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Steven Teitelbaum, M.D., FACS answers: What are ALL the side effects of lipodissolve?

I had lypolisis injections (lipodissolve) in my inner thighs about 1 month ago. I am a professional dancer so I am very flexible. The first 2 weeks after the treatment I was a bit sore and stiff but still had my full flexibility. However, by the third week I was so stiff I could not get into the splits or extend my legs fully (when dancing not just standing)and seem to have lost all my hard-earned flexibilty. Two things that concern me are firstly, why am I getting stiffer and worse with time instead of getting better and secondly, even though I had the injections in my upper inner thighs, the stiffness is not there, it is in my lower inner thigh are, about midway down the inner thigh untill just above the knee? I did go see my doctor after about 3 and a half weeks and he assured me that I have nothing to worry about but since dancing is my passion, my life and my job, I am naturally extremely worried. Is this normal? Am I ever going to get my flexibility back and when?


Steven Teitelbaum, MD
17 months ago

I have seen three patients in my practice recently with the same problem. Exactly.

One of them got better by about three months, and the other two are still only about a month after their injection.  The one that got better just tried to ignore it and go on with her life, and the symptoms slowly abated.

I have no idea what was the cause of her problem, and I do not know if there is anything to do to accelerate the healing process.  I tried researching it, but there is absolutely nothing in the medical literature that describes these things.

Why did I find nothing?  Because none of these injectables for fat dissolution is yet FDA approved for this purpose!  None of them!  So there is not a published body of literature that describes the inicidence of complications and how to manage them. Amazing, isn't it?  Did anyone tell you all that when you had your injection?

Another problem with these injections is that the lipolysis folks typically keep their formulas a secret. In my opinion, when it comes to injecting things into other peoples' bodies, that is not a time to keep secrets.  Patients and doctors need to know with what they have been injected and in what concentrations in order to look for trends, recognize complications, and adjust and improve dosing.  But purely out of pecuniary concerns for making their own proprietary formula, most providers of these injections keep this medically important information a secret even from the patients that have had it instilled into their bodies.

These injecdtions have not yet been adequately studied.  In my opinion, patients should only undergo these treatments in a clinical trial.  As it stands today, the treatments are too painful, unpredictable, and complications are too common.  Perhaps with further study, there may be a future for these shots.

I feel bad for you, and the many others like you out there that are suffering following lypolysis injections. Try calling plastic surgeons listed at surgery.org; maybe one of them knows more about this than I do. 

Sorry I didn't really directly answer your question, but I just really don't know what to tell you.  The only reason I answered is just to let you know that I recently tried researching this myself and was unable to find any good information.  I hope the fact that this one patient I saw got better makes you feel more relaxed about your situation, but of course I dont' know if your symptoms were really the same or whether you guys got injected with the same stuff.

I wish you luck and hope that your problem resolves soon.

Web reference: http://www.surgery.org
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