What Your First Lipoedema Consultation With Dr. Yagües Is Like

Lipoedema · First Visit

Booking that first appointment is, for many women with lipoedema, the hardest step. Years of being told “you just need to lose weight,” diets that never touch the legs, and no idea whether what’s happening to their body even has a name. This article walks you through, step by step, what happens during a first lipoedema consultation with Dr. Yagües at Hospital Quirónsalud Málaga, so you arrive knowing what to expect and leave with real answers.

Before you come: what we ask for, and what we don’t

You don’t need to bring reports or test results. If you have ultrasounds, blood tests or notes from other doctors, bring them along, but they’re not essential. What we do ask is simple: wear comfortable clothing that allows your legs and arms to be examined, and think of two or three things you’d like the doctor to know (when you first noticed the change, what hurts, what you’ve already tried). If you’d like, you can send us your case in advance through the contact form on the lipoedema page: the doctor reads it before your appointment.

The consultation lasts an hour, and it’s entirely yours

The specialised lipoedema consultation is a long one, a full hour, because an accurate diagnosis can’t be made in five minutes. That time goes into three things: listening to you, examining you, and explaining everything clearly.

1. Your history

Dr. Yagües starts with what brought you here: when it began (often puberty, pregnancy or menopause), whether it runs in your family, whether you feel pain or heaviness to the touch, whether you bruise easily, how your legs respond to diet and exercise. These aren’t routine questions — lipoedema is diagnosed above all through clinical history and physical examination.

2. Examination and ultrasound

Next comes the physical examination: how the fat is distributed (the disproportion between trunk and legs, the characteristic “step” at the ankles, whether the arms are affected), sensitivity to pressure, the condition of the skin, and whether there’s associated oedema. An ultrasound is performed during the consultation to assess the tissue and rule out other conditions. With all of this, the doctor tells you whether it is lipoedema, what stage and type, and what else might be contributing (lymphoedema, obesity, venous insufficiency).

3. Your plan, explained calmly

The third part is the one our patients value most: the doctor walks you through your options. In some cases, conservative treatment (compression, drainage, adapted exercise, weight management) is enough to control symptoms. In others, surgery — a liposuction technique specific to lipoedema known as WAL, Water-Assisted Liposuction — is the only way to remove the diseased tissue and the pain it causes. She explains how the areas would be planned, how many procedures you might need, what recovery looks like, and what result is realistic in your particular case.

You leave with a written quote

If surgery is an option for you, you leave the consultation with a detailed, written quote, with no surprises: surgeon’s fees, hospital, anaesthesia, compression garments and follow-up visits. And time to decide. There’s no rush and no pressure: this is an important decision, and we want you to make it with all the information in hand. If you go ahead with surgery with us, the full consultation fee is deducted from the cost of the procedure.

Why operate at Quirónsalud Málaga

Dr. Yagües operates at Hospital Quirónsalud Málaga, a full-service hospital with an ICU, anaesthetists and 24-hour care. For lipoedema surgery, which can last several hours and involve significant volumes, that setting makes a real difference to safety.

Questions we’re always asked at the first consultation

Keep reading: Why choose a female surgeon for your procedure