Knee Dermolipectomy: A Simple Operation With Significant Functional Improvement

Abstract

Background

Obesity is a major public health problem in Western societies. It may lead to difficulties in daily life that have an impact on quality of life and create psychological disorders. After failure of diet and exercise, patients can undergo bariatric surgery, but some obese patients are not motivated to undergo a bariatric procedure. For such patients, plastic surgeons can correct some excess fat to improve their quality of life. This report describes an original technique for correcting the excess fat at the medial part of the knees to regain a normal walking perimeter.

Methods

A 68-year-old woman was admitted to the authors’ center for correction of a functional walking disorder. Indeed, her clinical examination found a static disorder, with a valgus knee morphotype related to a major excess of skin and fat in the medial part of the knees. She underwent a knee dermolipectomy to obtain a solely functional result.

Results

No complications were observed in the woman’s postoperative course. At this writing, the result is stable 18 months after the surgical procedure, with a minimal visible scar hidden in the internal face of the knees. The woman has experienced a loss of her genu valgum and regained a walking distance longer than 1 km. She also has lost 10 kg of weight.

Conclusions

Knee dermolipectomy is a simple procedure with good results and few complications that improves the quality of life for obese patients.

Level of Evidence V

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.