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Adiposis dolorosa, also known as Dercum’s disease[1] (and which is different from Ander’s disease in which painful or painless fatty growths resolve with weight loss), is a rare disease characterized by multiple painful lipomas[2] that arise in adult life. Older medical literature states that “the disease occurs most often in obese postmenopausal women, but can also occur in men.” Surveys of current sufferers seem to indicate that the disease causes the obesity. It also occurs in men and women of all ages. The fatty tumors are most often located on the trunk and limbs with sparing of the face and hands. It was first formally described by Francis Xavier Dercum in 1888.
First identified by Dercum, in 1892, Dercum’s disease (also Dercum disease or Adiposis Dolorosa) is described several ways in the literature. Here are two:
Paraphrasing NIH’s National Organization of Rare Disorders (NORD):
Morbus Dercum (Adiposis Dolorosa) is a chronic disease with mild to intensive pain in the fatty tissue, fatigue and obesity as the most apparent symptoms. But the disease affects the entire body and can present a long list of symptoms. This disorder usually occurs in postmenopausal females[4] between the ages of 25 and 60, but can début in all ages, as well as in younger people and amongst males. It is about 20 times more frequent in females than in males.
The mechanism is currently unknown.[5] A autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance has been suggested for some cases, but no associated gene has been identified so far.[2]
Dercum’s disease was originally described in the medical literature in 1892 by the American doctor Frances Xavier Dercum.[6]
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