I am thrilled that the topic of lipedema made it on to the AMA educational hub – thanks to an interview with my friend, the amazing Dr. Karen Herbst! That’s amazing exposure for a much ignored problem.
Years ago, when I first met Dr. Herbst, she was talking about her career path to a group of people, and how she came to focus on fatty deposition disorders. She said she had noticed the way that men as they age tended to deposit fat in the abdomen but not their hips and thighs like women. She began by asking why males and females had different fat deposition patterns. That’s something so obvious that most people don’t even “see” it. Genes impact fat deposition patterns, sometimes in dramatic ways. I am sorry that I can’t quote her properly, but she said when she went to her advisors and said she was interested in fat deposition, they told her what a dumb idea it was. Dr. Herbst is a great example of why we should keep asking “why?” and how amazing careers can be built on the tenacious pursuit of the question “why?”
For more information, check out this article in Advances in Skin and wound care.
Previous blogs on Lipedema:
- Lymphatic Function in the Early Stages of Lipedema – Article Just Out!
- Lipedema & Lymphedema Patient Round Table Discussions Available on YouTube
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
Caroline, thank you for sending this and I will look forward to viewing. I am a Certified Lymphedema Therapist and see Lipidema patients that need to have an “assessment” to validate (prove?) that they have issues related to the Lipidema in order to qualify them for insurance coverage for specialized liposuction surgery to address their condition. As you know, very few people, even (especially) in the medical community, know about, or understand, this devastating condition and even less about what to do about it. Thanks for this ‘coverage’.
Thomas Bucklew, PT, CLT-LANA