Surgery for lipomas should not be estimated as simple as their name implies

ABSTRACT

This study presents 65 cases with soft tissue tumors. Their histopathological examinations revealed lipomas. Clinically the tumor was located superficially in 26 cases. In 33 patients, the tumor was located deeper. In other words, its was located in either the submuscular or subfascial plane. Lipomatosis was diagnosed in seven cases and lipodystrophic syndrome in five cases. One case with right maxillary enlargement was diagnosed as intraosseous lipoma following its partial resection. The lipomas in lipomatosis cases and lipodystrophic cases were superficially located, yet they were not considered as simple and encapsulated lipomas becasue their resections were not as simple as those of the latter. The emphasis was on the knowledge of the existence of submuscular and subfascial lipomas so that no surgical time was wasted on the superficial adipose tissue to look for the mass. Although it was not difficult to resect the lipomas in superficially located cases, it is believed that liposuction is not a proper treatment for the lipomas seen in the syndromic lipomatosis cases