5/05/08

According to Toni Bark, MD, of the Lipodissolve Clinic in Evanston, Ill, lipodissolve is given a negative spin by plastic surgeons in fear of losing patients.

Two national groups of plastic surgeons have launched their own campaign against the procedure, which is taking business away from surgeons who perform liposuction. Patients have become increasingly aware of the inherent risks of liposuction with a death rate of one in 5000, mostly due to pulmonary embolism, and are increasingly choosing lipodissolve over liposuction. There have been no deaths or any long-term problems associated with lipodissolve.

The statements repeatedly made by the plastic surgery associations all say the same thing—that lipodissolve is not FDA approved and that physicians use uncontrolled cocktails.

Neither of these statements is true, says Bark. The FDA does not approve procedures period. They only approve products such as medical devices and synthesized drugs, not bio-identical drugs. Physicians trained in lipodissolve use one thing, a mix of phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate in a standardized ratio. Bark says this mix is not FDA approved because it is a naturally occurring substance and therefore out of FDA jurisdiction such as vitamin B12 injections.

[Medical News Today, May 5, 2008]