Lipoatrophy - Treatment and Surgery using Lipoatrophy

Lipoatrophy also known as Lipodystrophy usually means loss of fat by surgery. The fat layer in our body lies beneath the skin i.e. it is subcutaneous. Loss of subcutaneous fat leads to increased definition of the structures underneath (muscle and bone) and presents as one or more depressions in the skin. Lipoatrophy is made of up of two words lipo means fat, and atrophy means "removal of".

Facial lipoatrophy is the loss of fat beneath the skin, which can result in sunken cheeks, indentations, and hollow eyes. Of all the tongue-twisting medical terms that have entered todays medical vocabulary, few have caused more grief than "lipoatrophy," which is the loss of fat from specific areas of the body.

Lipoatrophy as a treatment

The treatment by lipoatrophy depends on cause of the lipodystrophy as any other ailment. This can include cosmetic procedures such as fat transfer (moving fat from one part of the body to another using flaps and grafts), injectable filers and implants, managing diabetes and high cholesterol, altering HIV treatments and medication such as anabolic steroids. While it is true that researchers still haven't determined the exact mechanism by which lipoatrophy occurs, progress is at hand.

This lesson focuses on what we do and don't know about facial lipoatrophy and includes a comprehensive overview of some of the treatments that are being studied to help manage it.