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7th October 2007
NOT Burning Fat:
Flab Jab - Anti-Fat Shots
By Philip Edwards
Known as the Flab Jab in the U.K., this phenomenon has become one of the fastest
growing and most controversial new cosmetic medical procedures to get rid of those
unsightly jelly rolls and fat spots that seem to linger no matter what people try
to get rid of them.
Injections of fat-dissolving compounds are a practice that science doesn't yet back
for safety or effectiveness - but when has that stopped people in the past?
Doctors warn that this so called “off-brand” use of a medication for reducing fatty
plaque deposits in coronary arteries is not approved as a liposuction replacement -
which is essentially what it’s being used for.
Actually, these shots - which are injected into the subcutaneous tissues that
contain most of the body’s fat cells - will not work on people who are considered
obese, i.e. those that have a body fat level of 30% or more. Rather, they are used
by plastic surgeons to spot reduce areas where fat seems to build up – the neck,
eye lids, knees, stomach and love handles.
The procedure is very simple – the patient goes in and receives a series of
injections in the area they wish to shrink. Each injection can cost anywhere from
$30 in third-world clinics to $400 in upscale cosmetic surgery parlors in major
U.S. cities.
A number of injections are needed to get the job done depending on the area
involved and the amount of fat. Doctors say that two to four treatments at six to
eight week intervals are enough to see results.
So while it’s less than half as expensive as liposuction –a surgical procedure
involving a vacuuming away of the fat cells in the affected area – it’s still no
bargain.
Proponents say it much safer since no general anesthesia is required – it’s an
outpatient procedure. They also say recovery is much faster and entails less pain.
Made from soy beans, the active ingredient – a fat-dissolving chemical
phosphatidylcholine (PPT) - speeds up the body’s natural metabolic process to burn
off fat cells in a particular area which is then supposedly reabsorbed by the body.
Some add that messaging the area is important to spread the PPT throughout the
affected area and get the best results from each treatment.
Invented by a dermatologist in Brazil where the procedure has been done more than
25,000 times with no reported ill-effects, it’s becoming more and more popular in
the Northern Hemisphere – new clinics are popping up right and left as cosmetic
surgeons cater to a worldwide fat epidemic, large amounts of loose cash and the
need to look like Paris Hilton in order to gain social acceptance.
But opponents warn that the procedure shouldn’t be seen as a solution for
overweight and obese people because they could easily see the flab return and
doctors’ stress this treatment is for people who have done everything else to lose
weight - like diet and exercise.
In fact, the fat removal mechanism is poorly understood and doctors are not sure
where the removed fat finally ends up. It may just become redistributed to other
areas of body.
Scientific studies are also conspicuously absent and the neither the FDA nor major
pharmaceutical companies certify its use.
Even insurance groups are getting into the act and, in many areas, will not insure
doctors who perform this procedure making it very dangerous for them to use in case
of complications.
Sherry Williams, deputy director of policy at the Medical Protection Society in the
UK, said they decided to act on the widespread availability of cosmetic Lipostabil.
“This is the first time we have withdrawn benefits in this way,” Dr Williams said.
“Our concern was that it was being used subcutaneously and the manufacturer
recommended that it shouldn’t.”
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