Q: The patient is 41 years old. He is having a number of lumps throughout the body, mostly on the limbs, belly and chest. The biopsy of the same has been done thrice and the report reveals it as lumps of fat (Lipoma). The lumps are increasing in numbers as well as in size day by day. The doctors say that there are no medicines to stop/melt the lumps. There are a few of them in between the rib bones, which hurt him. The left arm is becoming numb due to the growth on the nerve. What is the reason for these lumps and is there any treatment to melt these?

A:Lipomas are common benign tumours, and in occasional patients may be multiple. In 99% of patients they are best left alone. I have never seen lipomas that increase day by day in number as well as in size: an exaggeration, surely? Lipomas that are very large, and those that cause pain or cosmetic defects, require to be removed. I doubt that the reason for the developments of the lipomas is known. There is no medication that can melt the lipomas.