- Teresa Sanderson, 60, has suffered from painful lipedema since she was a teenager.
Teresa Sanderson smiles wistfully as she looks at a photo of herself as a girl, a 6-year-old with slender legs and an “elfin” look. But the story will change in a few months.
“You could literally look at two photos – one from 1969 and one from 1970 – and you wouldn’t know I was the same person,” she says. “My feet suddenly got bigger.”
Within six months, she had turned into “a lump with the legs of a tree trunk.”
“Even though I wasn’t eating any differently than my family, I kept gaining weight,” says Theresa, now 60 and a former civil servant who lives in Somerset. “The heaviest part was my legs. My friends had skinny legs like children, but mine were huge.”
This wasn’t “just” because she was overweight, as her doctors kept telling her.
In fact, Teresa had lipedema. Lipedema is when fat forms abnormal deposits under the skin, usually around the thighs, causing a noticeable lump effect and significant enlargement of the legs.
It can also lead to a disproportionate accumulation of fat in other areas of your body, such as your knees, calves, and upper arms. It is also unrelated to weight, as it can occur even in people of a healthy weight.
Last month, the Mail reported that Brazilian model and influencer Luana Andrade had died after undergoing liposuction to treat lipedema that developed in her knees as a teenager.
The 29-year-old developed a blood clot in her lungs and went into fatal cardiac arrest during the procedure. Her mother, Luciana, later said that the condition caused Luana physical discomfort and affected her work as a model.
It is not known exactly why lipedema develops, but people with lipedema have an excess number of fat cells in the affected area and fluid builds up within those cells. The affected area tends to feel soft and stiff, tender to the touch, and bruises easily.
Lipedema is a “progressive condition” that usually begins in the teenage years when the thighs become heavy and dimpled (the upper body becomes smaller, sometimes described as “pear-shaped”). It starts, but becomes more noticeable over time.
Many women end up becoming obese. “Lipoedema limits mobility,” says Dr. Dennis Woolf, a London cosmetic doctor who specializes in treating the condition. “Then they can become depressed and self-conscious, and it becomes a downward spiral.”
Lipedema only affects women, affecting an estimated 10% of adult women in the UK, and is associated with hormonal changes during puberty, pregnancy, menopause or while taking the pill. Lipedema can also run in families. Despite the numbers affected, many women have never heard of this condition and assume they are overweight or have cellulite. Similarly, many general practitioners are unfamiliar with the condition, experts say.
“Lipoedema has only become recognized in medical practice in the last 10 years,” says Dr. Wolf. “Women are often ‘deceived’, with their GP telling them ‘you just have big legs’ or ‘look at her mother, she’s the same way’.”
This was Teresa’s experience.
After the age of 16, her condition worsened as she comforted herself with food to cope with the unexpected death of her mother.
“As a teenager, I was a size 12 in tops and a size 18 in bottoms,” she says. “By my late 20s, I had a size 34 butt.
“I had a bad reaction to an insect bite and developed a saucer-sized boil on my foot, which was made worse by my feet rubbing against each other.
“I also had some unexplained bruises,” she recalls. “I was told lack of exercise was the problem, but I knew that wasn’t the case. I did aerobics on my lunch break and walked to work, about 7 miles round trip a day.”
Teresa tried dieting, but while she would lose weight in other parts of her body (she once lost an amazing 7th weight), her legs remained the same and gained weight as the years went on. . She said, “By the time she was 40, she had to use a cane because her legs were so big and sore that she almost went crazy.”
He was fired from his job in his mid-40s because he was unable to walk properly at work.
But her condition was only recognized in 2012 when she was referred to a wound clinic after a cat scratch failed to heal. By that time she was 49 years old.
Teresa recalls: “I was lucky enough to meet a wonderful male nurse. She looked at my leg, it was covered in sores and bruises, and said, ‘You have lipedema.’
“I had never heard of it.”
Part of the problem for women like Theresa is that there is no diagnostic test to “confirm or deny that you have this condition,” Dr. Wolf said. Instead, it is based on a careful clinical physical examination and takes into account many factors such as family history.
What’s even more troubling is that lipedema is often confused with lymphedema. Lymphedema is a condition that causes swelling of the arms and legs due to disruption of the lymphatic system (which drains excess fluid from the body).
One important difference is that lipedema patients exhibit symmetrical symptoms (i.e., both sides are affected equally), whereas lymphedema symptoms usually appear only on one side and may affect the entire leg or arm (feet and It is accompanied by swelling of the entire body (including the hands).
But both conditions can be managed in similar ways, says Dr. Semiya Aziz, a general practitioner in London. “The main focus of treatment is to manage the symptoms either through conservative measures to prevent worsening of symptoms or, as a last resort, surgical means,” she says.
“Avoiding weight gain can help patients with lipedema, as excess weight can worsen limb swelling caused by fat,” she says.
However, diet and exercise usually do not help limbs already affected by lipedema. Konstantinos Kyriakides, consultant vascular surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, said: “This is due to fat cells under the skin of the legs retaining fluid, for reasons that are not fully understood. This is to prevent it from being released into the systemic circulation.” .
He added that if people with lipedema were to lose weight, it would be from the upper body, but “from the waist down, nothing changes.”
Both weight loss and compression garments are recommended as treatments by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), as is massage to reduce swelling.
In rare and severe cases, liposuction may be prescribed according to NICE guidelines, but this is only after other treatments have failed and there are “long waiting times”, says Dr Aziz.
However, NICE guidelines also highlight that liposuction carries risks of blood clots, fluid in the lungs, or reactions to anesthetics.
Kyriakides cautioned against surgical procedures, as some can worsen symptoms. This involves inserting large tubes deep into the tissues to suction out large amounts of fat, which can “damage lymphatic drainage from the legs and cause lymphedema,” he says.
Dr Woolf said research is underway at University College London to identify the difference between lipedematous fat and normal fat, adding: “Once we know the difference, we can create something to stop it. ” he added.
Meanwhile, Teresa said the condition of her foot was the worst it had ever been and she had now exhausted all NHS treatments.
She retrained and now teaches yoga, but struggles to be active. She needs to plan her outings well. “Is there a parking lot?” Is there a place to sit on the way?
“It’s a cruel condition. It’s not just ‘thick legs.’ It destroys your quality of life. ”