close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffNo treatment is usually necessary for a lipoma. However, if the lipoma is in a location that bothers you, is painful or is growing, your doctor might recommend that it be removed. Lipoma treatments include:
- Surgical removal. Most lipomas are removed surgically by cutting them out. Recurrences after removal are uncommon.
- Steroid injections. This treatment shrinks the lipoma, but usually doesn't completely eliminate the tumor.
- Liposuction. This treatment uses a needle and a large syringe to remove the fatty lump. It's difficult to remove the entire lipoma with this technique.
References
- Goldstein BG, et al. Benign neoplasms of the skin. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 12, 2009.
- Collison DW. Lipomas. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/print/sec10/ch127/ch127f.html. Accessed Nov. 16, 2009.
- Pandya KA, et al. Benign skin lesions: Lipomas, epidermal inclusion cysts, muscle and nerve biopsies. Surgical Clinics of North America. 2009;89:677.
- Salam GA, et al. Lipoma excision. American Family Physician. 2002;65:901.
- Brenn T. Neoplasms of subcutaneous fat. In: Wolff K, et al. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill Companies; 2003. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=2951459. Accessed Nov. 18, 2009.
Find Mayo Clinic on