Emma Griffiths was about 11 when she developed symptoms for lipoedema. For years, Emma was self-conscious about the fact her legs had grown out of proportion with the rest of her body. But it wasn’t until she was watching Love Island one night that the nurse noticed contender Shaughna Phillips had the same shape legs and started doing some research. Experts online suggested Shaughna had lipoedema and amateur triathlete Emma then knew “this is what I had, I’m not just obese”. The 35-year-old mother has now joined calls for more support to be available on the NHS for people with lipoedema. Lipoedema causes fat to abnormally build-up mainly in the hips, buttocks and legs, leading to a disproportionate shape. The exact cause of the chronic condition is unknown but it is not from being overweight. Lipoedema may be caused by changes in hormones and is believed to affect about one in 10 people worldwide – although many do not know they have it. Emma was about 11 when her legs started to feel heavy and throb and said they started to grow bigger. “I was looking in the mirror and thinking ‘there’s something wrong here, why are my legs different to girls my age?’,” she recalled. Despite leading a healthy lifestyle and at one point losing five stone, Emma’s bottom half remained bigger and she suspected something was wrong. “I thought this is not responding to diet and exercise – something is going on here,” said the mum-of-two from Ammanford in Carmarthenshire.
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