New treatment for Fat Pad Atrophy
We receive many calls from people who have Fat Pad Atrophy or loss of the fat cushioning in the balls of the feet. Now we can say: Yes, we can help you.
Many patients have come to use suffering from fat pad atrophy. In the past, we had no treatment for them. Now we have an excellent option: Lipostem. Lipostem is the painless injection of your own fat together with your platelet rich plasma into your fat pad done under ultrasound guidance.
What Is Fat Pad Atrophy And How Do People Get It?
You may lose the fat pads on the balls of your feet with age. In many cases, the loss is due to the result of cortisone injections. Many people suffering with Morton’s neuroma foot pain or Metatarsalgia will get cortisone injections for temporary relief of pain. However, these corticosteroid injections risk resulting in fat pad atrophy. That’s because cortisone interferes with the body’s natural healing processes resulting in tissue breakdown. Fat pad atrophy is fat tissue breakdown that does not repair or reverse with time. This results in foot bones that are closer to the floor, not as protected and in more pain. Until now, we had nothing to offer.
We now have a regenerative medicine solution to build up your fat pads in the balls of your feet: Lipostem
Recent studies show that taking a small amount of your own fat taken from an area, like the buttock or thigh, and putting it back into the ball of your foot together with platelet rich plasma which we get from a small blood draw can have a long term, positive effect to repair the fat atrophy and restore comfort and function. You don’t need to suffer any longer.
It is a simple, non-surgical, painless one-time office visit with our team at The Center for Morton’s Neuroma
We first examine and evaluate your feet and confirm the diagnosis and make sure that you are a suitable candidate. Then we draw a tube of blood from your arm and centrifuge it to obtain platelet rich plasma (PRP). While your blood is spinning, we do a mini liposuction taking a very small amount of your own fat from your buttocks in a painless procedure under local anesthesia. We then process your fat here on site. Once we have the fat processed and your PRP, we inject the fat and the PRP it into your fad pad area under ultrasound guidance. The PRP will help to add your own tissue growth factors and enhance your body’s ability to increase the size and number of blood vessels to the area. The whole process takes about 1-2 hours.
Recovery can take a week and we recommend you then ease back into your routine but avoid long walks and runs (and anything that creates excessive foot pad pressure) for 4 weeks.
After many years, we are happy to say “Yes” when asked about helping people with fat pad atrophy.
As with any medical procedure, newer or older, there is no guarantee, but we stand ready to build on recent medical studies that show positive impact for those suffering with fat pad atrophy.