Though rarely a serious medical condition, it is advised to see a doctor if you notice a lump or swelling anywhere on your body.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah underwent an operation for lipoma at a Ahmedabad hospital on Wednesday. He underwent surgery for lipoma on the back of his neck, under local anaesthesia, stated a release from KD Hospital in the city. Lipoma is lump under the skin that occurs due to an overgrowth of fat cells. Doctors consider lipomas to be benign tumours, which means they are non-cancerous growths. However, people sometimes get them removed owing to pain, complications, or other symptoms.
How do lipomas occur?
A lipoma is a slow-growing, fatty lump but the cause of lipomas isn’t fully understood. They tend to run in families and could be due to genetic factors. Lipomas can occur more frequently in people with specific medical conditions such as Gardner’s syndrome, Cowden syndrome, Madelung’s disease and adiposis dolorosa.
Other risk factors for developing a lipoma may include obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, liver disease and glucose intolerance.
ALSO READ | Do you have diabetes? These are a few skin conditions you should know about
Symptoms
1. Lipomas can occur anywhere in the body and are typically situated under the skin. They commonly occur in the neck, shoulders, back, abdomen, arms and thighs.
2. Soft and doughy to the touch and also could move easily with slight finger pressure.
3. Generally small with typically less than two inches (five centimeters) in diameter, they can become sometimes painful as they press on nearby nerves.
When to see a doctor?
Though rarely a serious medical condition, it is advised to see a doctor if you notice a lump or swelling anywhere on your body. One should consult a doctor if the size increases, or suddenly grows very quickly, becomes painful or red or turns into immovable lump causing visible changes in the overlying skin.
Procedure to remove lipomas
A doctor can often remove a lipoma surgically. One method is to make a small cut in the skin and then squeeze out the lipoma where the person is usually under local anesthesia during the procedure and should be able to return home on the same day.
However, considerable incision may be needed to remove larger lipomas entirely. It is also possible to remove some lipomas using liposuction where the doctor will need to cut into the lump and insert a thin, hollow tube through the incision. They will then use the tube to suck the mass of fat cells out of the body.
After surgery, the doctor will usually send the lipoma material to a laboratory for analysis. These types of operations will often only leave a small scar once the wound has healed.
Source: Read Full Article