Fat pad explained

A fat pad (aka haversian gland) is a mass of closely packed fat cells surrounded by fibrous tissue septa.^[1] They may be extensively supplied with capillaries and nerve endings.^[1]

Examples are:

• Intraarticular fat pads. These are also covered by a layer of synovial cells.^[1] A fat pad sign is an elevation of the anterior and posterior fat pads of the elbow joint, and suggests the presence of an occult fracture.
• Buccal fat pad can be seen in nursing babies.^[1]
• The fat pad of the labia majora, which can be used as a graft, often as a so-called "Martius labial fat pad graft", which can be used, for example, in urethrolysis.^[2]
• Fat pads within the heels which when they get inflamed can cause heel pad syndrome
• The pads under the balls of the feet.
• The eight pairs of focal fat pads running from the armpit to the groin found in all lean women and men in a curved linear arrangement identical to the mammary ridge lines seen in human embryos.^[3]

Notes and References

1. http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/fat+pad TheFreeDictionary > Fat pad
2. Carey JM, Chon JK, Leach GE . Urethrolysis with Martius labial fat pad graft for iatrogenic bladder outlet obstruction . Urology . 61 . 4 Suppl 1 . 21–25 . April 2003 . 12657357 . 10.1016/S0090-4295(03)00117-1 .
3. Teplica D, Kovich G, Srock J, Whitaker R, Jeffers E, Wagstaff DA . Newly Identified Gross Human Anatomy: Eight Paired Vestigial Breast Mounds Run along the Embryological Mammary Ridges in Lean Adults . Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Global Open . 9 . 10 . e3863 . October 2021 . 34667697 . 8517303 . 10.1097/GOX.0000000000003863 .