[BACK TO ALL
ARTICLES]
MESOTHERAPY
MAKES ITS WAY INTO THE MEDICAL SPA.
Source: Beautiful Forever
Date: 5/13/2005
It’s a revolutionary phenomenon that’s
sweeping through the medical spa industry. Singer Roberta Flack
calls it “a gift from God,” and its fans, including
models and actresses flocking for treatment, though not necessarily
publicly avowing it, feel the same. It’s mesotherapy (pronounced
mez-o-therapy)—a treatment started more than 50 years ago
in France by Dr. Michel Pistor which dissolves fat and gets rid
of your cellulite.
Any women’s magazine editor will tell
you that when the words “thinner thighs” or “how
to get rid of cellulite” appear on their covers, magazines
fly off the newsstands. While many techniques, potions and formulas
have claimed to treat cellulite, mesotherapy really works, even
though there are still naysayers who say nothing changes cellulite.
How do I know it works? Because, as a professional
consultant to the industry, I want all my clients to have cutting
edge treatments and technology in their medical spas, so I tried
the treatment with the renowned Dr. Lionel Bissoon at The Bissoon
Institute for Mesotherapy in Palm Beach, FL.
Mesotherapy is a series of injections of a “cocktail”
of nutraceuticals, FDA-approved off-label pharmaceuticals, vitamins,
minerals, amino acids and homeopathic formulas under the mesoderm
or middle layer of the skin—hence its name. Dr. Pistor developed
it primarily to reduce cellulite, but it has proved to be of use
in weight loss and is sometimes used in conjunction with liposuction
for such areas as thighs, stomach, arms and even the neck, face
and hands. The French even use it for rheumatism, fibromyalgia
and sports injuries, and it has been found to be effective in
treating migraine and constipation. Dr. Bissoon is an osteopath
who founded The Institute and the American Board of Mesotherapy.
He is one of the foremost mesotherapy practitioners in the U.S.
and the one credited with popularizing its treatment here. I met
him several times at anti-aging conferences at which we were both
panelists. The more I heard about it, the more I knew I had to
know it if was something that should be on the menus of my clients’
spas.
I’m a vegetarian, and I work out with
a personal trainer, but like many women, I still had cellulite
on my thighs. I just didn’t feel comfortable wearing shorts
any more because I didn’t like the way my thighs looked.
My physician husband was skeptical of the treatment, but now admits
that my thighs are at least a third better after my first three
treatments.
Dr. Bissoon says there are three factors that
cause cellulite: poor circulation, defective connective tissues
and enlarged fat cells. He estimates that 90% of women have cellulite,
and that it can actually be caused by too-tight elastic in your
underwear. “It’s all oriented in the panty line,”
says. “Thongs became a popular fashion item, but women don’t
understand that there are actually benefits to wearing them. They
are practicing prevention of cellulite at an early age and don’t
even realize it.”
When Dr. Bissoon started doing mesotherapy in
1999 after training with French practitioner Jacques Le Coz, there
were only a handful of “mesotherapists”. As word of
mouth spread throughout the industry about its efficacy, he started
teaching others how to administer and formulate the treatment,
and now holds training seminars in Florida, Beverly Hills and
New York City.
According to Leslie Fischer, the executive director
of the Institute, the real explosion of interest has been over
the past two years. “We went from training three doctors
to training more than 100 from all parts of the country, and we’ve
had numerous requests from Asia and Australia” said Fischer.
They have also retrained many doctors who learned the therapy
at other courses or in France, and offer private training to doctors.
Why has it been around so long and is only now
just taking off? Mainly, it’s because the French never did
research on it, says Fischer. “They just said it worked,
and of course, people asked, where are the studies?” So,
in addition to training the art of mesotherapy, The Bissoon Institute
has been funding research, under the direction of Dr. Frank Greenway,
for the past year-and-a-half to prove the science behind the treatment.
Dr. Bissoon’s book, The Cellulite Cure, which will be published
in May, will reveal findings of that research, as well as the
complete story of the treatment, how it works and include before
and after photos that show what a difference it can make.
There are many in the medical profession who
are anxiously awaiting those results. Dr. David Friedman, a world-renowned
laser treatment physician who resides in Israel, is one. He took
a mesotherapy course in Canada and had positive results with the
six patients he has treated so far, but he is taking a cautious
approach.
“Real science is the foundation of any
medical procedure,” he says. “However, I am most interested
in seeing placebo-controlled, double-blind studies. This, to my
knowledge, is lacking. I don’t think that the side-effect
portion of the equation has been adequately fleshed out. What
are the short-term and long-term systemic effects and the short-term
cutaneous effects?”
Peter Fodor, M.D., president of the American
Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), writing in a 2003
“Cellulite Update” press release, said, “Currently,
there are no peer-reviewed articles or scientific studies to back
up claims that mesotherapy improves the appearance of cellulite.”
He added, “Although some treatments may provide temporary
improvement in the dimpled appearance of cellulite, to date there
is no proven, permanent “cure” for cellulite.”
That update was two years ago, and, again, one of the reasons
that Dr. Bissoon is funding research. Whether the research will
be accepted by organizations such as ASAPS remains to be seen,
since it is not independent research.
Dr. Bissoon took what he learned in France and
refined and improved it. He sometimes uses 100 to 200 injections
per square inch of dimpled skin in 30 to 40-minute sessions. This
mass attack on cellulite with the specialized formula dissolves
the fat cells, breaks down the connective tissue which, in a sense,
cradles that fat in those uneven dimple-like dents, and then repairs
the connective tissue and releases growth factors directly into
the affected area to heal it and restore and maintain the skin’s
elasticity. “Several medicines may be used,” said
Dr. Bissoon. “One is aminophylline, which breaks down the
fat. We also use an enzyme called hyaluronidase for the connective
tissue repair, melilocus, a homeopathic medicine made from sweet
clover, which increases circulation. Cynara scolymus is a homeopathic
artichoke-based medicine which also helps with circulation. Some
add Vitamin C. I use multi-vitamins.”
One of the most important aspects of the treatment
is learning to “diagnose” the severity and compound
the right formula for each patient. Says Dr. Bissoon, “I
teach [those in the course] to examine and evaluate the problem.
I teach them how to pick the right solutions for the different
aspects of cellulite: cottage cheese skin vs. ridges. Some women
have loose skin or saddlebags around the knees. You have to look
at the whole picture and plan. For instance, there’s a certain
solution for loose skin in the neck, another for the abdomen.
It’s a hands-on strategy.”
Like so many advances in the medical spa industry,
there is already new state-of-the-art technology being tested
as the delivery system for the treatment, one using lasers that
will be good news to “needle-phobics.” Dr. Gallo is
one of nine physicians taking part in that study. There is much
to make mesotherapy appealing and revolutionary:
