The Study of Relationship between Anatomical Sites and Depth of the Lipoma

BACKGROUND: Lipomas are the most common benign tumors and surgical removal is the treatment of choice. However, some deep-seated lipomas are technically challenging to surgically excise from a dermatologist’s perspective. This study was planned to help predict the depth of lipomas depending on their anatomical site of occurrence. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a relationship between the anatomical site and the depth of lipomas. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 459 patients with 459 lesions diagnosed as lipoma, surgically treated between June 2006 and June 2019. Histopathologic evaluation was performed to determine the relationship between the depth and the specific subtype of the lipoma. RESULTS: The most common site of occurrence was the trunk (177; 38.6%). Most of the lipomas (388; 84.5%) were located in the subcutaneous fat layer. Some lipomas (71; 15.5%) were found in deeper tissues, such as the intramuscular, intermuscular, and submuscular layers. The forehead and flank had a higher incidence of deep-seated lipomas than other areas. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed that lipomas in the forehead and flank are more likely to occur in deeper layers. In clinical practice, physicians often skip radiologic evaluation before surgery. However, we recommend preoperative radiologic evaluation before surgical excision of lipomas of the forehead and flank.