Definition:

Lipodystrophies are a group of rare disorders characterized by selectively loss of fat tissue, which can be congential or acquired, and generalized or partial. People with the diseases more frequently appear severe metabolic abnormality including insulin resistance and its associated complications such as diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, hepatic steatosis, polycystic ovaries, and acanthosis nigricans. Genetic predisposition to inherited lipodystrophies has been discovered. Compared with them, the causes of the acquired lipodystrophies are still unknown, but mainly related to autoimmune mechanism, medications or other unknown mechanisms.