Lipoedema in patients after bariatric surgery: report of two cases and review of literature

Lipoedema is a disorder of adipose tissue that is characterized by abnormal subcutaneous fat deposition, leading to swelling and enlargement of the lower limbs as well as the trunk. This entity is often misdiagnosed as lymphoedema or obesity and, therefore, may be overlooked and missed in patients scheduled for bariatric surgery. Patients with lipoedema who undergo bariatric surgery may have to continue to have extensive lower extremity and trunk adiposity despite adequate weight loss. In this report, we present two patients who had extensive trunk and lower extremity adiposity, one of them before and the other after the bariatric surgery.