Ruby had two large, fatty tumours (called lipomas) that had slowly grown over many years. We had previously tested the growths and confirmed they were lipomas. Normally we would leave lipomas and not remove them because they are benign (non-cancerous) and rarely cause any problems. However, occasionally lipomas continue to grow and can get very large, causing a physical problem. This tends to happen when they are located in the axilla (armpit) or the inguina (groin). Unfortunately for Ruby this is exactly where her two lipomas were, so as they continued to grow and then impede poor Ruby’s mobility we decided we had to remove them.
Normally when we remove lipomas we don’t need to remove any skin as the tumour comes out like an implant. However, the growth in Ruby’s groin had caused trauma to the overlying skin so a reasonably large section of skin needed to be taken away, making reconstruction more challenging.
The surgery was a success, and Ruby is now much more comfortable and much more mobile when she is out and about!
