What is it about?

Lipoedema is a medical condition that affects how fat is deposited in some women. Lipoedema can make simple things, like walking, difficult and commonly reduces quality of life. Wearing compression garments really helps some women to cope with their lipoedema. However, compression garments have not yet been designed specifically for people with a diagnosis of lipoedema and this causes a wide range of problems.

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Why is it important?

This is the first paper that addresses how people with lipoedema use compression garments. It explains some of the benefits that compression garments can bring, as well as some of the main problems that people experience with existing compression. This is important as there is very little published advice for people living with lipoedema, or for people who treat them, and limited understanding of lipoedema's impact on people's lives.

Perspectives

I had not heard of lipoedema until I started this project. We worked closely with Lipoedema UK on this questionnaire to find out more about how people experience lipoedema and how they use compression. It has been a fascinating process and it is really clear to me that a lot more research is required to fully understand lipoedema and good treatments for it. People with lipoedema need more recognition, more understanding and better treatment/management options. I think that research is essential to develop new products with and for them and we are delighted to have secured funding (from Medical Research Scotland and Talk Lipoedema, with support from Jobskin) to continue this work.

Lisa Macintyre
Heriot-Watt University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Survey of lipoedema symptoms and experience with compression garments, British Journal of Community Nursing, April 2020, Mark Allen Group,
DOI: 10.12968/bjcn.2020.25.sup4.s17.
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