It sounds too good to be true.  A painless procedure, performed during your lunch hour, to melt away stubborn bulges and cellulite.  Centers are sprouting up nationwide promising no risks and incredible results.  Doctors from pediatricians to dermatologists are taking weekend seminars and opening “fat-dissolving clinics” to an unsuspecting public.  What these advertisements don’t mention is that these procedures (mesotherapy, lipodissolve, injection lipolysis) do not have FDA approval.  Kansas and Nebraska are trying to ban the procedures.  The American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery do not condone the procedures¹, which have been banned in Brazil, Canada, and England². 

Patients need to be scientific when making healthcare decisions.  I am constantly asked about these procedures and unfortunately see many patients who have had treatments without results or had serious complications.  ABC News has recently spotlighted the dangers of these treatments .  Be careful.  There have been no studies published in the English language that identify how these treatments work and these procedures remain untested in randomized double blind studies.  Success rates and safety are not known.  Liposuction has been tested and proven worldwide in multiple studies.  My patients are usually back to work in 4 to 7 days with minimal pain. 

1.  Kotz, Deborah.  “A shot to melt the fat”. U.S. News and World Report.  June 2007.          

2.  “A shot at a better body”.  Los Angeles Times.  3 December 2007. Section F, Page 1.