Our approach
A patient-centered, multidisciplinary care model designed for a chronic disease. Conservative care and lymph-sparing surgery work together — not as alternatives — and continue together for years after the first session. Decisions are staged, expectations are honest, and the same team carries you through.
The five things we hold firmly
1. We begin with diagnosis, carefully done.
Every relationship with our practice starts with a free 30-minute video consultation: we review your symptoms, your photos, your history, and the timeline of how this developed. We name what you have, and we name what you don’t. If the answer is “this isn’t lipedema,” we tell you. If it’s “you have lipedema and the right move for you is conservative care,” we tell you that. Honest staging is the foundation of everything that follows.
2. Conservative care is the floor under every patient.
Compression garments, manual lymphatic drainage, anti-inflammatory nutrition, lymph-friendly movement, and skin care are not an alternative to surgery — they are the daily practice that holds the disease, that prepares patients for surgical work, and that consolidates results afterward. We help you build a sustainable routine and coordinate with a Certified Lymphedema Therapist (CLT) in your home area when you’re not local to Scottsdale.
3. Surgery is medical, not cosmetic — and it is staged.
When lymph-sparing surgical fat reduction is indicated, we plan it as a sequence of sessions, prioritizing the regions causing the most pain or mobility loss first. We use the technique that fits the tissue — tumescent (often awake), water-jet, power-assisted, or laser-assisted — and we sequence sessions with several months between them so the body can remodel before the next stage. The goal is reduced pain, restored mobility, and a slower disease trajectory. Visible shape change is a side effect of doing the medical work correctly, not the point.
4. We say “not now” when it’s the right answer.
A meaningful fraction of patients who come to us are not surgical candidates today — for medical, anatomic, or timing reasons. We tell them so, and we help them build the conservative-care plan that gets them ready (or that holds them in good function indefinitely without surgery at all). Pressuring a patient into the wrong procedure at the wrong time is the worst thing a dedicated practice can do; it’s also the thing we have the least incentive to do, because our practice is built on doing this well over decades, not quickly this quarter.
5. We follow patients for life.
Lipedema is chronic. Care is too. We schedule check-ins at 2, 6, 12, and 24 months — and annually thereafter. We update your conservative-care plan as your stage and life change. We’re available between visits when something is concerning. We don’t discharge you after six weeks; we don’t disappear when this quarter’s surgical schedule is full. The same team that diagnoses you carries you through.
What “patient-centered” actually looks like, in practice
Every plan is written down so you can re-read it at home. Every photograph is taken with explicit consent and never published without it. Every cost question is answered honestly when you ask. Every referral to a CLT, PT, dietitian, or PCP is coordinated, not handed off as a stack of business cards. Every “not now” comes with a clear “here’s what we’ll do instead.”
What we expect from our patients
- Follow the conservative-care plan consistently — compression most of all.
- Tell us when something changes (a flare, a hormonal milestone, a new diagnosis elsewhere).
- Keep your scheduled follow-ups, even when you feel fine.
- Push back on us when something isn’t working. The plan is supposed to fit your life, not the reverse.
Not sure where to start?
A free 30-minute video consultation gives you an honest read on your situation — your likely stage, your options, and a clear next step. No cost, no pressure.