TABLE 1

Lipedema, lymphedema, and obesity compared

	Lymphedema	Lipedema	Obesity
Sex affected	Both men and women	Almost exclusively women	Both men and women
Family history	Present in primary lymphedema, absent in secondary	Present	Present or absent
Edema	Nonpitting (early) or pitting, unilateral or bilateral	Nonpitting, bilateral	Bilateral
Swollen feet	Present	Absent unless patient has lipolymphedema or phlebolymphedema	Present
Increased fatty tissue	Absent	Present and usually nodular	Present
Abnormal distribution of adipose tissue	Possible	Present in arms, abdomen, buttocks, and legs	Possible
Tenderness and pain	Absent	Present	Absent
Tendency to develop hematomas	Absent	Present	Absent
Cuff sign^{^a}	Negative	Positive	Positive
Stemmer sign^{^b}	Positive	Negative	Negative
Weight-loss treatment	Recommended to reduce lymphatic harm	May not reduce size of affected region but is recommended to minimize complications and if metabolic syndrome is present	Recommended

↵^a Tissue enlargement stops abruptly at the ankle or wrists (arms affected in up to 80% of patients).
↵^b Inability to pinch a fold of skin at the base of the second toe compared with the opposite foot.
Based on information from references 1–6.