Dercum's Disease: A Rare Disease of Painful Fatty Lumps

Dercum's disease is a rare and poorly understood condition characterized by painful subcutaneous adipose tissue growth that can occur anywhere beneath the skin surface. We present the case of a 27-year-old man with no significant medical history who had been experiencing painful subcutaneous nodules for two years. Skin biopsy revealed the proliferation of mature adipocytes that were surrounded by fibrous septa. There are currently no treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for Dercum's disease, and the effectiveness of treatments that have been attempted is variable.