Lipoedema – Things the eyes can and cannot see

Lipoedema is hormonally driven, biologically real, and progress can be made with conservative approaches. This is why Dr Chris Lekich, Australia’s leading Lipoedema specialist surgeon refers clients to NuFit Wellness – a team of health and wellness coaches led by Integrative Dietitian and Trauma Informed Breathwork Practitioner Kathy O, before surgery. If you want best surgical outcomes and lasting change, addressing the underlying drivers of inflammation is key. The 7 Pillars To Wellness is a proven framework to do just that.

Published January 2026 (Faria et al, 2026, npj Metabolic Health and Disease), 85+ years of science showed estrogen is the main driver behind how lipoedema develops – which may be why Lipoedema is prevalent among women and often flares at hormonal turning points: puberty, pregnancy, post pregnancy, menopause.

It affects 11 – 17% of women worldwide, 0.2% of men. Male cases are usually isolated to individuals with conditions that cause low relative testosterone and/or elevated estrogen states (e.g., severe liver disease, hypogonadism, Klinefelter syndrome). Up to 86% of women with lipoedema also suffer from chronic venous disease.

Although very real biological hormonal shifts occur, science fails to acknowledge it is how our mind, body, emotions, and spiritual experiences intertwine that determine what our eyes can, and cannot see.

Lipoedema fat is different. Under a microscope, it doesn’t look like regular fat. The cells are enlarged, the connective tissue turns fibrotic, and abnormal blood vessels grow where they shouldn’t. It’s what happens physiologically as a defensive mechanism. The body is protecting itself from threat.

Instead of an organised support structure, dense tanged networks of tissue compress blood and lymphatic vessels leading to: reduced circulation, poor oxygen delivery, impaired lymph flow. Fluid can’t move properly, toxins get clogged up driving more inflammation and fibrosis.

Genes matter, but they don’t decide.

Genetic predisposition does not mean it will play out. Disease that runs in families is an indication of the genetic instability that has occurred as a result of exposure to toxins beyond nutrition. Toxin build up, weakened organs, fluid stagnation, meridian blockages occur with unhealthy patterns of relating, thinking, behaving.

If you are a mother with Lipoedema, you can help prevent a flare up occurring for your daughter by healing and setting a new normal. How you choose to eat, move, sleep genuinely shifts the onset and course of this disease. So does how you choose to show up in relationships. Your voice and boundaries matter.

What actually helps

Anti-inflammatory nutrition, regular movement, building muscle, manual lymphatic support, and decongestive therapy deliver real symptom relief. Coupled with psycho-somatic therapy such as Breathwork to upregulate the detoxification processes, move stagnant energy, reprogram thought patterns, significant improvements in appearance can be achieved.

You didn’t fail. You’re not lazy. You don’t lack discipline. Your biology is different. Why it is different? Science may never tell us the full story. Modern medicine is not wrong, it is incomplete.

You can not melt away the dense fibrotic tissue. So, lipedema reduction surgery was invented to remove both the fat and diseased tissue to improve lymphatic function. However, even lipoedema specialist Dr Chris Lekic calls for conservative approaches first to reduce inflammation as much as possible for a best possible surgery outcome.

Take the first step towards walking with freedom, we help you reduce inflammation, and understand how to heal and maintain health holistically. Book here.

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Tag & Share with your friends who need to read this. Sign up for the Free NuFit Wellness Newsletter to be in the know. Attend our NuFit Wellness Workshops. Seek support from our Integrative Health and Wellness Coaches.

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KEYWORDS: Lipoedema, Surgery, Conservative, Nutrition, Anti-inflammatory, Movement, Heal, Healthy, Therapy, Breathwork, Fat, Fibrosis, Pain, Walk, Inflamed, Inflammation, Weight, Gain, Loss, Muscle, Tissue, Hormones, Women.