Forehead Lipoma Removal

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am interested in injectable lipoma removal. I have a small forehead lipoma about the size of a quarter near my hairline that I want to inject with Lipodissolve to get rid of it. Will this work and will int injection do it?

A: For a forehead lipoma that lies near the hairline the far better and more efficient solution would be to remove it through a hairline incision. Lipodissolve (now reinvented and marketed as Kybella) solutions are not FDA approved for the face and it would take 3 to 4 injections sessions spaced  6 to 8 weeks apart to get it as flat as possible….provided it will respond to the injection. In a thirty minute surgery done under local anesthesia an excision will remove the lipoma intact on an assured permanent basis. 

With such a small lipoma that lies right up against the hairline the small incision needed to remove it would leave an imperceptible scar in its wake. While an injectable approach sounds like it would be quicker and easier to do, the reality is that it is currently inferior to surgical excision for the reasons so discussed. It would also cause much more swelling each time it is injected that its surgical removal would create.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana