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Monday, October 18, 2004
Mesotherapy
By Kristine B. Nograles, MD
Tinky
IT'S the hottest thing and everyone wants one these days! Imagine the possibility of dissolving those fat pockets without the surgery! Is it the next miracle in a bottle? What is mesotherapy? I will attempt to explain.
Mesotherapy is a medical technique developed by a French physician named Michel Pistor in 1952. Simply put, it is the injection of a solution into the mesodermis, or middle skin, to get a desired effect. Previously, it was herbal concoctions that were injected. Today, different drugs are injected using the mesotherapy technique. At present, there are about 10,000 mesotherapists in France alone.
Obviously, the French have the most experience in mesotherapy. Another doctor, by the name of Dr. Patricia Guedes Rittes from Brazil, is responsible for publishing her experience with mesotherapy over the years and is credited for making it the phenomenon it is today.
Dr. Rittes has been using mesotherapy for the treatment of localized fat accumulation. Translation: it can be used to target your love handles or "bilbil" without having to go through liposuction. Other doctors have also used it to get rid of "double chins" or "triple chins". Still others have used it to target the eye bags!
There are many concoctions available for mesotherapy but the one common ingredient for "dissolving" the fat is a chemical called phosphatidylcholine. While this drug is not yet approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, European and South American doctors have been confidently administering it in their clinics.
As an out-patient procedure, mesotherapy hardly has any downtime and therefore is convenient for those who are too scared to go under the knife and those who have no time for recuperation.
This is not to say that mesotherapy does not have its own share of adverse effects. Most common side effect after the procedure is a burning sensation, followed by tenderness, bruising and itching. So far, there have been no reports of allergies to the drug. Some doctors have made case reports of localized skin infections after mesotherapy but this is probably because the doctor, who was doing the procedure, did not practice the proper aseptic technique.
I admit that when I attended the mesotherapy workshop, I volunteered myself as one of the subjects. I could not resist the temptation of getting rid of my bilbil with just a few localized injections. I must say that it is not a painless procedure. In fact, there were some areas that really hurt. But it was a tolerable procedure. Afterwards, I went to the gym with no problems. I have yet to see if I get the promised 1 to 4 inch reduction in my abdomen though.
One session will not solve the problem though. In fact, the patient is encouraged to go back weekly to repeat the sessions until satisfied with the results.
For those interested in having this procedure done, I urge you to be a little cautious only because we have very little experience on this new procedure. But as one mesotherapist put it, liposuction has claimed 100 deaths a year in the US, but mesotherapy has never killed anyone.
So for the brave-hearted (like me), let's compare inches lost after treatment!
For questions, comments and suggestions, write me at tinkynogralesmd@yahoo.com.
(October 18, 2004 issue)
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