Therapy
A lipoma on the thigh does not need to be treated in most cases, as it does not cause pain or other symptoms. However, if it spreads to joints or nerves of the affected leg, surgical therapy may be necessary. There is no adequate conservative therapy for treatment.
However, most surgical procedures to remove a lipoma are cosmetic indications. Depending on its size and location, the lipoma on the thigh can be removed under local or general anesthesia. With the help of a small knife, the surgeon removes the lipoma from its capsule.
It is important to ensure that lipomas are usually very well supplied with blood. If there are vessels that radiate into the lipoma, they must be blocked to prevent possible secondary bleeding. After removal of the fat tumor, a defect often remains in the fatty tissue where the lipoma was before.
To avoid this dent, a so-called fat flap can be released, which can be implanted at the site of the lipoma removal. Usually a small scar remains. When a large lipoma is removed, a lot of excess skin may remain, which can then be removed for cosmetic reasons.
If the existing lipoma does not affect the subcutaneous fatty tissue but also deeper muscle areas of the thigh, the surgeon may have to split the affected muscle. In rare cases, complications can occur. The surrounding skin layers may be injured or bleeding, infections and disturbances in the healing process of the wound edges may occur.
It is not uncommon for a new lipoma to develop at the same site, a so-called recurrence. There is also a slightly newer method for removing a lipoma from the thigh. Particularly in the case of larger lipomas on the thigh, liposuction can be performed.
The advantage of this method is that it leaves only small scars and usually no dents remain in the fatty tissue after the removal. With this method, however, there is a risk that not all fat cells can be completely suctioned off, so that the remaining cells can develop into a lipoma on the thigh again. With this method, the contents of the capsule that envelops the lipoma are suctioned off.
The capsule itself and the remains of the fat tissue cells that were not caught remain in the tissue. The removed fat cells are always sent to a pathologist after removal, who analyses the cells in detail and determines whether it is really a lipoma, another benign or malignant change. With the method of liposuction, however, it is more difficult for the pathologist to assess the cells, as they were partially destroyed or mechanically stressed during the suction.
For medical reasons, it is not necessary to surgically remove a lipoma on the thigh, which does not cause pain or other discomfort. Nevertheless, the lipoma should be checked regularly by a physician in order to rule out a pathological degeneration into a tumor. Some patients also decide to have very large lipomas on the thigh surgically removed for aesthetic reasons.The lipoma on the thigh can also lie unfavorably and press on vessels or nerve branches, causing pain.
Some lipomas also contain nerves and blood vessels themselves. These so-called angiolipomas can be extremely painful and are usually surgically removed. Lipomas on the thigh, which cause pain, can be easily removed by surgery and the wound heals well. Sometimes, however, a new lipoma may form at the same location.