Lipodissolve is a non-surgical medical procedure done to reduce fats, treat cellulite, and retract skin. A substance called phosphatidylcholine is the main ingredient of lipodissolve injections. It’s a natural product found in the body that emulsifies and breaks down fat. The phosphatidylcholine that is used in lipodissolve is derived from soybeans, and has not been approved by FDA for cosmetic purposes. However, it has been used by doctors in reducing fat deposits for some years already. Others use it intravenously to dissolve plaques in cardiac disease as well as dissolve fat embolism.

The FDA is cracking down on spas’ fat-melting injections, saying the drugs were not proven safe and effective. FDA regulators issued warnings to 6 spas in the United States that offer what is known as lipodissolve injection, and directed them to inform the agency about steps they are doing to correct the violations within 15 days. They even called for spas to stop using the lipodissolve therapy. FDA said this is because the drugs have not been cleared by federal scientists as required by the law.

Nowadays lipodissolve is believed to be safe and has become increasingly popular. But why is it that FDA took swift action against it besides its being not approved? Do they have other sensible reasons? The therapy is not done by just anyone who wears some kind of spa uniforms or nursing uniforms; only by well-trained surgeons. Although done by well-trained surgeon and in a state-of-the-art facility, the therapy provides no guarantees of having good results. It can improve the chance of having good results, though. Further, complications can and do occur. Serious complications associated to lipodissolve treatment include infection, ulceration, hematoma, anaphylactic shock, scarring, as well as permanent discoloration and numbness. And instead of getting aesthetic enhancement, the skin surface may become irregular, asymmetric or baggy, more particularly with older patients.

The American Society of Aesthetic lipodissolve tries to regain integrity for lipodissolve by what the American and European peer reviewed journals demonstrated. It shows that approximately 90% of patients of the thousands who undergone treatment sessions show objective evidence of improvement, based on actual measurements and pictures, and the paucity of serious side effects of 1-4, 6, 7. Serious side effects reported with liposuction such as death, fluid overload, epinephrine and lidocaine toxicity, thrombosis, fat embolism and complications of general anesthesia have not been reported with lipodissolve therapy. However health safety advocates still want to see more evidence.