How does Mesotherapy compare with liposuction?

Only liposuction really works. We have seen many "simple, minimally invasive, innovations" during the past thirty years of plastic surgery.
If these things really worked everyone would be having it done with great success. What's "hot" today is what everyone shows on TV, even though it doesn't work. That is what drives the media, not real medicine.

There are several differences between Mesotherapy and Liposuction.  For starters, Mesotherapy dissolves fat with a series of injections and requires no downtime.  With Liposuction the fat is suctioned out of your body using a cannula, and you will need some time to recover.  Mesotherapy is good for very small areas, while Liposuction is needed for larger areas.  I would recommend making a consultation with a board certified plastic surgeon to see which procedure best accommodates you.

With liposuction, the amount of fat removed is measured and easily controlled in the right hands. Mesotherapy involves the injection of nonstandardized chemical that are meant to "dissolve" fat.
I have several patients who present to me for liposuction who have tried mesotherapy and report no improvement, or even a few who state that treated areas increased in size. In fairness, those patients with excellent results wouldn't present to my office for liposuction. I get the sense there are not many patients satisfied with the results, however.
If mesotherapy did actually work, there is another issue to consider in my opinion. Where does the fat, lipid, and cholesterol go? Hopefully we don't find in the future that it leads to premature vascular disease or heart disease.

Liposuction is a tried and true procedure with amazing results. You will see a difference after liposuction. It is very rare to ever see a difference after 10-20 sessions of mesotherapy. I don't know of anybody still doing mesotherapy for fat reduction. It just doesn't work worth a darn. I have been doing liposuction for 25 years and I have adapted as new techniques have advanced the results of this procedure over the years. I use to do mesotherapy 15 years ago as many surgeons did when we were taught about it as an adjunctive procedure to melt away tiny lumps and bumps after liposuction. We learned our lesson that it was just a waste of time and money.
David Hansen, MD

Mesotherapy for body contouring involves the injection of substances which are intended for other purposes; normally this is considered "off-label" by the FDA and would be perfectly legal if it is the doctor's judgment that it is a reasonable treatment option. In this case, it is one of the few that is explicitly prohibited by the FDA, and so it remains highly controversial.
Liposuction, on the other hand, has a long track record of safety and effectiveness. Some skepticism is advised about laser-assited lipo, however, as there is a lack of reported data to demonstrate any additional benefit.
This is surprising given that it has been on the market for a few years and there should be some proof. The studies that have been published have found no benefit over liposuction using standard techniques.