Dr. Thomas Wright, medical director of Laser, Lipo and Vein Center, is a board-certified physician who has specialized in venous and lymphatic medicine for over 20 years. Dr. Wright brings a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach to treating causes of edema and his research and practice focuses on lipedema and related fat disorders and venous insufficiency. Dr. Wright has a specialized skill set and passion for unique types of liposuction and its derivative surgical procedures such as lipedema reduction surgery, fat transfer, and minimally invasive skin tightening. He was trained in tumescent liposuction technique by its originator, Dr. Jeffrey Klein, and additionally, he trained with several European surgeons on a specialized form of lymph-sparing liposuction for the treatment of lipedema. Dr. Wright has performed thousands of tumescent liposuction procedures for cosmetic and lipedema patients and he has developed his own lymphatic sparing surgical technique using micro cannulas to limit unnecessary injury to the lymphatics during tumescent liposuction.
Dr. Wright has written over 20 abstracts and peer reviewed publications, including 8 peer-reviewed manuscripts in the last 3 years. He recently published his research outlining improvements in lipedema patients’ quality of life following lymph sparing liposuction using his specific technique. He is a co-author of the US lipedema Standard of Care Guidelines and he authored case reports of lipedema coexisting with anorexia nervosa and lipedema coexisting with malnutrition. Dr. Wright has authored and presented several scientific papers on new surgical techniques for the treatment of venous insufficiency and has received awards and honors for his original research in the treatment of venous insufficiency. He is actively involved in multiple research studies on lipedema including one with Washington University to better understand the metabolic effects of lipedema as well as research with the University of Arizona to better understand the tissue pathology of lipedema. Dr. Wright has published studies on the safety of tumescent anesthesia, which is used during liposuction and venous ablations.
Dr. Wright is among the first 200 US surgeons to attain diplomat status with the American Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Venous and Lymphatic Society. He is a member of the medical advisory board of the Fat Disorder Research Society and a founding member of the Lipedema World Alliance. Dr. Wright has received numerous honors, including an Election to the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society and an appointment as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar. He was awarded a Top Doctor from RealSelf. He is the Vitals recipient of the Patients Choice Award every year from 2010-2018. The AMA awarded him the Physician Recognition with Commendation Award in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. He was also named Top Phlebologist, aka, venous and lymphatic specialist, in the Nation by the healthcare site HealthTap. He was given a Compassionate Doctor Recognition (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017). St Louis Magazine named him as Top Vein Doctor 2013 and The Face of Vein Care St. Louis in 2014. He was given an On-Time Doctor Award in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and a Top 10 Doctor - St Louis Metro Area.
