Don’t Get Lipodissolve to Get that Bikini Bod

April 21st, 2010. By AbiK

The countdown is on baby! There’s about 5 weeks till the official kick-off to summer season—Memorial Day weekend—is upon us and that means millions—yes, millions—of women are doing things like dieting, jogging, zumba, spinning, tanning (fake, out of a tube, hopefully), and heading to cosmetic surgeons and medispas in hopes of seeing an improved version of themselves in the mirror. Quickly.

Unfortunately, a number of women will look to some cosmetic treatments that maybe promise a bit more than they deliver. Case in point: Lipodissolve.

The FDA recently sent out warning letters to six medical spas in the US for making false or misleading statements about lipodissolve. The statements included things like claiming lipodissolve is safe and effective; claiming lipodissolve has an outstanding safety record; and stating that lipodissolve is superior to other fat-loss procedures, including liposuction.

Lipodissolve is a cosmetic procedure that’s touted as a less-invasive cousin to liposuction. It’s liposuction, minus the suction, so to speak. Lipodissolve patients receive a series of drug injections (typically, phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate) that aim to dissolve and permanently remove small pockets of fat from the body.

I don’t really want to know what happens once the fat “dissolves” and, like, where does it go? or what form is it in? Questions I sense have queasy-feeling-inducing answers to them. Be that as it may, I guess the fat is supposed to go someplace better than one’s saddlebags, love handles, tummy bulges, arm flaps…

So what’s the FDA’s beef? For starters, the fact that the FDA never evaluated or approved the products for use in lipodissolve. That should be your first clue that maybe you ought to be a little gun-shy around the ol’ lipo needle.

Beyond that, here’s the list of FDA issues with lipodissolve: 

• The FDA is not aware of evidence supporting the effectiveness of the substances used in lipodissolve for fat elimination
• The safety of these substances, when used alone or in combination, is unknown
• The FDA is not aware of clinical studies to support medical uses of lipodissolve

In addition, FDA has reports of unexpected side effects in people who’ve undergone the lipodissolve procedure. These side effects include:

• permanent scarring
• skin deformation
• deep, painful knots under the skin in areas where the lipodissolve treatments were injected

In terms of the warning letters that were sent out, they went to…

Monarch Med Spa in King of Prussia, PA

Spa 35 in Boise, ID

Medical Cosmetic Enhancements in Chevy Chase, MD

Innovative Directions in Health in Edina, MN

PURE Med Spa in Boca Raton, FL

All About You Med Spa in Madison, IN

The FDA has requested written responses from the companies—and they should be due by next week.

Tags: FDA, Lipodissolve

This was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Consumer Fraud . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.