What should you know about lipid lumps under skin?

A soft or rubbery lump may be a benign fatty growth, but touch cannot reliably identify its tissue type. A blocked cyst, an inflamed boil, scar tissue, or another skin or deeper-tissue growth may also present as a lump. Location, depth, mobility, tenderness, skin colour, and change over time help guide assessment.

A clinician may inspect and feel the area and decide whether imaging or a sample is needed. A new lump is not automatically cancer; however, a persistent or changing lump deserves an appropriate examination, including consideration of skin cancers such as basal cell carcinoma when the surface is unusual.

Book a routine appointment for a new, persistent, or enlarging lump. Record when it appeared, whether it moves under the skin, and whether pressure causes pain. Do not squeeze, puncture, massage forcefully, or attempt to drain it, since that can cause infection and obscure useful examination findings.

Bring a list of medicines and mention previous cysts, skin infections, injuries, or similar lumps in relatives. Treatment depends on the diagnosis; an injection into the lesion is not suitable for every type of lump.

Seek prompt assessment if a lump grows quickly, becomes hard or fixed, bleeds, ulcerates, changes the overlying skin, or causes persistent pain or numbness. Same-day care is sensible for marked redness, warmth, pus, fever, or rapidly spreading swelling.

Ask what features suggest a fatty growth, cyst, boil, or another cause; whether examination is enough; whether imaging or sampling is needed; and which changes should trigger an earlier review.