Facelift- and circum-occipital incision placement for fat extirpation of the neck in Madelung's disease - A two-case report

Benign symmetric lipomatosis (Madelung's disease) is a rare disorder of fat metabolism that is characterized by progressive symmetrical formation of unencapsulated and painless excess fat masses around the neck and trunk that result in cosmetic disfiguration and functional impairment. Since the disorder is incompletely understood and causal therapy is unavailable, surgical removal of fatty masses is the mainstay of treatment. In this paper the authors describe their use of the classical facelift incision placement as well as a horizontal circum-occipital incision to approach and excise excess fat of the anterior and posterior neck in two patients. This method yielded satisfying results with a combination of good access to fat masses, smooth trimming and redraping of redundant skin, in addition to fairly inconspicuous scarring post-operatively. After removal of 1.5 kg of fat from each patient and a period of uncomplicated wound healing, both patients showed no signs of relapsing fatty growth. Although more challenging than most conventional approaches, the authors' technique has shown good outcomes in those treated with this condition.