Lipedema Treatment From diagnosis to gentle WAL liposuction – all under one roof at Park-Klinik Birkenwerder north of Berlin.

How do you recognize lipedema?

An increase in the circumference of the legs and arms beginning with puberty, pregnancy or menopause is suspect. The skin is irregular on its surface and very sensitive to touch. Hands and feet are still slim. Exercise and a healthy diet have no significant effect on the development of the body’s silhouette. Blue spots appear quickly, even with the slightest trauma. Another person in the family is also affected by this appearance.

All patients who come to our specialist clinic in order to receive the best possible treatment should have received the specialist diagnosis “lipedema” from a phlebologist, vascular surgeon or another specialist familiar with this clinical picture before the first consultation appointment. Ideally, you should also be provided with flat-knit compression garments and wear them consistently.

By making a diagnosis with a specialist, other causes of weight gain such as venous insufficiency with the help of sonography and other clinical examination methods are excluded. If you have varicose veins accompanying your lipedema, vein stripping or some other type of obliteration of the varicose veins should be performed before lipedema surgery.

How are lipedema divided?

From the experienced surgeon in the Park-Klinik Birkenwerder near Berlin, liposuction is a very low-risk procedure, however, it is not possible to exclude developing skin retractions or contour irregularities (dents).

3 stages are divided:

1. Stage: Formation of orange peel (minor dents)
2. Stage: Development of larger dents (mattress skin)
3. Stage: large, harder flaps of skin and ridges, which even cover the hands and back of the feet

In addition, depending on the severity, there are 5 types:

1. Type: limited to the buttock-hip region
2. Type: up to the knees and fat rag on the knee inside
3. Type: to the ankles
4. Type: only hands and feet are not affected
5. Type: Water retention (edema) even in the hands and back of the feet, fingers and toes (lipolymph edema), damage to the larger lymphatics

The partial bruising that occurs during liposuction disappears after a few weeks.

What does this therapy look like?

The gentle Waterjet Assisted Liposuction (WAL) removes the diseased lipoedema fat cells without destroying the connective tissue structures, blood vessels, lymph channels and nerves. This can be aesthetically quite beautiful results on the affected body regions.

On the day of the operation, the surgeon first marks the operating area with a pen. About a few tiny small punctures then a saline solution is injected. It also contains adrenaline and a local anesthetic. The solution quenches the bleeding that occurs during aspiration, soothes the pain of the patient and causes the fat cells stored there to swell, making them easier to remove. Using a small cannula, you can then aspirate up to 9 liters of fat cells, lymph and blood from the subcutaneous fatty tissue.

The operations take about 120 minutes each. An anesthetist is always present accompanying the operation and can offer either a drowsy sleep or a general anesthetic if necessary. As a rule, one night is planned in the clinic. For further safety and avoidance of complications, maximum fat removal of up to 10% of body weight should not be exceeded. Also, the operated body surface must be kept as low as possible, which is why lipoedema must always be operated in several steps.

What is WAL (water jet associated liposuction) and how does such an operation work?

On the day of the operation, the surgeon first marks the operation area with a pen. A saline solution is then injected into the fatty tissue through several tiny punctures. The solution also contains adrenaline and a local anesthetic. The solution stops the bleeding that occurs during suction, relieves the patient's pain and allows the fat cells stored there to swell so that they can be removed more easily. With the help of a narrow cannula, up to 9 liters of fat cells, lymph and blood are sucked out of the subcutaneous fatty tissue.

The technique of the water jet gently treats the lymphatic system. These are of particular importance for regeneration and the decongestion process. Thanks to the power of the water jet, we get a maximum amount of extracted fat with very attractive aesthetic results at the same time.

▶ Abspielen

Kein Transkript vorhanden

The operation takes about 120 minutes each. An anesthetist is always present during the operation and can offer either twilight sleep or general anesthesia if necessary. As a rule, an overnight stay in the clinic is planned. There is an upper limit to the volume to be aspirated. This is determined in a personal consultation.

What is LASER tightening?

Since January 2022 we have been offering our patients an optional LASER tightening treatment (in addition to water jet-associated liposuction). With this method, the fat cells are specifically destroyed with controlled and precise laser energy and liquefied by the heat (fat melt). The liquefied fat - depending on the size of the area to be treated - is broken down by the metabolism or sucked off manually.

The thermal effect of the laser also stimulates the formation of the skin's own collagen. In this way, LASER tightening treatment not only reduces fat, but also tightens the subcutaneous connective tissue.

Will life be changed for the better after lipedema surgery?

Lipedema surgery can change your life positively by improving lymphatic drainage. This reduces the volume of the extremities and makes the leg or arm slim again. This leads to the fact that the mobility increases again, sport is again possible without restrictions. In addition, pain can be reduced or even eliminated entirely. Items of clothing such as pants, blouses or tight boots can be worn again and secondary diseases such as joint problems are avoided.

Quality is the result of many years of research and development

The team of doctors at Park-Klinik Birkenwerder has been using the gentle liposuction method for more than 20 years. We distinguish among the first users of the WAL method across Germany and Europe. Numerous scientific studies in cooperation with our clinic and the company Human Med. These scientific studies are accompanied by the University of Rostock. We are very proud that the real development steps to improve liposuction technology have come about in our company and have given them through us.

But the best technology is worthless if the craftsmanship is lost. Thanks to our decades of expertise in the field of fat transplantation, which depends on particularly fine liposuction techniques, we are not only one of the pioneers in this field, but also today among internationally sought-after experts.