Hormone imbalances - is it possible to have lipedema in the trunk area? (Photos)

You do not have Lipedema.

Lipedema is a diagnosis of exclusions and that it cannot be tested for or diagnosed. It is a name that’s used for describing individuals who have excessive worsening fat distribution on their extremities.

If it’s not on the extremities it is not lipedema by definition.

So since your problem isn’t on your extremities you do not have lipedema.

You are overweight and carry fat in the subcutaneous fat on your midsection.

It would be important for us to know if you wanted us to make a solid assessment if you’ve had previous pregnancies.

In regards to the front of the abdomen there are four variables that determine the shape and contour. If someone doesn’t like the way their belly looks it is generally always because of one or more of these four variables.

The four variables are abdominal skin laxity, abdominal excess subcutaneous fat, muscle while separation from previous pregnancies called diastasis recti and lastly access visceral or intra-abdominal fat.


My best guess is you have a slight amount of all four of these but excess subcutaneous fat is probably the number one cause. If you have had previous pregnancies than muscle separation is probably number two.

It requires an examination to make an accurate assessment.

Weight loss works for all excess fat but does not change fat distribution. If the problem is subcutaneous fat and Liposuction is the solution and this would certainly fix your problem if you would like. Patients who have issues with skin laxity and or muscle separation from previous pregnancies call diastasis recti should choose a full tummy tuck. Excess visceral fat can only be lost through weight loss.

You do not have lipedema and you don’t need to find an expert other than someone who is very talented at Liposuction. Liposuction results vary substantially among providers in this as a major impact and overall patient satisfaction after the procedure. Delivering consistent high-quality Liposuction results is more difficult than most people believe.

For this reason patients should spend a significant amount of time and effort finding the most experienced and talented provider in their community. I recommend doing this by scheduling multiple in person consultations with local board-certified plastic surgeons who have extensive experience with Liposuction. During consultations ask providers to show their entire collection of before and after pictures of a nominal Liposuction. An experienced provider should easily be able to show you 50 or more sets of before and after pictures. Highly experienced surgeons will have several hundreds or potentially thousands of before and after pictures of just this procedure on this area. Ask providers to show results of patients who have similar body characteristics to your own as well as results that didn’t turn out as well as they had hoped for and have them discuss why the results look different.

Lastly read all the reviews on various physician review websites for each provider you are considering and avoid providers with any significant number of justified negative reviews. If you can find a provider who has a collection of impressive before and after pictures that reads like a telephone book and has no justified negative reviews on various physician review sides while being in practice for more than 10 years you’ve probably found the person you want to do your procedure.

You didn’t include your weight but getting on a scale and calculating your BMI and checking this in comparison to what should be a recommended BMI or weight based on your height is a good starting point. Weight loss is and should be part of the solution.


Best,

Mats Hagstrom MD