Lipoma Removal

[weary]

I discovered a lump on the back of my neck over a year ago. Wanting to get it checked out, I went to Lanna Hospital because that is where I am registered for my social insurance. There was no specialist in but I got to talk to a GP who, without even touching the lump, suggested it was follicleitis (sp?) and gave me a bag of antibiotics and told me to come back if things did not improve.

Some quick consulting of medical reference books and websites showed his guess to be unlikely at best, but all the same I went ahead with the regime which, surprise surprise, did not improve anything.

I didn't go back to Lanna because I had lost faith in their ability to judge my condition. Instead, I checked the lump regularly myself and it stayed large but did not seem to grow; at any rate I did not notice any growth over time.

Fast forward one year:

Yesterday I happened to be in the neighbourhood of CM RAM and so decided to popin and ask them to take a look.

Was sent to the ENT section (?) and the doctor did a manual inspection and said it is most likely a benign tumour consisting of fat cells, aka a lipoma. This was at least consistent with the information I had found myself, so found myself more inclined to believe this doctor.

He said he recommended I have it surgically removed and that he would do it himself. I asked him whether the surgery would be complicated and he assured me it would be easy, and to call back when convenient in order to book an appointment for the operation.

Well, I went back to check and it seems that large lipoma of the neck can be very difficult to remove due to them being attached to surrounding muscle and tendon tissue. So that made me wonder whether I really should entrust this doctor with removing a 10 x 6 cm large lump from my neck...

If anybody who reads this has had similar surgery performed on them here in CM I'd like to hear of your experiences. Especially about any surgeons you would recommend.

My humble thanks in advance.

[p1p]

If you have this done in Thailand, go to Bumrungrad in Bangkok. I am afraid I have lost faith with Chiang Mai hospitals for this kind of thing.

[kalbo123]

I discovered a lump on the back of my neck over a year ago. Wanting to get it checked out, I went to Lanna Hospital because that is where I am registered for my social insurance. There was no specialist in but I got to talk to a GP who, without even touching the lump, suggested it was follicleitis (sp?) and gave me a bag of antibiotics and told me to come back if things did not improve.

Some quick consulting of medical reference books and websites showed his guess to be unlikely at best, but all the same I went ahead with the regime which, surprise surprise, did not improve anything.

I didn't go back to Lanna because I had lost faith in their ability to judge my condition. Instead, I checked the lump regularly myself and it stayed large but did not seem to grow; at any rate I did not notice any growth over time.

Fast forward one year:

Yesterday I happened to be in the neighbourhood of CM RAM and so decided to popin and ask them to take a look.

Was sent to the ENT section (?) and the doctor did a manual inspection and said it is most likely a benign tumour consisting of fat cells, aka a lipoma. This was at least consistent with the information I had found myself, so found myself more inclined to believe this doctor.

He said he recommended I have it surgically removed and that he would do it himself. I asked him whether the surgery would be complicated and he assured me it would be easy, and to call back when convenient in order to book an appointment for the operation.

Well, I went back to check and it seems that large lipoma of the neck can be very difficult to remove due to them being attached to surrounding muscle and tendon tissue. So that made me wonder whether I really should entrust this doctor with removing a 10 x 6 cm large lump from my neck...

If anybody who reads this has had similar surgery performed on them here in CM I'd like to hear of your experiences. Especially about any surgeons you would recommend.

My humble thanks in advance.

I have the same... a lipoma in my neck. It's there already for years..and does not grow or hurt.

I went to see my doctor back in Europe and he told me it's quite difficult to remove a lipoma in that area because there is a lot of blood involved.

So he sugested me to just leave it there.

But I agree if you want to have it removed in Thailand you should go to Bunrungrad in Bangkok.

[sylviex]

If you ask in the Health forum here you will probably get good advice on particular doctors in BKK.

They might do a biopsy, too, just to make quite sure it is a lipoma.

All the best.

[Mapguy]

That's a big lipoma, apparently in a difficult place.

There are plenty of surgeons in Chiang Mai who should be able to handle it, if you don't like the disfigurement. The best specialty would be Dermatological Surgery. But all this really is is a carving job. Except for the bleeding bit, you could probably do this with a reasonably sharp knife, a pair of good scissors, and some duct tape.

A biopsy would be routine in any case.

P.S. If you went to Dr. Chalerimpong at Ram, he knows what he is doing and is a good cutter.

Edited August 5, 2008 by Mapguy

[ThaiSquire]

Had a fairly large lipoma removed from my neck a couple years back, albeit not in LOS. Very basic procedure. Small incision and then surgeon took a tool, basically looked like a small ice cream scoop, and popped the thing out. He showed it to me, and it actually looked like a shrimp. A stitch or two to close the incision and I was on my way.