Diets low in fat and carbohydrates, physical therapy and monthly kinesiology, as well as liposuction are just some of the treatments that a patient with lipedema must go on.
The disease, which is believed to It affects regarding 370 million people in the world.is predominant in women and affects the distribution of body fat.
The condition is relatively new, It was recognized as such only in 2018 by World Health Organization. For this reason, there are no clear statistics on how many people are affected in the world, let alone at the national level.
The local panorama regarding lipedema in Chile is also not very encouraging, because in addition to not having enough experts on the subject, still does not receive a code that distinguishes it as a diseaseTherefore, multidisciplinary treatment must be treated according to its symptoms, which entails high economic costs.
What is Lipedema?
in conversation with BioBioChilethe plastic surgeon and specialist in Lipedema, Nicolás Pereiraexplained that the diagnosis is difficult to achieve, even for doctors: “There is little information in the medical field. There are few who know that it exists, few who know how to diagnose it and fewer who know how to treat it.he claimed.
In fact, he explained that the disease is often confused by professionals with lymphedema, a condition of the lymphatic system that produces similar symptoms; however, lipedema “it is different, since it affects both extremities at the same time, that is, both arms, both legs or all four at the same time”Pereira said.
The main differentiating characteristics of Lipedema is that it affects “(in the case of) the upper extremities, from the wrists up, do not involve the hands, and end in the armpit, where the shoulder joint ends..
The same occurs in the legs, where the accumulation of fat is only restricted from the ankles to the hips, where seems to end suddenlyand without affecting the feet.
More than 20 years to obtain a diagnosis
For Alejandra, a Chilean patient living with Lipedemadiscovering his diagnosis was like trying to find water in the desert and he even had to travel all the way to Germany to treat the disease.
“It is very frustrating for patients to spend so much time without knowing what they have,” Pereira explained.
Alejandra was in her teens when she began to show the first symptoms, she told BioBioChile: “Puberty was a turning point. I remember being in 6th grade, seeing my classmates wear trendy pants and not being able to wear them, because my legs weren’t made for those pants“.
However, his diagnosis came several years later, almost 26 later.
It all started following visiting a physiotherapist for back pain, on that occasion the professional mentioned the possibility of having lymphedemaan inflammation due to obstruction of the lymphatic system, but his symptoms were not the same.
“A year and a half later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I had to go through so many medical treatments that I took advantage of and asked regarding lipedema,” added Alejandra.
New symptoms appeared when fat buildup moved to her arms following her first pregnancy, which increased with his second son. “For exercise it was horrible, because lifting the leg was like lifting a mass“, explained the 41-year-old woman regarding the discomfort caused by lipedema.
Alejandra finally decided to schedule a teleconsultation with a specialist in Germany whom she met through a Facebook support group of patients with the disease. That was how in 2020 she came to the answer: I had been suffering from Lipedema for more than 20 years.
“When they gave me the diagnosis I took a big backpack off me. Finally my legs are not my fault”shared.
After this, he decided to undertake the trip to the German country, where the disease is recognized by the health system. There the liposuction of his extremities was performed in which spent more than 7 thousand eurossomething like 6.5 million Chilean pesos.
How much is the treatment for Lipedema in Chile?
But the national reality is different. Catalina Monsalve is a dentist who is dedicated to recounting his life with Lipedema living in Chile through the social media under the name of ‘Cata Lipedema‘.
The 32-year-old professional also lived an odyssey to find her diagnosis and, like Alejandra, she noticed the first symptoms in adolescence.
“Since puberty I knew that the conformation of my body was different. I have a twin brother, so I had a point of comparison“, he counted.
Catalina also remembers that: “With the rest of the girls, at 12 or 13 years old, my body was very different. Bigger legs, bigger calves. When I was a girl I did many activities, I did all the sports extracurriculars, I was very active, but the lower part of my body was always bigger”.
The alerts returned when at the age of 20 he found vascular “spiders” on their legsso she decided to see a doctor, however, He recommended that she lose weight. It’s something that I’ve already tried several times.
“From there I did nothing, because that was the diagnosis. But when the pandemic started I gained weight and as I gained weight my symptoms increased. The feeling of heaviness, tiredness and pain“, said. And it is that when a person suffers from lipedema he can feel that the slightest touch is like a puncture wound.
“If someone leaned on my thigh it was as if they were burying something in my legs, but I thought it was normal and when I gained weight this spread to my arms”Monsalve said.
After reaching her diagnosis following seeing several foreign influencers on social networks, the dentist decided to consult with a plastic surgeon who specializes in the disease.
Today Catalina Monsalve is undergoing treatment. She must wear compression stockings daily, which she uses for now only on her legs, which have a value of 30 thousand pesos and that he must change every 4 months, however, he explains that the sleeves are much more expensive.
In addition to this, the professional must make frequent consultations with kinesiologists, nutritionist, nutritionist, physiotherapists and plastic surgeon. Consultations that are not part of any type of forecast and that amount to more than 100,000 pesos per month. “Semester is like a million pesos”concludes Monsalve.
BioBioChile He tried to communicate for weeks with the Undersecretary of Public Health to find out statistics and projects related to Lipedema in Chile, but we did not receive a response.
If you have symptoms similar to those described, it is advisable to see a specialist in the disease to receive the proper diagnosis.
