Baton Rouge Clinic Health Library

Fatty Tumors

     Published: 01, 2001

"Fatty Tumors" are the common name for lipomas. Lipomas are lumps or growths made up of fat cells (also called adipocytes). Adiocytes multiply in a certain area to form lipomas.

Why does this happen? The reason for this is unknown. Despite many theories, there has been no proven relationship to dietary consumption, weight gain or weight loss. Some people seem more likely to form them, and this may indicate a genetic predisposition.

Lipomas are the most common benign soft tissue tumor in the body. They most often occur beneath the skin, but can form almost anywhere (brain, intestine, muscles, etc.). They can grow very large, resulting in symptoms such as blockage of the intestine or soreness and irritation to areas of impact on the body (i.e. elbow).

The conventional lipomas are the most common type. These are the ones beneath the skin. As you probably concluded, they look like lumps of fat. When successfully removed, they are bright yellow, spongy, and well outlined with a soft capsule.

True lipomas are not cancerous and do not turn into cancer. Treatment includes observation or surgical removal. Surgically removing the lipomas confirms the diagnosis and returns normal skin contour.

Any symptomatic lipoma should be removed and an enlarging lipoma should also be surgically removed since other cancerous growths may occasionally mimic lipomas.

Usually the diagnosis of a lipoma can be made on clinical examination alone. (This explains why your husband's doctor were able to call these lipomas "by the way they felt.")

The Baton Rouge Clinic, AMC, offers this information as a courtesy service. Please remember that medical knowledge is always evolving and we cannot represent that any of our information is absolutely current. Please consult a physician before taking any medical action based on information gathered from this or any website.