KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Liposana restores lost cushioning. The injectable adipose tissue allograft is placed where the foot’s natural fat pad has thinned, helping rebuild support beneath painful pressure points.
- Liposana addresses fat pad atrophy directly. Pads and orthotics can redistribute pressure, but Liposana is designed to replace missing soft-tissue volume rather than simply cushion the foot from the outside.
- Treatment is performed in the office. Liposana can be implanted through a minimally invasive procedure without harvesting fat from another part of the patient’s body.
Your feet bear your weight all day long. You walk, move, exercise, and perform daily activities, and over time, the padding and cushioning on your feet can wear thin. With this loss of cushioning, you may experience the pain of fat pad atrophy—the loss of the protective layer on the heels and balls of your feet. With fat pad atrophy, there is a decrease in the thickness of the foot pad, and your feet lose their shock absorbers—a buffer that helps protect all the nerves and bones in your feet.
The skilled podiatrist at Grandville Foot and Ankle, Dr. Sarah Stewart, knows that foot pain can make it difficult to manage your day-to-day tasks. When you suffer from fat pad atrophy, it can negatively affect your overall well-being and quality of life. Here, Dr. Stewart explains Liposana, a ready-to-use allograft that helps restore lost cushioning and padding on the bottoms of your feet.
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What to Know About Fat Pad Atrophy
There are many reasons a patient may experience fat pad atrophy. Through the course of daily life, they may subject their feet to repeated stress through exercise and constant movement; they may have a certain medical condition that contributes to the breakdown of soft tissue and reduced blood flow; or, the passage of time may cause their foot structures to deteriorate.
Many of Dr. Stewart’s patients describe the pain of foot pad atrophy like they’re walking on bare bone—as if there’s no shoe or barrier between their foot and the floor. They often say they feel a burning sensation, a sharp pain, or pain like a bruise on the heel or ball of their foot. The longer they’re on their feet, the worse the pain becomes, and patients with more serious cases feel pain even when they’re resting. Because fat pad atrophy can present like plantar fasciitis or a heel spur, it’s important to see a podiatrist to get an accurate diagnosis to help ensure the proper treatment.
What to Know About Liposana
You may find that shoe pads, cushions, and inserts aren’t enough to address your ball-of-foot pain. Liposana fat pad injections offer another approach. Liposana is a minimally invasive treatment that places donated human adipose fat tissue into areas where protective fat has been lost or damaged, providing cushioning and support where the foot needs it. This fat tissue is processed to retain the native structure and properties of adipose tissue and is used to repair, replace, or reconstruct areas where fat tissue is deficient.
Liposana does not require removing fat from another part of your own body; rather, ready-to-use tissue is placed into the area where cushioning has been lost. Research suggests that once the tissue is implanted, it integrates over time and is gradually replaced by the patient’s own tissue.
Liposana can be implanted during an in-office procedure. After evaluating the painful area and confirming that fat pad loss is involved, the podiatrist places the graft where cushioning has diminished. The goal is targeted restoration—not simply masking the painful spot with another external pad.
Possible Benefits of Liposana Injections
There are some key advantages to treating fat pad atrophy with Liposana, including the following:
- Improved foot function. Liposana can restore your foot’s natural padding and provide even pressure distribution that helps improves stability and comfort. This increased stability can make it easier for you to stand and walk.
- Targeted treatment. Dr. Stewart can precisely target the injections to restore cushioning exactly where your foot needs it most. She can also tailor the amount of fat transferred to your foot.
- Lasting results. You rarely need extra treatments because Liposana transplants fat cells that may integrate with the surrounding tissues for a permanent cushioning effect.
- Convenient. Liposana is an in-office procedure performed under local anesthesia. You should be able to walk following treatment and can usually resume your daily routine within a few days.
No two patients will have the same experience with Liposana, but many say they experience a significant decrease in foot pain. Make an appointment at our Grandville Foot and Ankle clinic to discuss Liposana for your fat pad atrophy.