Patient Info
- Gender:
- Female
- Age:
- 43
- Surgeon:
- Dr. Inessa Fishman
Description
This 43-year-old woman was bothered by a soft bump on her forehead, which grew slowly over a few years. Our facial plastic surgeon Dr. Inessa Fishman diagnosed her with a forehead lipoma, and removed this with a small surgical procedure. Dr. Fishman removed this benign, fatty lesion in the comfort of our office, with the help of injectable local anesthetic and laughing gas, carefully hiding the scar within the patient’s scalp hair. The patient is shown 6 months after the excision procedure, with a great outcome and excellent healing progress. She is so happy with her result, and feels more self-confident.
A lipoma is a slow-growing collection of fat cells enclosed in a thin, fibrous capsule or covering. A lipoma usually feels like a soft or “doughy” lump which can be moved around under the skin. Lipomas occur in 1% of the population, and are usually painless and do not have any other symptoms. In the head and neck, lipomas may develop in areas that are usually devoid of fat (such as under the brow-lifting forehead muscles) or within the fatty pads which normally comprise the cheeks. Lipomas may cause no symptoms, or result in mild discomfort; most patients are bothered by their unsightly appearance. While no one knows why lipomas develop, the leading scientific theories highlight genetics and trauma as possible causes. We normally surgically remove lipomas if they bother patients with their appearance.