Once Kybella is performed, what happens to the loose skin once the fat is absorbed

The answer to your question depends on how much loose skin you have. Kybella’s deoxycholic injections melt the fat under your chin so that your body gradually eliminates it over weeks to months. That usually gives your skin enough time to adjust to the loss of volume and tighten. However, how much tightening you get depends on the quality of your skin to begin with. If your skin was sagging and inelastic, you may indeed be left with loose skin, no matter what fat-removal technique you choose. Consulting a board-certified dermatologist will help you decide whether you’d also benefit from ThermiTight or Ultherapy in addition to your Kybella. 

Thank you for your question. The active ingredient in Kybella is a naturally-occurring molecule in the body that aids in the breakdown of fat. When injected into subcutaneous fat, this molecule destroys fat cells. The fat is melted away and there is no sagging skin left behind. 

Kybella is an FDA approved medicine that when injected into fat will cause the permanent destruction of the fat cell. in the FDA study some tightening of the skin was seen. It is ideal for the younger patient with no loose skin. Older patients generally require more treatments and may benefit from other skin tightening procedures such as thermi Rf, CO2 lasering or chemical peeling.

Kybella is a great option to spot reduce small pockets of fat like the area under the chin.   Because Kybella works by causing the fat cells to be dissolved over time, the body creates collagen which leads to tissue tightening.  This tightening takes place over time as the fat is going away leading to no loose skin.

In our practice, we assess the tissue in the submentum, or what most people call the chin area, prior to treatment. We usually have a pretty good idea if someone will need to have a few Kybella treatments and if the patient will want some type of skin tightening procedure afterwards. Some skin tightening devices that can be done later are ultherapy, ThermiTight or ThermiSmooth. But it is best to wait a few months to see what happens and if further treatments are desired.