows the condition to progress unchecked, resulting in unnecessary deterioration and the development of associated comorbidities, as well as significant pain and mental anguish. A free, 30-minute Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) e-learning course created in partnership with Lipoedema UK aims to rectify this situation by educating nurses, GPs and other health professionals on how to diagnose and manage lipoedema in primary care. This article aims to describe the condition of lipoedema, how to recognise/diagnose it, current treatment options and the findings of a 240-patient survey carried out by Lipoedema UK in 2013 that included documenting the difficulties for patients in obtaining a diagnosis as well as the mental and physical effects of the condition.

Liposuction surgically removes subcutaneous abdominal tissue (SAT) and has almost no effect on visceral abdominal tissue (VAT) depot. However, some authors suggest that deep layers of SAT are functionally similar to VAT and the amount of deep subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue is strongly related to insulin resistance in a manner nearly identical to that of visceral adiposity. Moreover, SAT determines leptin secretion which indirectly reflects the level of insulin sensitivity in the body. Thus, the immediate removal of SAT could potentially affect metabolic profile of a patient. The current data are conflicting and cannot bring a clear evidence suggesting that liposuction itself results in important metabolic outcomes and, on the other hand, cannot exclude such a possibility. This review summarizes the liposuction-induced metabolic changes with regard to release of major adipokines and insulin sensitivity.

Background: Lipedema is a poorly known disorder of painful subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) likely affecting millions of women worldwide. Stage 1 lipedema has smooth skin with increased underlying fat, Stage 2 has indentations and nodules, and Stage 3 has large extrusions of skin and SAT. Women with lipedema have more SAT below the waist. As this gynoid fat is known to be cardioprotective, we aimed to determine if health declined with increasing stage and extent of lipedema SAT. Methods and Findings: Chart review from June 2012 to February 2013 at a tertiary academic center. Fifty women and one man were included in consecutive order. Fat was assessed in 29 areas for lipomas, size of the depot, and presence of lipedema fat. Pain was assessed by a numerical pain scale. Average age of patients was 50 ± 13 y; average body mass index was 38 ± 12 kg/m2. Median age of development of lipedema was 20 y. Pain occurred daily in 89.7%. None of the patients with Stage 1 lipedema had diabetes, hypertension or dyslipidemia. The amount of lipedema fat differed significantly between Stages of lipedema (p=0.003), with Stage 3 having significantly more. There was no difference in fat depot size or number of lipomas amongst Stages. Only one of 51 patients had type 2 diabetes. There was an increase in shortness of breath, palpitations, urination, and numbness in Stage 3. Conclusions: Lipedema fat can develop in any SAT location and increases in association with increasing signs and symptoms of systemic illness.

In many respects, lipedema of the arms and legs is still an underresearched disease within the lymphatic spectrum. It is clear that clinical symptoms frequently include symmetrical fat distribution in the arms and legs and pathognomonic tenderness in female family members. However, 75 years after the first descriptions provided by Allen and Hines, we still lack pathological evidence that would provide more insight than that offered by the theses proposed by Marsch and Brauer. We also lack information about hormonal influence on hyperplastic fatty tissue and the causes of obviously increased lymph formation in the fatty tissue in patients with lipohyperplasia dolorosa. Much more is known about the effects of combined decongestive therapy, which has been used since the 1960s. Moreover, since 1997, surgery has been used to successfully treat this disease presentation. The success rate in long-term observation (15 years) is 97%.