Fat Dissolving Injections

Fat dissolving injections/injection lipolysis are a very effective and non-invasive way to reduce stubborn collections of fat allowing recontouring of the area.

These pockets of fat can be treated with injections of lipolytic products which use enzymes that are found naturally in the body to break down fat cells.

Fat dissolving injections are used to reduce localised, stubborn fat in people who are in their normal weight range or a little above it. They are not a weight loss treatment.

If you are seeking to reduce your overall weight please go to the weight loss clinic section of website to read about a weekly injectable medicine which helps suppress appetite.

Most of the fat dissolving solutions contain deoxycholic acid, which when it is injected into the fatty tissue, surrounds the fat cells and disrupts their cell membrane, causing the fat cells to burst. The released lipids are eliminated naturally by your lymphatic system over the following one to three months. Other ingredients to support fat dissolving are phosphatidylcholine which stimulates lipase enzymes and L-Carnitine which mobilises fat from its deposits.

There is also an inflammatory response to the lipid being released and this inflammation helps induce new collagen production and tissue tightening.

What areas of the face or body can be treated?

The area of fat underneath the chin (otherwise known as the submental fat) is the most common area to treat, as it’s a troubling area with few other options for treatment.

Other common areas are:

• Back (bra fat bulges, ‘buffalo hump’ ‘love handles’)
• Chest (including male excess fat)
• Abdomen (‘muffin top’)
• Below the buttocks
• Inner and outer thighs (‘saddlebags’)
• Hips
• Knees
• Ankles (‘cankles’)
• Upper arms (‘bingo wings’)
• Upper pubic area
• Lipomas

Photographs plus/minus measurements of the treatment area are taken prior to each treatment. This allows for before and after treatment comparison.

Your skin is cleaned and the area to be injected is marked out. A very fine needle is used to deliver deposits of the solution at a depth of 6-13 millimeters. The injections are virtually pain free. You may feel a little bit of warmth in the treated area, rarely a mild stinging sensation and your skin will usually turn pink to reddish as the fat dissolving solution starts to work.

The number of fat dissolving treatment sessions required to see results varies depending on the size of the treatment area and the amount of fat being targeted. Most patients require a series of 3-6 fat burning injections treatment sessions, with a break of at least 4 weeks between each session to achieve optimal results.

In the first few hours after a treatment, the area injected may be pink and you may feel a burning or itching sensation (or you may not feel anything), most patients continue with their usual activities. If you do feel any ache afterwards we recommend using paracetamol and a applying a wrapped ice pack the area for 10 seconds at a time (to reduce the risk of a cold burn).

Most people do not swell or have minimal sweeling, but you may swell during the days post treatment, especially in the chin area and the area can be swollen for a week or more. Once the initial swollen phase is over, there will possibly be small lumps and bumps which are bruises under the skin that will take a couple of weeks to resolve. These bumps are generally not visible, but they are palpable.

Most patients start to see results in the treated area after 2 to 3 weeks. It is important to remember that this is a more gradual treatment option in comparison to liposuction as the body must drain the destroyed fat cells through the lymphatic system. This can take up to ten weeks.

Common side effects of fat dissolving injections include swelling, bruising, redness, and tenderness at the injection site.

More serious side effects of lipolysis injections or lipo slimming injections, such as infection, nerve damage, or an allergic reaction, are rare but can occur. It is important to have the procedure of fat burning injections and fat reduction injections performed by a trained and licensed medical professional to minimise the risk of complications.

The results of a fat dissolving treatment are permanent once you don’t gain weight following the treatment.

The body only generates new fat cells if there is considerable weight gain (i.e. 10% of your body weight), then new fat cells can develop in all areas of the body, including treated areas. If there is only slight weight gain the body stores the excess fat in its existing fat cells, therefore the weight will be apparent in other areas of the body, where the fat cells are and not so much in the treated area since a lot of the fat cells there have been destroyed.

Fat dissolving injections work well as a stand-alone treatment and also in combination with other treatments. If your jowls consist of both fat deposits and sagging skin, fat dissolving injections can be used in conjunction with a skin tightening treatment such as radiofrequency microneedling, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) or plasmafibroblast. Dermal filler can also be strategically placed on the jawline to disguise a jowl and streamline the jaw.