Lipodissolve... is it what it sounds like?

[Babybear]

Fat dissolving? Hmm... sign me up for that! Is it a medication or some sort of injection? how many do you need to see results? I heard some ads on radio but they didn't explain much.

[Rollergirl]

I'm actually thinking about Lipodissolve not for fat but for cellulite. (Have the slightest smidgin on the back of my legs;) ) I've asked around a bit and lipodissolve seems to be best treatment for cellulite. Liposuction apparently makes it worse. Not that many clinics in Melbourne do it. And I'm with Yummy Mummy on this one - for this sort of things I only want a doctor to do it! Makes it hard to compare prices and shop around though (Sorry doctornev....). Anyone know of any lipodissolve clinics in Melbourne?

[Babybear]

I've tried endemology before for cellulite - what a total waste of time that was! I actually want the "fat melting" part of the lipodissolve ... but if it works for cellulite too that's even better! Maybe we can do a lipodissolve party hehehe

[Kysa]

Hi Girls,

Just new to this forum. I am in the middle of having Lipodissolve done. I have had my saddle bags and backs of legs done (4 or 5 vials) almost 5 weeks ago. I had my love handles and the area (about 6 x 3 inch sq) near my bellybutton (4 vials).

I can start to see results in my saddlebags (cellulite seems to be fading, i had and have a bit).. my clothes, which is always a good test are looser around my legs. My love handles and my stomach, which i only had almost 2 weeks ago are now not swollen. Can't feel much difference there yet. They say good results happen between 4-8 weeks.. 8 weeks being the best results.

I am not a big girl. I am quite tall and slim. Haven't been able to exercise for over 1 yr due to popping three discs in my back.. Always been active. Put on about 6kgs - mostly around my bum, thighs, hips, tum - you know the usual spots. I heard that this procedure was the go! Costly but if I can see the results Ive seen on the web, i'll be well happy!!! :D It apparently melts the fat - what a good ring that has to it eh?

I must say, however, how gawd damn painfull the after effects of the procedure was for me! The needles themselves didnt hurt (one or two stung, but thats it) but the after effects, which lasted around 4 hrs was excrusiating!! Sorry but it was. My legs were so grossly swollen I thought I was having some sort of major reaction, I was close to calling the hospital. I thought my skin was going to split! I have taken **** and a small ***** of the carnage, haha! Let me know if you want to see it. The stinging was almost unbearable. My love handles and my stomach, hurt yes, but nowhere as severe as my legs and saddlebags.... My gf also got her legs done (inside and her hips)... she also said it was very very painfull and was surprised nobody told her how bad it was going to hurt. PLEASE NOTE: this only lasts around 4 hrs (same with my gf) and you're only left with a slight tenderness...which i must say can last for aaaages, ive still got tenderness in my legs from almost 6 weeks ago! The tenderness and brusising is a pushover....

I can still feel the pea sized lumps in my legs where some of the needles were injected....

TRUST me,,, if this works, man its all worth it... If it doesn't - ahh whats $1400k down the drain?? (j/k)

I just wanted to let you all know the truths about some of the pain... I have been on many websites and none of them say how painfull it is. My doctor said that the more painfull, the more fat it is breaking down... the better its working, plus your legs (or my legs) had lots of fibrous fat, hence the major swelling......i did take some comfort in that!

But as per usual, the things we do as women, im booked in for 2 more sessions.

Hope I didn't scare any of you off... or bore to to absolute death with my ramblings...

Take care ya'll

Kysa

[doctornev]

Fat dissolving? Hmm... sign me up for that! Is it a medication or some sort of injection? how many do you need to see results? I heard some ads on radio but they didn't explain much.


Hi BabyBear,

Lipodissolve is a graphic though perhaps slightly inaccurate description of the procedure. We do inject a series of vitamins and FDA-approved substances with a USA designed and made pneumatic mesotherapy injector. It allows us to administer multiply precisely controlled, fast and most importantly painless microinjections directly into the fat.

It is best for treating cellulite with up to 90% of people experiecing imporvement of their "dimpling" with the procedure. Lipodissolve can be used to correct the "dimpling" that results from liposuction.

It can also be used to remodel or bodysculpt stubborn fat deposits. Each treatment removes about 1-2 teaspoons of fat. It works by stimulating gentle fat break down, free fatty acid release and subsequent reabsorption of the fat via the immune system. There's no real "melting" involved. The injections primary mode of action is to simply stimulate the immune system to reabsorb the fat.

[Babybear]

I second Kysa's opinion. (Just plucked up the courage and had it done by doctor grace 2 days ago!)

The medication really does sting! The injections themselves weren't bad at all... Well, I didn't mind them and I HATE needles. And my doctor mixed in some local pain killers to ease the sting. But when it wore off you could definitely feel it! Sort of like 5 ants bit you all at once - stingy and quite ichy. I was expecting it though from what my doctor told me, so it wasn't so bad. The thought that the itchy, tender "reaction" meant the injections were working was very comforting. Hey, I'm a girl! ;)

Like Kysa said though, it only lasted about 3 hours. After that it was just a bit of bruising and swelling. Bit of soreness ("like you've run a marathon" is how my doctor described it). Nothing to write home about really.

So you're seeing results Kysa? That's good to know! Please keep us posted :)

[Kysa]

Heya Girls,

Its been 7 weeks since I've had my lipodissolve done on my legs. Not seeing too much difference from the last time I posted. I still have some pea sized lumps on my legs and they are still slightly tender and bruised in some spots. My brother slapped my leg the other week and I almost fell off my chair... Seems to be some deeper bruising still there.

My love handles and tummy dont really look any different. Mind you they are only in their 4th week.

My gf who also got her done (inside of legs and hips)... said hers didn't work. She was very disappointed with her results. She actually cancelled her other appointments. Hers was done exactly 8 weeks ago today.

She said to me that her clothes done feel any different. The doctor told her it didnt work for everyone, which is a bit off putting, especially for all the pain you go through!

I was supposed to get some more done last week, but had to go to a party and didn't want to look like I had put heaps of weight on my legs because of teh swelling so I cancelled for another couple of weeks (this week I had to drive 3hrs down south, so no chance of getting it done today).. I still dont know if I could handle getting it done on my legs on the same spot as before as they are still tender. :cool:

I wanted to go back and have another chat to my doctor. I wanted to ask (which I didn't at first) how many times on 'one' spot do you have to get it done for it to work? I heard someone had it done 6 times on the same spot for results!!! If that was the case, man its gonna cost me a fortune!!! :rolleyes:

For what I've been told and for the results I have, it doesn't seem to have worked as well on me as I would have liked. I've got a week to go for it to peak on my legs, so unless i see massive results in this last week, i might end up joining my gf saying that it didn't work... :eek:

I must say though, girls, that my cellulite on my legs dont seem to be as bad... nor do my stretch marks.. maybe Im just wishful thinking..

Take care ya'll

xoxoxoxo

Kysa

[doctornev]

Heya Girls,

Its been 7 weeks since I've had my lipodissolve done on my legs. Not seeing too much difference from the last time I posted. I still have some pea sized lumps on my legs and they are still slightly tender and bruised in some spots. My brother slapped my leg the other week and I almost fell off my chair... Seems to be some deeper bruising still there.

My love handles and tummy dont really look any different. Mind you they are only in their 4th week.

My gf who also got her done (inside of legs and hips)... said hers didn't work. She was very disappointed with her results. She actually cancelled her other appointments. Hers was done exactly 8 weeks ago today.

She said to me that her clothes done feel any different. The doctor told her it didnt work for everyone, which is a bit off putting, especially for all the pain you go through!

I was supposed to get some more done last week, but had to go to a party and didn't want to look like I had put heaps of weight on my legs because of teh swelling so I cancelled for another couple of weeks (this week I had to drive 3hrs down south, so no chance of getting it done today).. I still dont know if I could handle getting it done on my legs on the same spot as before as they are still tender. :cool:

I wanted to go back and have another chat to my doctor. I wanted to ask (which I didn't at first) how many times on 'one' spot do you have to get it done for it to work? I heard someone had it done 6 times on the same spot for results!!! If that was the case, man its gonna cost me a fortune!!! :rolleyes:

For what I've been told and for the results I have, it doesn't seem to have worked as well on me as I would have liked. I've got a week to go for it to peak on my legs, so unless i see massive results in this last week, i might end up joining my gf saying that it didn't work... :eek:

I must say though, girls, that my cellulite on my legs dont seem to be as bad... nor do my stretch marks.. maybe Im just wishful thinking..

Take care ya'll

xoxoxoxo

Kysa


Hi Kysa,

I hope the last session works miracles for you!

It is unfortunate that lipodissolve doesn't work for everyone. My opinion is lipodissolve results pretty much follows the rule of thirds.

1/3 see a dramatic difference
1/3 see a moderate difference
1/3 see a mild change or perhaps no change.

Selecting your patients carefully can significantly increase the odds of getting a good result. In generaly we only do lipodissolve on about 60% of our patients who ask for it. The rst are either referred onto plastic surgeons or are talked out of it. The very best kind of patient is a relatively slim patient who has a fat pocket or some cellulite that just won't go away.

Now on the plus side.

Lipodissolve is probably the best available treatment for cellulite. Certainly in my experience it has a far better chance of working than various cellulite creams or other treatments. So although it is not perfect (and no treatments or drugs ever are) it is probably the best available treatment today.


Hope this helps

[DoRayMe]

Hmmmm. One of my friends wanted me to get it done with her as "moral support."

I think I might wait to see how she goes before I take the plunge.

Thanks for the warning post Kysa. Keep us posted

[Araminta]

I had lipodissolve on my saddlebags and I got noticable results. I am really happy with it. I had one treatment and I don't think I need to have anymore. My thighs are each about 2cm slimmer in circumference and I have had to take in lots of my pants. I also have much less cellulite on the outside of each thigh. I think if I had more done then other parts of my body might start to look out of proportion. Like, my inner thighs would look too fat and my bum too big, etc. I didn't experience too much pain after the operation. Apparently there are different products that are available for injection. I do medical research for a job so I had a look at journal article that had been published on lipodissolve, before I went. There aren't many articles published on how it works. I found one article that investigated how it worked and the ingredient they found to be active was actually 'deoxycholate' not 'Phosphatidylcholine', which clinics previously claimed/assumed. I checked that the clinic I went to had that in it. I know that different clinics use different solutions. This makes me wonder if the 1/3 who notice nothing get the wrong solution. $300 and I feel really happy that I had the procedure done.

[Dr.Grace]

Hi Araminta,

In the field of medical research you’ll always be able to find a paper to support almost everything. Was this the paper you found (Dermatol Surg. 2004 Jul;30(7):1001-8 Detergent effects of sodium deoxycholate are a major feature of an injectable phosphatidylcholine formulation used for localized fat dissolution)?

What we do know is the weight of the evidence lies with phosphatidylcholine. Hundreds of published papers support phosphatidylcholine vs. a small handful for deoxycholate. Phosphatidylcholine is overwhelmingly the most commonly used active ingredient used by medical practitioners for good reasons

1. It is safe. In other fields of medicine phosphatidylcholin has been used in Cardiology since the 1070s to lower blood cholesterol, and to assist liver function. No long term toxicity has been shown.

2. It is effective. Phosphatidylcholine has been widely used in Europe, USA, Latin America for fat reduction with good results. Hundreds of papers have been published (granted, not gold-standard evidence) describing the clinical observation of fat reduction with minimal side effects (redness and itching). Eg:

The use of phosphatidylcholine for correction of localized fat deposits. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2003 Jul-Aug;27(4):315-8
Histological changes associated with mesotherapy for fat dissolution. J Cosmetic Laser Ther 2005 Mar;7(1):17-9.

3. The most likely mechanism of fat reduction is that phosphatidylcholine acts as a mild emulsifier, damaging the fat cell membranes. This stimulates inflammatory-mediated fat necrosis and resorption. It’s not a case of simply “melting” the fat – the fat cells have to be resorbed and taken away. In fact, liquefying more fat cells than the immune system can handle can be disastrous (causing fevers, muscle pain and infections).

The inflammatory-mediated fat resorption is biopsy proven in both test animals and humans. Fat biopsies following phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate injection show mixed septal and lobular panniculitis. The fat lobules are infiltrated by increased numbers of lymphocytes and macrophages (consisting of foam cells and multinucleated fat-containing giant cells). The inflammation was associated with serous atrophy and microcyst formation. This leads to the localised reduction in fat tissue.
--> In plain English, we use chemicals to irritate/damage the fat cells, stimulating your own white blood cells to come into the area and remove the damaged fat cells. That’s the theory on how fat cells are removed without physically suctioning them out using surgery.

4. Sodium deoxycholate is simply a surfactant, one of many used in phosphatidylcholine preparations (which all contain phosphatidylcholine, a surfactant and water). The phosphatidylcholine preparation used at Kiora Medical Spas contains around 8.8% sodium deoxycholate.

Is it possible that the deoxycholate helps the phosphatidylcholine? Sure. But will using deoxycholate alone achieve good results? (It would certainly be cheaper for us!) Until there are as many studies in favour of it I would go on the existing evidence and use phosphatidylcholine (with or without the sodium deoxycholate).

Cheers, thanks for bring up this interesting point for discussion!

Warm Regards,
Dr. Grace Lin
Clinical Director Kiora Medical Spas
T 1300 55 98 96
www.kiora.com.au