Mesotherapy promises to melt away fat

06:36 PM CDT on Wednesday, October 6, 2004

By Celine McArthur / Healthvue Reporter

Are you looking for a way to shed fat, but diets don't work and you don't want surgery? There's a new procedure now available in Austin called mesotherapy. It promises to melt away fat.

KVUE

Dr. Daniel J. Ladd, Jr. prepares Megan Patek for her therapy.

Megan Patek, 25, has been fighting a private battle with her weight for years.

"I had anorexia nervosa when I was in high school," she said.

She's physically healthy now. Still, she's very self-conscious about the fat and cellulite on her legs.

"Even when I was 70 pounds, I had the meat area over my knees," she said.

Megan tried diet and exercise, but says nothing worked. She didn't want surgery, so now she's trying mesotherapy. Doctors inject a combination of drugs -- commonly used for asthma and high blood pressure -- into the mesoderm or middle layer of the skin, to break up fat cells.

"You block the receptors that keep fat stored in areas we don't like, like thighs, hips, waist," said Dr. Daniel Ladd.

She'll undergo hundreds of shots, about once a week, for several weeks. It's quick, it's painless and Megan says she couldn't be happier with the results.

"I've noticed I'm more defined now," she said.

But is mesotherapy safe? The drugs injected aren't FDA approved for this procedure.

"There may be dangers we don't know at this time," said Dr. Steve Berkowitz, South Austin Hospital.

Dr. Steve Berkowitz says one concern is the fat now floating in Megan's blood stream could lodge into another tissue.

"They can actually travel up to the lungs and block that part of the lung and cause some serious clinical conditions," he said.

Doctor Ladd says the fat is burned off like it would be with exercise. Still, critics say more research needs to be done to find out for sure.

As for Megan -- she says the risk is worth what she'll lose.

"I want to be happy with my body, if it makes me happy, I'm gonna do it," she said.

This process isn't cheap. Each treatment costs at least $250 and the average patient will need 8 to 15 treatments. For more information, go to www.austinskin.com.