What Exactly is a Dorsocervical Fat Pad?

What is a dorsocervical fat pad? It's a hump on the upper back, and between the shoulder blades is an area of excess fat behind your neck. The medical name for this condition is a dorsocervical fat pad, but they are more commonly called buffalo humps.

Having a dorsocervical fat pad is not a sign of a specific condition, but the health care provider must consider it with other symptoms and evaluations.

Cause of a Fat Pad

Some of the causes related to the formation of a dorsocervical fat pad are:

1. Side effects of medications used to treat HIV/AIDS
2. Long-term use of glucocorticoid medicine such as prednisone, cortisone, and hydrocortisone
3. Obesity, with a generalized fat deposition
4. High levels of cortisol hormone (caused by Cushing's Disease)
5. A genetic disorder that causes unusual fat accumulation
6. Madelung disease, which is linked to excessive alcohol consumption.

Home Care For A Fat Pad

If the hump has been diagnosed as being caused by medicine, your provider will likely tell you to stop taking the supplement or change the dosage. Do not stop taking any medication without consulting with your doctor.

If your dorsocervical fat pad is caused by excess fat on your upper body, doing regular exercise and following a proper diet can help you relieve some fat.

The Right Way To Diet and Exercise

If you want to lose the accumulation of fat on your upper back through dieting, you must follow the main rule, which is entering a caloric deficit.

A caloric deficit is when you're expending fewer calories than your body uses. If you consume 500 fewer calories per day, that will then allow you to lose up to a pound of fat per week.

If you don't want to only rely on dieting, you can also burn off calories with exercise, assisting you in entering the caloric deficit. It's generally recommended that you do about 70 minutes of cardio per week for optimal training.

Doing back-focused exercises will help you develop muscle in the area, but it will not allow you to burn off the surrounding fat, which is the main cause of the buffalo hump. That's because it's impossible to spot reduce fat on your body through natural means. 

Elite Body Sculpture Can Assist

At Elite Body Sculpture in Beverly Hills, we specialize in fat removal techniques that can deliver outstanding results without using the invasive properties of surgeries like traditional liposuction.

Buffalo Hump AirSculpt® is a precision-engineered process that doesn't use a scalpel, needle, stitches, or general anesthesia, making it one of the most comfortable and accurate ways to remove buffalo hump fat on the market.

For more information on how we can help you, come to our Beverly Hills office for your first consultation.