If you look at photos of women with the disease, it’s such an odd body shape along with the texture of the skin and the pain, that you would think it would be more diagnosable. Not being a doc, I don’t know if other forms of obesity have the pain factor. Although my wife is petite, she has a really uncomfortable level of pain from blood pressure cuffs.
I know a lot of women, my wife included, are hesitant to directly question their doctor as Joey_P says. I wonder if it’s compounded by embarrassment when talking to doctors about weight. That’s a problem shared by a lot of men too.