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Pinpoint
fat relief?
Source: U.S. News & World Report
Date: 3/10/2003
Author: Kelly, Katy
What if you could get liposuction results without
surgery? In a doctor's office, over several short visits, with
only a smidgen of pain? What if, like singer Roberta Flack, you
could say, "I lost 2 1/2 chins almost immediately"?
Flack is mad for mesotherapy, a French alternative
treatment that's gaining popularity stateside. Patients receive
100 to 500 skin-deep injections directly into trouble spots like
hips or thighs. The shots usually include tiny amounts of the
emphysema drug aminophylline and the heart medication isoproteranol,
said to melt fat, along with a homeopathic formula made of sweet
clover. The liquefied fat then "time-releases into the body,"
where it is either used as energy or excreted, says physician
Lionel Bissoon. He has used the technique to treat hundreds of
people, including Flack, and has offices in New York, Beverly
Hills, Calif., and West Palm Beach, Fla.
Doubts. Too good to be true? Maybe. Mesotherapy
is used by more than 15,000 physicians in Europe and South America.
In the United States, however, there are some doubting docs. The
drugs "have some fat-melting capabilities," says Denise
Bruner, chair of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians.
"But what is it doing to your lipid profile? Is it going
to elevate your cholesterol or cause enhanced plaque formation
in the arteries? I think it has potential, but I'd like to see
long-term studies." But Michael Steelman, the society's past
president, points out, "when people diet and exercise, they
are releasing fat into their systems. [Mesotherapy] would not
create a problem as long as the person is making lifestyle changes."
Most mesotherapists require diet and exercise programs.
They'll also slim down your wallet. Mesotherapy
runs about $3,000 for 10 sessions and can go higher. Still, satisfied
customers care little about the price or lack of research and
say the real pluses are the minuses. "I'm down from a size
16 to a 10," says Flack. "I have lost 32 pounds."
Losses come from the right places. "It's not about pounds,"
says Marion Shapiro, a doctor who runs a mesotherapy clinic in
West Orange, N.J. "It's about inches." After 10 sessions
with Shapiro, Lisa Horowitz, 40, took 8 inches off her hips and
waist. Says Bissoon patient Linda Marshall, 62: "I'm in a
size 6, but suddenly I had a fat back." After one treatment,
she adds, "I could see and feel a difference. Every time
I've gone there's less. Now, it's smooth and tight, the way it
was when I was younger."
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