When I initially read the article on a newer fat melting
procedure, I thought "Oh boy, here we go again, another
gimmick in the world of fat loss". Whenever I hear the
words "melt" and "fat" in the same sentence, call me crazy,
but I tend to be a bit skeptical because we all know that
you cannot melt the fat off or out of your body, no matter
how badly we'd all like to at times.
However, upon reading a bit more, I realized that this
newer termed procedure to get rid of smaller pockets of
body fat, called Lipolysis, is much like another, fairly
controversial, method of fat and celllulite removal called
Mesotherapy which originated in France years ago.
The common theme to these procedures is that they both use
injections that are administered subcutaneously, which
release varying mixtures of substances they claim destroy
fat cells and rid the treated areas of bulges and excess
inches.
Practitioners of Lipolysis and Mesotherapy are careful to
say that it is not a weight loss method, but rather a body
sculpting method, which will help to sculpt the body, and
mold it by getting rid of stubborn areas, such as belly
bulges, under-chin fat which tends to be extremely
stubborn, and areas of the arms and sides of the belly that
have that fat that never seems to budge.
The main difference between Lipolysis and Mesotherapy as I
understand it, is what is actually injected. Mesotherapy
is a tad confusing, and I'm not even sure if they've
divulged exactly what is in the solution injected with
Mesotherapy, except to say that it is a natural,
homeopathic mixture in a solution that destroys fat cells.
With Lipolysis, it is clear what actually goes into the
solution injected into patients fatty areas, but critics
say that it is not clear that there is any standard for
mixing the solution, and one patient may get a higher
concentration of one ingredient than another, since the
solution is not yet FDA approved.
The solution is varying parts of the following ingredients
: phosphatidylcholine, a soybean derivative, and sodium
deoxycholate, a bile salt. The mixture is called PCDC, and
it is mixed in pharmacies, however there is no
standardization, which is why it is receiving a lot of
criticism, mostly from the plastic surgery field.
Go figure. I'm sure some of the criticism has to do with
the fact that this newer treatment may take business away
from liposuction, which is only performed by board
certified plastic surgeons, and that may be some of the
reason for the heated debate over Lipolysis and other
non-FDA approved fat reduction procedures.
But they also may have a good point in that the solution is
not standardized, and the long term effects of Lipolysis
have never been studied.
Results reported from Lipolysis have varied, as with many
other comsetic procedures. Many women have reported
excellent results, and would recommend it to anyone who's
looking for inch loss or spot fat reduction. Some say that
the pain is more than minor with each injection, and there
have been some reports of allergic reactions, as well as
minimal results.
Almost every cosmetic procedure has some risk of allergic
reaction or of simply not giving the results desired, so
this is to be expected, and I do not think the amount of
reports in this case warrant calling this procedure
"ineffective" or "unsafe", but the one thing that would
concern me is that we are injecting an unstandardized
solution into our bodies, and destroying fat cells by
rupturing them.
Then where does the fat go after it is destroyed? If the
fat catches in areas where it cannot be easily eliminated
by the body as waste, this could also present a problem,
and critics are quick to cite the fact that there are no
concrete studies or evidence to show that the destroyed fat
cells are processed and eliminated by the liver, as the
advocates of Lipolysis claim.
So, onto another important point about Lipolysis. What is
the cost? That is really on the forefront, since the cost
benefit appears to be the reason that many women are
choosing this over liposuction. That, and the fact that it
is technically uninvasive since there is no surgery
involved, and no downtime as with liposuction, which is
considered to be a fairly painful surgery with a long
recovery time which minimizes life activities.
The cost runs around $1,000 to $3,000 per body area. I'm
not exactly sure what that covers, but it no doubt ranges
depending on where you live, since geographical area
dictates the costs of elective cosmetic procedures most
times. This could be considerably less than liposuction to
eliminate stubborn fatty areas if it works, since it is
both less time consuming and would most likely end up being
more economical.
This procedure may be worth looking into if you have
smaller, more concentrated areas of fat that won't go away,
but perhaps a little more time should pass, and even
better, the process should get FDA approval, before this
becomes the next big thing. After all, what good is
looking great and feeling good if you're unintentionally
doing something detrimental to your body in the end?
----------------------------------------------------
Danna Schneider has written several widely published
articles on her experiences with beauty products and other
cosmetic procedures, and also contributes to
http://www.mybeautyspace.com/cellulite-treatments/ and also
writes for and contributes to
http://www.maleenhancementmagazine.com/female-sexual-enhance
ment/ , where you can find reviews on natural products for
women that help to enhance sensual experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment