ASAPS Warns Patients to Steer Clear of Injection Fat Loss Treatments

“Safety needs to come first. We do not have definitive information on injection fat loss treatments. All we have is a few small studies and anecdotal evidence. Until we know more, we cannot recommend these procedures to patients,” said Foad Nahai, MD, president of the Society. “The bottom line for patients is this: Don't allow yourself to be injected with an unknown and untested substance.”

Despite media and advertising claims that mesotherapy or injection lipolysis treatments can safely and effectively eliminate unwanted fat, published peer-reviewed scientific reports of properly performed controlled prospective trials to confirm either safety or efficacy do not exist. Furthermore, there is no objective data on how these treatments produce ‘fat dissolving' effects and there are numerous reports of complications documented in the medical literature, including bacterial infection, granulomas (disfiguring masses of chronically inflamed tissue) and localized necrosis (tissue death), particularly when injections were done by lay people.

“Mesotherapy treatment centers are opening all over the country and these consumer outlets may not be staffed by trained medical professionals. Patients seeking fat dissolving treatments should be educated about the lack of clinical data supporting these treatments and cautioned to wait until there is reliable information to guide their decision,” said Alan H. Gold, MD, president of the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation (ASERF). “For now, the only proven method for eliminating unwanted fat cells is suction assisted lipoplasty, a procedure that has a long and successful track record for both safety and effectiveness."