The condition is most common in the Achilles tendon and in the tendons of the hand and foot. It also occurs with hyperlipidemia, an inherited disorder in which there are excessive amounts of lipids in the blood. Xanthelasma, a yellowish tumor on the upper and lower eyelids, most common in elderly people, may also occur. Patients with xanthoma have an increased chance of developing coronary heart disease.
Treatment includes a low cholesterol diet and drugs that further decrease the lipids in the blood.
The nodules of fatty substances sometimes ulcerate through the skin and have to be removed surgically.