8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Lipodissolve provider: Not specified
My wife recieved her first set of Lipodissolve injections. Two days prior to going in for her second set, she developed two small lumps and the area started turning red. She took tylenol for pain as perscribed by the center that treated her. When she went in, the nurse commented "I have never seen this before", she never left to get a doctor or refer my wife to anyone, instead she make comment (in medical records) about two lumps, red warm to the touch and painful. Then proceeded to perform a cold laser treatment for 12 minutes. The two lumps were in fact abscesses (identified after the fact) which were lima bean size. The next morning my wife could not sit upright. I contacted the center who diagnosed her as having an infection and perscribed medication. Antibiotics do not fix abscesses, only draining them does. We were left with the confidence that the medication would work since the medical professional showed no concern, since they offered to call us in two days to follow up.
Within those two days, the abscesses grow to 3 inches across, and by now my wife was feeling nauseous. I took her to the ER, they immediately identified abscesses larger then they have ever seen. they drained them and performed a CT Scan to ensure hte abdominal wall was not breeched but the abscesses, which measured 4.5cm deep. It has taken her 34 days to get to a point where there is no depth to the wound, it is just now starting to scar.
There are no regulations on the administering of PCDC, since it is off-label usage of an FDA approved substance. Doctors or Nurses can give the injection and side effects are so rare that when they occur they dont have proper training to identify them.
Can someone explain the difference between an Abscess and a fatty deposit developed by the treatment??? Lumps, which woman comaplin about being warm and painful. That can so easily be mis diagnosed. It was this reason that Brazil had ceased treatment.
Lipodissolve reviews by RealSelf.com users
Avg cost $2,889
37% say Lipodissolve was worth it
63% say Lipodissolve was not worth it
4/7/07
Lipodissolve has not been banned in Brazil. The use of the compound Lipostabil (PPC) has been banned. Brazil also has issues with "back room" procedures being done by anyone with a needle and a bottle of compound. This is another reason why it was banned. There are still centers which perform the lipodissolve treatment with the PCDC formula.
I have a several questions for you. First of all, did you do your homework on the center which performed your wife's procedure? Did you ask for references? This is VERY important. Any reputable center will have references for you to call and ask questions concerning their experience with the procedure. Did you ask to see before and after pictures? Was the procedure performed by certified personnel and/or a physician? Nurses are allowed to perform the procedure but only after they've completed a certain number of hours of training and always under the supervision of a board certified physician. You should have insisted on seeing a doctor as soon as you were aware of the abscesses. You didn't mention if the place you went to had a doctor on staff or who performed the treatments. This is another instance where you failed to do your homework. You should have known beforehand if the people you were dealing with were trained and certified to do this procedure.
If pain continued to increase or if there were any other adverse reactions to the procedure, you should have been provided an emergency number to call in order to speak with a nurse or doctor on call. Nausea, dizziness, diarrhea, discoloration, numbness, and pain are common reactions to the procedure. You should have also been instructed to not use any type of anti-inflammatory medications up to three weeks before and after the procedure. Swelling is how you know the procedure is working. It is necessary; it is never a side effect. You should have also been told to avoid restrictive clothing or accessories. Constriction at the site of treatment can cause blisters and excessive bruising.
More serious adverse reactions to the treatment are rare, but do occur, generally as a result of improper injections by untrained or inexperienced medical personnel. The most common adverse reaction is a burning of the outer skin layer caused when the compound is injected into the dermis (skin) rather than into the fat. Sometimes the burn results in blistering, which can cause necrosis (death of the skin) that might leave a scar. Blisters that break open cause the area to become more susceptible to infection, as is with any open wound. Blisters that become infected require immediate attention by a physician who can prescribe antibiotic ointments if necessary. There have been no reported deaths from the use of PCDC in targeted fat-removal procedures.
Because lack of experience and training can lead to poor results and more serious complications, physicians should be trained by experts in lipodissolve, and should always be supervised by medical directors who are board certified in their area of specialty.
Finally, this is a relatively new and elective procedure. Your wife chose to have this done knowing that it is an off-label usage of FDA approved substances. It was basically your own ignorance that put you in the situation that you described. It is up to the consumer to know what they are getting themselves into by doing the required research. You failed to ask the proper questions and do the necessary background checks. We are a nation of very intelligent consumers and companies know this. That's why there is an abundance information available to help you make intelligent and informed choices. However, if you choose to ignore this information or if you are too lazy to do the research, then you are on your own.
4/7/07
Actually we did see before and after, the women in the clinic were all recieving treatment let us see their own bodies as well. The problem was the center who performed it, advertised and kept saying that doctors supervised everything. We never saw one in their center. When the nurse first saw her at the follow up she failed to identify the abscess. We signed the consent form saying we accept it as a risk, we're fine with that, but if it is a 'side effect' of treatment then the nurse hsould have been able to correctly identify it. Instead she considered it fat deposits that didnt dissolve and decided on her own to do the cold laser treatment. Granted us being naive to the procedure we relied on her to be knowledgable about the process. the day following the laser treatment my wife developed bruising and discomfort that she couldnt sit up right. I called the clinic and they never requested to see her, they used their notes from the prior visit and my description over the phone to make the decision that she had an infection and I needed to fill a perscription for an antibiotic. When I picked up the script they said she could take the pills and because the nurse wouldnt be at work at the center for the next two days she would call me then to see how she was doing. When you are not a medical professional you rely on their decisions to be proper, and since they showed little concern in her condition and had a plan with anitobiotics (which was supposed to take a few days to work) we felt we were on a track to recovery. Instead the condition got worse over the next days and I had to take her to the ER for treatment.
At no time has the center called us since to check on her status, its now 37 days since the ER visit. They have not once called us to apologize for their lack of proper treatment, they have not called us in to evaluate her to 'find where it went wrong'. We have written them letters and their main headquarters and gotten no replies. Instead we got dropped like a rock and they still have our cash. If you were to start fresh doing your homework, you find that more and more sites keep popping up raving about the process, the centers who perform it and the people who are so pleased with their progress. You do not see many sites complaining of the complications and risks. Since everyone in the center was recieving the injections they backed up their claim about how well it worked. They kept saying how FEW people ever had problems, but when you find a site like this you find 30-40 people complaining. We have three women in the Vegas valley right now with the same issue, my wife and two others.
4/11/07
Anybody notice that for every negative comment, there is a "guest" reponse that attempts to shift blame back to the patient? Anybody also notice that the guest response in each instance is incredibly thorough - almost as if they work for the company that the complaint is about? Just an observation.
5/4/07
You mentioned the Vegas valley....is this the clinic that was first known as the Lipodissolve Center and have now changed their name to something management clinic?