clinical feature | lipoedema | lymphoedema |
Gender | almost exclusively occurs in women | occurs in women and men |
Age at onset | onset around puberty | any age |
Distribution | bilateral lower extremities; symmetric involvement | unilateral, or one leg affected more severely |
Foot involvement | absent, negative Stemmer's sign | present, positive Stemmer's sign |
Buttock involvement | present | absent |
Nature of swelling | soft, minimally pitting | firm, often marked pitting |
Tenderness | common with pressure | uncommon |
Easy bruising of affected area | present | absent |
Improvement with elevation and compression | minimal improvement with elevation and compression | minimal improvement with elevation and compression |
Family history | there is frequently a family history | less common |
History of cellulitis, lymphangitis, and venous disease | uncommon | frequent |
Angiosarcoma risk | there is no angiosarcoma risk associated with lipoedema | yes |
MRI findings | homogenous increase in subcutaneous fat with little/no fibrosis, no skin thickening | honeycomb pattern fibrosis, edema fluid, skin thickening |
Reference:
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