15 Lipomas Removed in 2 Surgeries

Review

Cost: >$10 billed to insurance, my cost (5K)
scars: heavy scarring
was it worth it: yes and no.

My personal story

I am a male 23yrs old. I have had lipomas on my arms and stomach every since i hit puberty. Around the age 18-21 lipomas started to increase in number around my arm, stomach, thy, and back. Often when I palpate some part of my body I found newer forming lipomas. I visited doctors several times and told it was only a lipoma and can cause no harm.

The biggest lipoma I had was on my left forearm an inch and a half wide and 1/2 an inch above the skin surface. This was hideous and I wanted it removed. I talked to my primary doctor and got a referral to a general surgeon. He basically asked what I wanted removed and I had them all over my body. I pointed out almost 15 lipomas through out my arm, stomach, and legs ( I wish I didnt). The surgery was done in 2 separate parts, the first half took out all the lipomas on my left side and the next half (weeks later) took out lipomas in my right side.

After the surgery I felt the suergon did a terrible job. There were 3 lipomas which the suergon cut, but never removed the mass. It was obvious once the wounds heeled he didnt remove it. There was also heavy scarring. The biggest scar is on my stomach almost 2.5inches long.

Here is my recommendation for anyone who has lipomas and is considering surgery.

1. Consider what lipomas you want removed, if it is anywhere on your body which is visible to others and bothers you you should remove it. Dont remove lipomas on your stomach or legs (its not worth the scarring trust me).

2. Once you know for sure the lipomas you want removed get a referral from you primary physician to a general suergon or a physician that can preform excision by using Local anesthesia(LA). Using LA is much cheaper costing around hundreds of dollars after insurance vs. thousands if the surgeon puts you to sleep.

3. Make sure find a good surgeon that can do it with minimal scarring.

4. After surgery once the band-aids are removed, apply something to the scar every day such as(maderma, cocobutter, olive oil, scar sheets) to minimize the scarring.

Hope this helps