In the beginning

Let me please say this is not my first rodeo with Lipoma removal. This is my third time around, and I'm hoping it will be the last.

In 2000 I found a lump in my right thigh, which had very defined edges to it. I poked at it, and watched it, and found it was growing so I went off to my doctor to have it checked. They concluded that it was a fatty tissue tumor called a 'LIPOMA'. Nothing cancerous, just a collection of fat cells which could appear in anybody, but most likely in men over 40. I see... at the present time I was under 40...and to present day I am a woman. Lucky me. In quick progression another lipoma appears on my left thigh, and it was decided that both tumors would be excised at the same time and would hopefully not reappear. Not so much....

In 2003 the tumors on my thighs had been back for some time and had grown much bigger than the first time. This time I opted to find a plastic surgeon hoping to minimalize the 'denting' which occured after the first removal as well as the nerve damage that was also incured. Keep in mind that the first incisions were only a bout 1-3 inches long. Very small indeed. I chose Dr. Robert Feins in Manchester, NH to do my second lipoma removal. I DO NOT RECOMMEND HIM TO ANYBODY FOR ANYTHING. He looked at me like I was a fat chick there asking for some kind of favor firstly, his bedside manner was horrible, and his followup even worse. He did find tumors in my upper calfs this time to go with the two in my thighs, and decided that in order to avoid the 'denting' caused by a seroma (fluid build up at the place of the removal of tissue which, when it disapates, causes the remaining tissues collaps and cause a dent effect). he would do a liposuction proceedure. Off we went to surgery -- he did liposuction to remove most of the tumors in the thighs, and the calfs, he also removed some additional tumor material on the anterior of the right knee - but left the tumor material on the anterior of the left knee "because it didn't seem like it really needed to be removed". Obviously it should have, and the other side of that was that my legs looked uneven. He then used a steri-strip to close the wound holes from the lipo and let me leave. In case you're wondering...no the steri-strips did not hold... and YES I had gaping holes closing up. Thanks a ton.... Dr Franken-Feins!

I got married in 2005 and pregnant! YAY!! My pregnancy was great until it wasn't and we spent a tenuous 6 weeks in the hospital before our little tiny preemie was born. He spent another 3 1/2months in the NICU. So really 2005 - 2008 was taken up worrying about more improtant things than the return of my lipomas! Though by 2007 I knew they were back with a vengance.

By the time things really settled down with the little one, and I went back to work in early 2008 I could clearly tell that the tumors were huge. By huge I mean that I could see when standing that the tumor was hanging over the top of my knee cap, and that the one in my upper calf was bludging from anterior to exterior of the leg. That was the right leg. On the left the thigh tumor was also hanging over the tip of the knee cap - but not as largly, and the calf tumor was back but also not as large. Lucky left leg..... By the beginning of 2009 I knew that I needed to find a new surgeon and get a game plan together. The size of the tumors was so big and the weight was impossible to deal with. The right thigh tumor spanned the width of my thigh and was about 3 inches up from the knee. I found myself a new surgeon who had a whole new plan. ;-) This time we would remove the tumor and have drains put in to avoid the seroma situation. My leg would be put in a brace to keep the leg imobile and lessen the possiblilites of suture issues, and to apply some sort of pressure to help the remaining tissues fill in the place where the tumors came out of. He would also do some liposuction to shape the legs since he was removing a large amout of tissue struction and he wanted to contour the leg to look nice when it was all complete. So far...YES I LOVE HIM! My new surgeon is Dr. Steven Brown in Bedford, NH.

Here are some pictures of my leg pre-surgery.

Right leg, side view. I had tightened the muscle
to show the lipoma, normally it hung over the
top of the knee cap.
A view from the top, note how far the
tumor sticks out - huge bulge.


this is the view of the upper calf lipoma from the front right side of the leg. Note how it sticks out, I actually didn't realize how far until I saw these pics that I took!

Here I think it looks like a ball stuck under my skin!