The Telegraph report on painful (and often misdiagnosed) condition Lipoedema - 'the little-known condition that causes fat legs"
Following the revelation that Love Island celebrity, Shaughna Phillips, had been diagnosed with Lipoedema and has had liposuction to remove abnormal fat tissue from her calves, reporter Alice Hall researched further into the condition.
READ FULL TELEGRAPH ARTICLE HERE
In the article, Lipodema Chair Sharie Fetzer added valuable insights into the condition:
Janet Scott who lives with Lipoedema talked about the journey that lead to the private funding of her own liposuction (not available on the NHS, even though it is an acknowledged and chronic medical condition) and the difference that liposuction has made to her quality of life.
Surgeon Dr Puneet Gupta added "there are four main trigger points: puberty, pregnancy, menopause and starting the contraceptive pill. I see lots of girls who have clear worsening of the condition around these landmarks in their life, Lipoedema tends to be progressive and worsen with age"
READ FULL TELEGRAPH ARTICLE HERE
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WATCH BBC INTERVIEW WITH SHAUGHNA PHILLIPS,
PROF ALEX MUNNOCH AND ZOE PEARCE
Celebrity Shaughna Phillips of Love Island fame with an Instagram following of 1.5m, has used her raised profile to create awareness of Lipoedema in mainstream media. After leaving the Villa Shaughna was diagnosed with Stage One Lipoedema after being tolled online for the appearance on her legs. Fortunately for Shaughna, she was in a position to be able to afford private non-cosmetic liposuction to remove the abnormal fat build up and is happily recovering.
Zoe Pearce, a vibrant young mother has Stage Three Lipoedema (there are four stages). Zoe is the social media guru for Talk Lipoedema and a body positive blogger at thickthighs.positivethighs Zoe has been denied liposuction on the NHS because the procedure is deemed as ‘cosmetic’. Lipoedema, a chronic medical condition, greatly affects the quality of her life. Lipoedema means she has to lift her legs into the car to take her boys to school in the morning or as she says, just "fall into the car" because of their size and weight. Zoe has made the decision not to add to her family, because the influx of hormones during pregnancy makes the condition worse. She informed the NHS of this in her appeal to her MP to no avail. Despite losing 7 stone, her arms still grew. The condition is cruel and unrelenting. Zoe is faced with a future of worsening symptoms and losing her mobility. Zoe is very open in this interview about her condition and the way that she deals with it, but it greatly does affect her mental health.
PhysioPod wish to thank Lipoedema UK and Talk Lipoedema for being instrumental in bringing these interviews to National News. It is high time this medical condition was taught in medical school and that lipoedema-liposuction was made available on the NHS. Let's hope that ongoing research helps us we find a cure (in our lifetime) for this debilitating condition.
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A booklet which is an essential guide for anyone contemplating liposuction
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More information on Deep Oscillation in conservative and surgical approaches to Lipoedema please click here.
