Concerned about lumps & bumps on your skin?Seek medical advice and have them assessed by our specialist
Up-to-date, evidence-driven care individually tailored to each patient
Medisave & insurance-claimable
Dedicated, experienced team with 24-hour support
Common types of skin lumps
Sebaceous cyst
Lipoma
Fibroma and Neuroma
Sebaceous cyst
Lipoma
Fibroma and Neuroma
Skin tags
Viral warts
Moles
Skin tags
Viral warts
Moles
How does a lipoma feel like?
- Soft/doughy to the touch
- Situated just under the skin
- Generally small
- Sometimes painful
Emergency Lipoma Removal
Emergency or urgent lipoma removal may be considered when the lump starts to interfere with daily activities, causes persistent pain or raises uncertainty about the diagnosis.
Signs a lipoma may require urgent medical attention:
Rapid enlargement of the lump over a short period of time
Persistent pain or tenderness, particularly if the lipoma presses on nearby nerves
Restriction of movement, especially when the lipoma develops near joints or muscles
Firmness or reduced mobility, where the lump no longer moves freely under the skin
Uncertainty about the diagnosis, especially if the lump feels deeper or behaves differently from a typical lipoma
Consultant General Surgeon Dr Aaron Poh
Consultant General Surgeon Dr Aaron Poh
Dr Aaron Poh is a fully accredited General Surgery specialist with the Specialist Accreditation Board and Ministry of Health, with double subspecialties in Colorectal surgery and Trauma surgery. He is currently the Medical Director at Alpine Surgical Practice.
20 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
5000+ surgeries performed
Colorectal Fellowship
in the UK
Specialisation in Laparoscopic keyhole surgery
Best General Surgeon Gold Winner 2023
Is surgery always necessary?
A lipoma should definitely be removed if it is causing pain or inconvenience to daily life. Examples of inconveniences include the lipoma catching on clothing or jewelry or if it is on a part of the body that easily gets impacted or knocked on.
Will my lipoma turn cancerous in the future?
It is believed that lipomas do not turn into liposarcomas, the term used to describe cancerous lipomas. A liposarcoma arises from the get-go as a cancerous element rather than transform from a benign lipoma.
However, the difficulty is determining whether a lump of lipoma is benign or cancerous and therefore warrants removal for further assessment. Some symptoms and signs pointing to a more worrying cause include:
- Painful lipomas
- Lipomas enlarging at a fast pace
- Lipomas with overlying changes to the skin
- Non-mobile lipomas that feel fixed in location
- Lipomas located on the buttocks, thigh and groin
How is the surgery for the lipoma carried out?
Smaller lipomas are removed under local anesthesia. An incision on the skin will then be made over the lipoma and the lipoma will be freed from the surrounding tissues and extracted from the incision. The incision is usually smaller than the size of the lipoma but yet allows the safe extraction of the lipoma.
Larger and deep seated lipomas are removed under general anesthesia and these are usually in the posterior neck, buttock, groin and upper thigh regions. The operative procedure is otherwise similar to that carried out under local anesthesia.
The incisions will usually be stitched up with buried absorbable sutures and hence avoiding the need for a repeat visit for removal of the stitches. The incisions will usually unite and heal in about 2 weeks.
Insurance
For our patients with Integrated Shield plans with riders for private hospital coverage, Alpine Surgical Practice is able to help you with the application of the Letter of Guarantee (LOG) or Pre-Authorisation Certificates for cashless payment on the day of your procedure. In addition, we work with the Hospital or Surgical centres to do Electronic filing for your medical claims.
Advisor Partners
We understand that some of your insurance plans may come with deductible and co-insurance. Our insurance advisor partners will advise you on how to utilise your Medisave and your existing Corporate insurance to cover the deductible and co-insurance so that there is minimal cash outlay.
We also understand that with the increasing adoption of pay-per-use insurance policies with rise in premiums per claim, it is important to control costs. As such, Alpine Surgical Practice works with our partnering Day Surgery centers to cut down costs for minor procedures and scopes.
- AIA
- AXA
- NTUC income
- Prudential
- Raffles Health Insurance
- Singlife with AVIVA
For our patients with Corporate insurance plans, Alpine Surgical Practice is similarly able to help with the application of Letter of Guarantee (LOG) or Pre-Authorisation Certificates for cashless payment on the day of your procedure. Alpine Surgical Practice is on the panel for the following plans and that enables us to see you with the relevant referral letter from your GP or another specialist.
Advisor Partners
We understand that some corporate insurance policies may not provide full coverage and our insurance advisor partners can advise on how to utilise your Medisave to cover the remaining sum so that there is minimal cash outlay.
It is important that your medical problems are being managed without worrying about the nuances of the insurance claims. Our Alpine staff will be able to help you with both your medical and insurance needs.
- Adept Health
- AIA
- Alliance Medinet
- AXA Global Healthcare
- BlueCross BlueShield Global
- BUPA Insurance Services
- Cigna Singapore and Global
- Doctor Anywhere (DA) Adept Health
- Fullerton Healthcare Group
- FWD Insurance
- GeoBlue
- Great Eastern Health Connect
- Henner International
- Howden Insurance
- HTH Worldwide
- Integrated Health Plans (IHP)
- iXchange
- Liberty Insurance
- Mednefits
- MSH International
- NOW Health International
- NTUC Income
- Parkway Shenton
- PPP International
- QBE Insurance
- Singlife with AVIVA
- Smarter Health
- Tokio Marine Insurance Group
Book an appointment
MOUNT ELIZABETH (ORCHARD)
- 3 Mount Elizabeth, #14-06 Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre Singapore 228510
- +65 6322 7323
- +65 8875 0080 • After Office Hours
- +65 6602 8086
PARKWAY EASTMEDICAL CENTRE
- 319 Joo Chiat Place #04-07 Singapore 427989
- +65 6589 8160
- +65 8875 2149 • After Office Hours
- +65 6871 8870
Farrer ParkHospital
- 1 Farrer Park Station Rd, #16-04 Connexion, Singapore 217562
- +65 6322 7323
- +65 8875 0080 • After Office Hours
- +65 6871 8870