Reviews

Hi, my name is Emma. I’m from Germany and I was diagnosed with lipidemia when I was only 18 or 19 years old at stage two. I recognized that pretty early that my legs simply don’t really fit to my upper body. I just looked at other people and they have normal legs and I didn’t. They were always too much for normal trousers. I tried to hide them. I started when I was 14 only wearing oversized clothes, baggy jeans. I tried diets. I tried working out a lot and nothing changed at all. I think the main reason I decided to go that way was just that at the beginning of my twenties. I don’t want to cover up my legs all the time. I don’t want to feel uncomfortable every day. I was talking to my mom actually and I said, “If I’m doing that surgery, he’s going to be the surgery for sure.

I’m not going to do it anywhere else.” He gave me a really comfortable feeling and he showed so much respect. He really gave me a feeling he understands what I’m going through. I was excited the whole time. Of course, they were swollen at the beginning. I was just looking forward to my first summer with kind of my new legs and I was super excited because my trousers I bought when I was 15, they actually fit again and I wasn’t able to get into them the last year. I call my parents every day and I’m like, “Oh my God, I have pretty legs. Finally I do have a knee. I haven’t had one in years. It was just not visible. Probably the best summer I’ve ever had in ages.”

Questioner: How did you start first experiencing the symptoms?

Patient:The question that was always bothering me was what is wrong with me? I try to do everything you should for a human to live with a healthy body and free of pain. Whether it was a disciplined healthy diet or regular exercising which sometimes last for 3 hours daily. Why couldn’t I practice my favorite exercise, which was walking, without feeling pain in my legs or without feeling fatigued very quickly. Why couldn’t I run in the basketball ground, without feeling heaviness and pain in my legs. Why was a simple task like going to the mall or even shopping require huge and exaggerated effort from me? traveling by plane, whether a short or long trip wasn’t easy. It always came with a general intense fatigue and a swelling in my legs. It didn’t go quickly even when I try to lift my legs. The strongest and most difficult symptoms though were those during my pregnancy which each mother should love or enjoy. Symptoms would get worse when it came to heaviness, swelling, pain difficulty of movement and unexplained weight gain. But when complaining to the doctor the answer was always pregnancy hormones.

Questioner: How was your experience in looking for treatment?

Patient: When I start to look and find an answer for the symptoms that I felt, all those years I don’t remember when was the beginning but those who know me knew that I was visiting doctors in different specialties. Looking for a final medical diagnosis for the group of symptoms that I had whether the general fatigue, swelling in my legs or the numbing in my legs. Also an insufficient or apparent response to any diet that I stick to or a regular exercise The Fibromyalgia Syndrome, Restless Legs Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. All those terms have been repeatedly mentioned to me recently from doctors in different specialties. The strange part was the therapeutic and medicinal application for these three symptoms. My body wasn’t responding and the symptoms were getting worse. Now with the increased intensity of the symptoms and the swelling. I got intense varicose veins and I became no longer able to walk on my feet. I have to go through a surgical treatment from which I got minor improvement in my conditions but there was still a heaviness and swelling in my legs.

Questioner: How did you figure out that you may have lipedema?

Patient: And by accident, an awareness video on lipedema has put me on the right course after years of clinics, treatments and surgeries that couldn’t make me feel better
Questioner: How did you navigate your road to recovery?
Patient: Doctor Sebastian’s presence in Dubai has made many things easier for me. Specially during the consultation sessions, where he explained Lipedema disease to me, starting from the causes, symptoms, treatment and the required precautions to the surgical solution as a final solution for the Lipedema symptoms. Was I scared before deciding to undergo the two surgeries? Of course. But each consultation with Dr. Sebastian significantly increased my confidence, towards deciding to proceed with the surgery as a final treatment for my symptoms. Especially after looking at his previous results and his experience in surgically treating Lipedema.
Questioner: Has your life changed since the surgery?
Patient: If you asked me if my life has changed after the surgery, I will tell you yes significantly. Many daily activities that I enjoy a lot like exercising walking running and riding a bicycle all these activities have become much easier for me climbing the stairs and waiting a long time in waiting lines are no longer painful and annoying as before. Standing for a long time in the kitchen making healthy meals for my family is no longer annoying. It actually became relaxing and enjoying. The general esthetic improvement of the legs after the lipedema surgery has definitely reflected on my purchasing options that was limited and now I have more and beautiful options

Christina: Hi, I’m Christina. I’m 45 years old. So I was in really pain and I was starting to see excess cellulite. I was starting to see lamps on my body. Especially the feeling that you always have a healthy lifestyle, you diet, you take care of yourself. I felt there’s something really wrong and I only wanted to understand what was wrong with me. I did a lot of research. I started looking online. I started looking on Instagram. I put in a lot of my symptoms through search engines and finally I realized there’s something called Lipedema and it affects more than 10% of the women in the world. Bruising, pain, very heavy legs. These were everything that I was actually experiencing. So I decided to actually find a doctor here in Dubai that could formally diagnose me. I came to a Amwaj clinic. I met Dr. Michael. He finally diagnosed that, yeah, I have stage two and there are things that I could do to fix this.

Dr. Sebastian: Lipedema is a chronic condition characterized by abnormal fat cells, especially on the arms and on the leg, but it also can occur on other parts of the body. It affects only women and it leads to pain, swelling, bruising and psychological problems.

Christina: How can we avoid the progression to stage three?

Dr. Sebastian: There’s one lasting therapy and this is the liposuction of these abnormal fat cells. So we remove each session about five liters of fat and guarantee a long lasting result with very good aesthetic outcome. In your case, we need two liposuctions. On the first we treat the back of the legs and at the second one we treat the front side and I would recommend to use Renuvion skin tightening to avoid overhanging and slacky skin. So we remove each session about five liters of fat and guarantee a long lasting result with very good aesthetic outcome.

Christina: So through the research, I found a lot of support groups. I found Instagram, YouTube. I wasn’t alone. And there was finally explanation to everything that I was going through. Everything that was going through the pains, the bruising, the heavy legs, the excess cellulite, everything made sense. Everything made sense. And when Dr. Michael gave me the diagnosis and the suggestions of liposuction, I thought about it. Yes, it was scary at first, but the more he explained the better I felt. I felt that I have to do this. I am 45 and I’m active, I’m happy and I don’t have to live with this any longer. I don’t want to live with this anymore. I need to do something about it. And I found my solution. I came here and I found my solution and I found the people that can support me through this.