What is a Lipoma:

Lipomas are benign tumours which consists of encapsulated fat tissue. They are soft and moveable fat deposits which are mainly situated under the surface of your skin (referred to as superficial subcutaneous lipomas).

Lipoma’s are becoming more and more common with 1-2% of the population affected. The cause of lipomas is unknown which it makes it difficult to cure or treat. The most common method of removal is surgery. Other common methods are liposuction and steroid injections; however, these methods do not fully remove the lipoma like surgery, which may result in regrowth.

There are a variety of different lipomas out there and its beneficial to understand them in detail if we wish to start our journey to find a cure.

The SkinGlitch community are currently researching different treatment methods in an attempt to remove them all together or at least reduce their size and appearance.

You can follow the communities progress by joining the Facebook Group below:

Join Us!

Private Facebook Group joint and feel free to share your story, discuss your treatments attempts, read about others who suffer with Lipomas and help work together to find a cure.

Types of lipomas:

There are several types of lipomas, including:

Subcutaneous lipoma:
This is the most common type of lipoma and occurs just under the skin.

Lipomatosis (commonly known as familial multiple lipomatosis (FML))
This is a condition where there are multiple lipomas across the body as opposed to just one or two. Theses lipomas can be anywhere, including the head and shoulders.

Lipomatosis can occur in various forms, including:

• Familial multiple lipomatosis: This is a rare form of lipomatosis that is believed to be inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, meaning that a person has a 50% chance of inheriting the condition from an affected parent.

• Dercum’s disease: Also known as adiposis dolorosa, this is a rare form of lipomatosis characterized by painful lipomas that can be found on the trunk, limbs, and other areas of the body. In addition to the presence of lipomas, people with Dercum’s disease may also experience other symptoms such as fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbances.

• Madelung’s disease: Also known as benign symmetric lipomatosis or Launois-Bensaude syndrome, this is a rare form of lipomatosis that typically affects the neck, shoulders, and upper trunk. It is more commonly seen in middle-aged men with a history of alcohol abuse.

Intramuscular lipoma:
This type of lipoma occurs within muscle tissue and can sometimes cause discomfort or pain.

Intermuscular lipoma:
This type of lipoma occurs between muscles.

Perineural lipoma:
This type of lipoma occurs around nerves and can sometimes cause nerve compression or pain.

Angiolipoma:
This type of lipoma contains blood vessels and may appear reddish or blue in colour.

Spindle cell lipoma:
This type of lipoma is made up of spindle-shaped cells and tends to occur on the neck, back, or shoulders.

Pleomorphic lipoma:
This type of lipoma has a mixture of fat cells and non-fat cells and tends to occur on the back or neck.

Hibernoma:
This rare type of lipoma is composed of brown fat cells and tends to occur in the neck, shoulders, and upper back.

 

Common Lipoma Treatments

The treatment of a lipoma depends on several factors, including the size, location, and symptoms associated with the tumour. In most cases, lipomas are benign and do not require treatment. However, if the lipoma is causing discomfort, is unsightly, or if the diagnosis is uncertain, treatment options may include:

Invasive Solutions:

The current list of invasive treatments for lipomas are as follows:

Surgery:

In some cases, a healthcare provider may recommend surgical removal of the lipoma, particularly if it is causing discomfort, is growing rapidly, or is cosmetically unappealing.

Surgery is the most common and highly recommended (by medical practitioners) form of removal, its quick and successful resulting in a low percentage of regrowth. The main downside about surgery is the invasive method of being cut open which results in scarring. However, as the years have progressed so have the surgical techniques used such as the as the squeeze method. This method is done by creating a small incision, roughly ¼ the size of the lipoma and then the lipoma is squeezed out of the incision, resulting in a significantly smaller scar

Liposuction:

Liposuction can be used to remove a lipoma that is large or in a difficult-to-reach location.

Liposuction is performed through a small incision and the suction of the lipoma fatty tissue results in significant reduction, which enables the remaining lipoma capsule to be pushed (or squeeze) out with very little scarring, if any. Liposuction is usually performed for larger lipomas 4cm+ in size. The downside to liposuction is that it may not remove the entire lipoma resulting in regrowth.

Steroid injection (Lipolysis):

Injection lipolysis or lipodissolve is the practice of injecting phosphatidyl choline/ sodium deoxycholate (PDC/DC) compounds in the fatty tissue within the lipoma. This process dissolves the fat and shrinks the lipoma size. Surgery can usually follow to remove the capsule using a very small incision.

Radiation therapy:

Radiation therapy may be used to treat lipomas that are particularly large, difficult to remove surgically, or recur after surgery.

Natural Solutions:

Removing lipomas using invasive techniques is not a cure and may leave us with scars and the possibility of re-occurrence down the line. What we need is a natural solution to help us eliminate lipomas for good.

SkinGlitch has been created to build a community of likeminded individuals to join and provide theories and potential treatments to investigate.

Join our community and follow us on Facebook (private group):

Private Facebook Group join and stay updated on all news Skin, specifically Lipoma and Seborrheic Dermatitis. 

Some topics we are exploring are below:

Alkaline rich diet may be the key to curing our lipomas since bacteria and viruses (toxins) thrive in acidic environments. One of the methods our bodies deal with these toxins is to excrete them via our skin causing a variety of issues such as eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, acne, and I possibly lipomas too.

Ketogenic Diet (or low carb and low sugar diet) as tumours primarily feed off glucose. As a lipoma is a benign tumour, we can cut off its food source by reducing our glucose converting foods such as carbohydrates and sugar.

Endocrine and immune system: Without a fully functioning endocrine and immune system our bodies will struggle to excrete toxins and unwanted material from our bodies through normal channels (kidneys, liver etc). Instead, it will do the next best thing and encapsulates them into a fatty lipoma.

Candida Albican (CA) Overgrowth: Lipoma growth may be related to the overgrowth of Candida Albican in our gut. Leaky gut allows for toxins, food particles and other foreign substances to leak from our gut into our blood stream, putting pressure on our immune system. In addition, having a bacterial imbalance in our gut causes digestion issues and results in further fungal infections across our body.

Avoiding Sugar is a new discovery by molecule biologists in Belgium who have discovered that sugar stimulates tumour growth. The biologists discovered that the tumour cells act differently to normal cells when it comes energy. Normal cells use oxygen to breakdown glucose to create energy, but cancerous/tumour cells get energy from fermenting sugar which in turn stimulates tumour growth.

Exercising: Ensure we consume antioxidants while exercising to control the level of free radicals within our bodies. Exercising without a decent level of antioxidants can create high levels oxidative stress within our bodies which causes free radicals (atoms or groups of atoms with an odd/ unpaired number of electrons). Oxidative stress occurs when oxygen interacts with our bodies molecules and causes them to form reactive free radicals.

SkinGlitch

At SkinGlitch our team have searched far and wide to source long-sleeve summer clothing that will be gentle on the skin, provide protection from the sun and help cover up skin conditions (lipoma’s, eczema, and psoriasis) on arms that may impact self-image and confidence.

Every purchase goes towards research for a natural treatments and cures for conditions like lipoma, eczema, seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis.

Our top picks are below: