As you can tell by responses on this site, there are many varying opinions on any medical topic. Having said that, if you hear any "expert" talk in absolutes about anything, you should take that with a grain of salt. Though it is true that treatment of festoons with tetracycline injection is a relatively new technique and we need to see a larger series of patients and longer followup to adequately assess its efficacy, to thoroughly dismiss it as a treatment option by calling it "foolish" or a "fallacy" without ANY data to support THAT position is irresponsible. Have any of these Drs seen or reported any complications from this treatment modality as described in the Dr. JD Perry's article? I doubt it, otherwise they would have cited it in their response. Any new treatment option that is developed in medical field at one time was "experimental" until it proved itself to be efficacious and safe so that it became mainstream. For example, botulinum toxin at one point was highly controversial as many expert physicians were outraged that anybody would willfully inject a "toxin" into the body. We now see how that controversy has shaken out.Though Dr. Perry's series of patients was relatively small, he reported no complications. There were side effects of temporary redness and mild swelling, which resolved within a couple of days. There were no long term deleterious effects. Furthermore, Dr. Perry acknowledged in the paper that this treatment seemed to produce improvement in mild to moderate festoons, thus tempering his claims. He did not claim this to be a silver bullet, but rather another possible treatment option in our "toolbox" to treat a very difficult condition.As anyone with experience in this area will tell you, festoons are one of the most difficult cosmetic problems that we encounter and there is no "perfect treatment". There are almost as many treatments, (lasers, peels, surgery, radiofrequency, etc) as there are "experts" denouncing one and touting another, and each of these treatments have their own possible side effect profile. Also to clarify on a statement made by another surgeon: Tetracycline as described by Dr. Perry, was not meant to "dissolve the fat under the eyes". It was described to be injected into festoons, subdermal swelling in the upper cheek just below the eyelids. Dr. Perry's article did not recommend or even discuss injecting it into prolapsed eyelid fat.Any newer treatment option should be carefully considered and conservatively applied, and that applies to this treatment modality. I hope this clarifies things for you a bit.
