MELTING AWAY FAT

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD FACS reports regularly on developments in health, medicine and cosmetic surgery. Additional thoughts on cosmetic surgery by Fort Myers plastic surgeon, Dr. Brueck, may be found at his web site, Beauty-by-Brueck.com

Who knows what will come in the next century. Certain goals, certain desires seem to survive the hands of time. One that I see in my practice everyday is weight loss. If ever there was something most people face as a challenge is to shed those extra pounds. Another is the appearance of cellulite.

Well we soon may have a new weapon in the battle of the bulge - Fat Dissolving Injections.

Years ago, there was a lot of hype about Meso Therapy and Fat Dissolving Injections. For some, they worked, but for many it was a tremendous let down. One area in which it worked was the area of fat under the chin on the "turkey gobble" neck.

But as the fat melted away the patient was left with an empty sac of loose hanging skin. Also, there were so many available drugs or pharmaceuticals available to inject in the soft tissues or fat of the body. The doses to be chosen and the combination of agents possible were unlimited so what might work on one person might not work on someone else.

But now Kythera Biopharmaceuticals in Los Angeles is conducting phase 3 studies to evaluate a product called ATX-101 which is an injectable for dissolving substance.

Stage 3 studies mean they are advanced and may soon yield results that may be available to patients in the not to distant future. The studies are for submental or chin fat removal. They have involved 720 patients in various European countries. They performed a similar study last year, 2010 here in the United States.

Dr. Robert J. Brueck MD, FACS is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon in Ft. Myers and Cape Coral, FL. Visit his website at beauty-by-brueck.com to learn more about him or other procedures he does.