Guest Post By: Craig Scott
When the FDA announced earlier this year it approved a fat-killing drug designed to reduce double chins, women and men around the country wanted to know where they could sign up. Double chins rank right up there with concerns about skin texture and crow’s feet on the list of cosmetic trouble spots.
That’s not just a guess. The American Society for Dermatologic Surgery polled adults this spring to identify things about their appearances that bothered them most. Excess weight in general was hands down the most mentioned, but “excess fat under the chin/neck” is clearly something that gets under the skin of a lot of people. Nearly 70% of those surveyed said the dreaded double chin really bothers them, about the same number who say they don’t like “lines and wrinkles around and under the eyes.”
Double chins can be particularly bothersome because they aren’t necessarily related to being overweight. Slender men and women can blame genetics for fat that accumulates under the chin, called submental fat in clinical circles. For people who watch what they eat and exercise, having a double chin is particularly frustrating.
Enter KYBELLA. Until the drug’s approval, liposuction in the neck offered the only hope for anyone who wanted to reduce fat below the chin. The early reviews posted to websites such as RealSelf.com are mostly positive, but they point out that swelling following the injections — each treatment session includes multiple shots — is more significant and lasts longer than what many media reports initially suggested.
“It looks like I will be wearing a scarf for a while, despite the heat,” one patient posted to RealSelf 5 days after getting treated in July. “In my opinion, it looks like the swelling is greater than immediately after treatment.”
In fact, it may be wise to schedule KYBELLA treatments in the fall and winter so it is easier to disguise swelling with scarves and turtlenecks when the weather is cooler. Men may want to stop shaving and grow beards to hide the swelling. Most patients need at least 2 to 4 treatment sessions spaced about a month apart to see the desired results. If you schedule the first appointment in October, you should be finished by the time spring flowers start blooming.
KYBELLA works using a synthetic form of a substance found naturally in the body called deoxycholic acid. It is produced in the liver and stored in the gallbladder to help metabolize dietary fat. When it is injected into the area under the chin, it dissolves fat stored just below the skin’s surface. Swelling is a fairly common side effect of any injectable treatment. Because the fat dies gradually, the results take a while to show up.
“The results following KYBELLA treatments won’t be noticeable right away because of swelling,” Dr. Patrick Flaharty says on the website of his Fort Myers practice, Azul Cosmetic Surgery and Medical Spa. “Even as the swelling diminishes after the first treatment, you may not notice significant changes, because it takes a few weeks for the body to flush away destroyed fat cells. But as you undergo additional treatments, the results gradually become more dramatic.”
Additionally, most patients and surgeons alike say the swelling that follows subsequent treatments is less severe than after the initial procedure.
So is it worth it? Well, KYBELLA so far has a 100% “worth it” rating on RealSelf based on 30 reviews.
Toni Patton
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