HIV RELATED: Once a devastating disease whose diagnosis meant certain swift death, HIV infection has become more of a chronic, albeit debilitating, disease.
Dr. DeWeese has had extensive experience performing surgery on HIV and AIDS patients, dating back to a time before these terms were even part of the medical vocabulary. He is on the forefront of developing procedures aimed at ameliorating the ravages of this disease and the side-effects of the life-saving drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS—all without jeopardizing the life expectancy of the individual affected patients.
One of the more prominent tangibles effect on the body of HIV/AIDS (and its associated drug treatments) is called lipodystrophy. Lipodystrophy describes both “visible" changes in body shape, and “hidden" changes in metabolism, i.e., the way your body turns fat and sugars into energy. Lipoatrophy, or fat loss, may occur in the face, legs, arms and buttocks. Lipoaccumulation, or fat build-up, may occur behind the neck—insensitively dubbed "buffalo hump"—in front of the neck, deep within the belly, and in the breasts.
The exact cause(s) of lipodystrophy are not known. Some risk factors include: low CD4 count, HIV infection itself, prolonged duration of HIV infection, various HIV medications, age, race, gender, weight, and diabetes mellitus. The accumulation of fat in the region behind the neck and back of the upper torso was initially thought to be a side-effect of steroid medication. But, recently, it has come to be associated with the use of anti-HIV medications. Not only is it unsightly, but the accumulation of fat can also cause restriction of motion of the head and neck, as well as discomfort or debilitating pain.
