Facial solitary sub-cutaneous lipoma

Abstract

A lipoma is a benign tumor characterized by a slow expansile growth. Das Gupta 1 reported that its recurrence after excision is less than 1 % and that this occurs usually in lipomas deeply seated in muscles and retroperitoneally. Malignant lipoma is very rare; Sternberg reports one in 101 cases, Wright, one in 118 cases and Stout, one in 104 cases. 1 Although lipoma represents 1 % of all benign oral tumors.? it is more common in the subcutaneous tissue of the trunk, upper extremities and neck" arid accounts for 4-5% of all benign tumors of the body. 4 The overall incidence of lipoma in females is higher than in males, 4 but in the oral cavity, the occurrence rate is greater in males than in females. Lipomas occur at any age but are more common in patients past the fourth decade of life. 4. A lipoma is usually an asymptomatic, painless and soft sub-cutaneous mass. Patients usually first seek advice for cosmetic reasons or when the lesions interfere with motion or wearing clothes. The contents of lipoma are similar to the normal adipose tissue" and consists of mature fat cells separated by a delicate connective tissue septae. Most lipomas have a thin capsule which may be difficult to identify on dissection.