This Girl Can - Because A Lipoedema Diagnosis Changed Her Life Path

A personal opinion piece written by Mary Fickling, Co-Director at PhysioPod UK and PhysioEqupment in support of Nikala Soroczyn and all ladies living with Lipoedema and Lipo-Lymphoedema around the globe

Nikala and Julie outside Dr Stutz's Clinic in Germany on the day non cosmetic liposuction was carried out for Lipoedema, changing Nikala's life path

"Nikala was diagnosed with Lipoedema, after Julie Soroczyn, her soon to be Mother-In-law, suspected she had the condition after PhysioPod presented Deep Oscillation at a Lipoedema conference back in 2014 . The diagnosis changed Nikala's life. After extensively researching the condition and treatments, she paid privately for non-cosmetic water assisted Liposuction with Dr Stutz in Germany.

This was a decision she did not take lightly, as this involved getting a loan to pay, as the NHS do not currently see this treatment as a necessity, they see liposuction as a "cosmetic" procedure. NICE are currently deciding whether it is 'cosmetic' or not. The non-cosmetic liposuction procedure significantly reduced the pain in Nikala's back and legs and enabled her to start exercising and get on with her life.

She now runs and loves her regular Zumba classes, she creates hilarious TikTok videos with her daughters and is 100% involved in all of their activities, even helping to football coach. The pre-liposuction Nikala would not have been able to do this because of the weight and pain from her legs and her feelings of wanting to hide because of the way the condition affected her mentally.

She returned home after surgery and with a balanced approach to eating, she became a "Slimming" woman of the year. Nikala married on the first weekend of the Lockdown, to the man of her dreams, in a white dress she never thought she would wear. Her confidence had soared. She also felt confident enough to change careers and realise her dreams, she has just graduated.

She nursed patients with COVID, contracting COVID herself through this, but she couldn't wait to get back to work to help her patients and support her colleagues. I feel her story is an inspiration to other young women faced with this chronic condition, in a World when those that are not educated, label as obesity, including a large proportion of the medical world.

New Research on Lipoedema was shared by Ramin Shayan MBBS, PhD (Uni Melb), FRACS (Plastics) Associate Professor at University of Melbourne last week on LinkedIn - he wrote: "Proud to share our paper on Lipoedema. The Karnezis lab, (OBI department, SVI, Melbourne, Australia) found that Lipoedema tissue is driven by separate stem cells to obesity fat. These stem cells are, in turn, driven by an overactive gene pathway that is also found in some cancers. Critically, blocking this pathway stops the Lipedema stem cells over growing and generating pathological fat, and offers both diagnostic and therapeutic potential for combatting this debilitating disease"

Nikala has also discovered a love of countryside rambling with her beautiful young family and has regular nights out with colleagues and friends. She no longer hides away in black clothes, she has become a bright and exuberant young woman.

I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, this procedure changed her life. She will not be a burden on the NHS when the condition robs her of her mobility. She will thrive and live her best life. Other ladies with this condition should be given this opportunity before it is too late."

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