Lipoma help please.

[stressbandit]

Hi so I've had a bulge in my right hand ribcage that I was told was a lipoma sometimes it's really stuck in my ribs and I can feel it poking out it hurts a lot and sometimes I don't feel it at all.

I keep getting scared that it's cancerous I had a ultrasound done on it in December that lasted about 15 seconds if that.

The lady said yes you have many of them they are small and are fine. But how can this be a small one if it's constantly stuck and so uncomfortable it feels huge?
Gp won't remove it, I can't afford to go private so I have no idea what to do it's really bothering me daily now. Is there any proven way to break them down with even a tablet or anything at all?

I had no idea they wouldn’t remove them on the nhs -I googled just to be sure-that’s awful! I don’t imagine there is a home remedy that would work, is it worth contacting someone privately and asking about payment plans or a small bank loan so monthly repayments.

Nuffield do interest free medical loans to cover surgery costs
www.nuffieldhealth.com/treatments/excision-of-skin-lesion

This place says from £320 (£89 consultation fee) so it might not be as £££ as you fear?
www.summerfieldhealthcare.co.uk/lipoma-removal/

I hope you can find a way to have it removed

Not many GP's do minor surgery any more, it's usually a referral on to a clinic. Plastics if it's facial/scalp. Lipoma are common at the site of a wound/bump/scar. Have you had a trauma injury in the same place before? Broken rib perhaps? It probably feels huge because it's underneath other tissue. This tends to make them feel and look far, far larger than they are in reality.

I suspect the £320 wouldn't be for a complex one on the ribcage. I have one, just under my bra strap so I have to size up. I call it my back boob and it's like laying on a bloody rock and often wakes me up.

NHS general surgeons do remove lipomas that are big/in awkward places. Maybe worth asking for a referral for assessment? The waiting lists will probably be aeons long at the moment though.

Lipomas are lumps of fatty tissue. It won’t be cancerous - that’s one of the reasons that the NHS don’t cover their removal. You can ask your GP about where to go to get it removed. You will need to see someone privately and you will have to pay.

If you aren’t squeamish, look at Dr Pimple Popper on YouTube to see what they look like and how they’re removed. She does it using local anaesthetic.

They used to remove them. I had one on the back of my leg behind my knee removed 19 years ago. It was the size of my thumb.

I've had 2 removed from the top of my back with the NHS. If it's causing discomfort they should refer you as it's not cosmetic.
Push your GP for a referral

I think I'm going to get onto my go, then (sorry OP for sort of hijacking your your thread.)

Mine is about the size of a satsuma.

If it would of been anything serious would they have seen on the scan even though it was over so quick? The woman was just not interested.

I think I'm just going to speak to the gp again but it's annoying because when I went the other day it had sort of gone in again to my abdomen And he couldn't feel it! Yet then it gets stuck the next day in the rib and feels huge.

Hi op
I’m a sonographer and I scan lipomas. They are indeed, very quick to scan, and it probably takes me under a minute to scan and diagnose a lipoma. That’s because they are very common and we see many many of them. It’s the most common lump I scan. Cancerous lumps look different to lipomas on scans.

@Iheartbed Hi thank you for this I feel a lot more reassured now I just always assumed they would be tiny but it's reassuring to read the posts here that they aren't always. If I lose weight could it help it shrink a little?

I've got a big one on my back that's been giving me discomfort. I've put off going back to the gp, as last time I went thinking it'd got bigger, they told me it hasn't 😢.

Might try again!

Some lipomas are huge, like 10cm or more. Some are 10mm. But they’re all just fatty tissue. Unfortunately losing weight probably won’t make a difference to it.

Ive got one just above my knee on the outside, had it for 30 years. Sometimes it feels bruised and shows more, other times can hardly feel it. My dh has one on his ribs too from an injury and sometimes that is very uncomfortable.

When I was 27 I had a huge one removed from my side/ribcage on the NHS.

@Iheartbed, I had a small lump on my lower ribs which was confirmed as lipoma on ultrasound scan. How can a sonographer tell that it's definite a lipoma?

Sorry op, for hijacking your thread.

[quote BobaTea]@Iheartbed, I had a small lump on my lower ribs which was confirmed as lipoma on ultrasound scan. How can a sonographer tell that it's definite a lipoma?

Sorry op, for hijacking your thread.[/quote]
They’re usually well defined, ovoid in shape, totally solid, homogenous in texture, lack vascularity when colour Doppler is applied, typically lie in the fatty layer though some can also lie within the muscular layer

@MyCatDribbles, thanks for explaining. So if it's a typical lipoma, there is no need for a biopsy to confirm?

@Iheartbed can I just ask is it common to have multiple lipomas on your tummy?