Patients should avoid injection treatments to dissolve fat—known as mesotherapy or lipolysis—as they are neither safe nor effective, according to a warning from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.
An ASAPS spokeswoman said the organization issued the warning in the wake of concerns expressed by its membership at the annual meeting.
“The bottom line for patients is this: Don't allow yourself to be injected with an unknown and untested substance,” Dr. Foad Nahai, president of ASAPS, said in the statement.
Mesotherapy is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. First practiced in France in the 1950s, the procedure involves multiple injections into the mesoderm of vitamins, plant extracts, minerals, homeopathic preparations, or traditional pharmaceuticals, depending on the condition targeted.
Practitioners claim there are few side effects, mainly burning, swelling and minor irritation.
But dermatologists note that there have been reports of serious infections and severely localized inflammation with mesotherapy.
“The bottom line is, long on hype, short on science,” said Dr. Richard G. Glogau, a dermatologist in private practice in San Francisco.
Dr. Robert A. Weiss of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, agreed on the potential dangers, and added, “I certainly warn my patients that it's unproven and could lead to the area possibly looking worse.”
The Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation is seeking Food and Drug Administration approval for a pilot study of lipolysis. In the 20-patient, 46-week placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial, patients will receive sham injections or injections of phosphatidylcholine/sodium deoxycholate, the most popular drug combination for lipolysis, Dr. Alan Gold, ASERF president, said in an interview. Evaluations will include histochemical and biochemical data and tissue scans. If the pilot is promising, the ASERF will conduct a multicenter trial, he said.