Introduction Multiple symmetric lipomatosis (MSL) (syn.: Launois-Bensaude Syndrome, benign symmetric lipomatosis) is a rare disease of fatty tissue. The pathophysiology of MSL still remains unclear, although several approaches have been described in order to understand it. Beside morphological characteristics and some molecular cell biological approaches, little is known about the histological and immunohistochemical characterization of adipose tissue from patients with MSL. Methods From the 45 patients with MSL in our database, 10 were included in the study. Fat tissue samples were collected from affected and unaffected areas. The forearm served as a control area as this area is not affected in MSL. The specimens were analyzed after selected stainings were taken (hematoxylin-eosin = HE, Elastica van Gieson, Ladewig, CD200, CIDEA, myf5, p107, Prdm16, Sca-1, syndecan, UCP1, MAC387, Glut4). Results In patients suffering from MSL, no macroscopic or microscopic morphological difference could be found between affected and unaffected adipose tissue in HE stainings. The majority of samples showed positivity for UCP1 (9/10 clinically affected tissues, 7/10 clinically unaffected tissues) and CD200. Conclusion Marker profiles support the hypothesis that affected adipose tissue derives from brown or beige adipose tissue rather than from white fat.