The first major casualty in the American experience with mesotherapy has arrived with reports that FIG, the first franchised mesotherapy clinic company, is closing it's doors in the wake of hundreds of complaints from unhappy clients.
FIG had operated over a dozen clinics in seven states that promoted a package of mesotherapy injections, costing almost $2,000 per body part, to reduce fatty deposits on the thighs, abdomen, buttock, and neck. Its clinics reportedly performed over 100,000 mesotherapy-style treatments across the nation.
Now all this doesn't mean that mesotherapy can't or doesn't work, but it clearly shows what happens when you put the cart in front of the horse with new technology or techniques. It's to the credit of the Plastic Surgery Education Foundation that they've taken the lead in trying to study the safety and efficacy of standardized regimens for these injection lipolysis treatments. The inaction of other medical groups who have dabbled in this is disturbing.
Hopefully this will temper the enthusiasm for people experimenting with these kinds of injections until we have more information. Remember that the active components of all these treatments are cyto-toxic medications being used in a way far from their accepted indications.
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6 comments:
I was shocked to find out that my Fig clinic here in Houston was shut down! I agree it wasn't working. It was TERRIBLY painful too, but I'm one of those women who will do practically anything to have that beautiful body. I have tried working out and just couldn't lose my stomach, so I thought this might be for me. Well apparently it wasn't for anybody! So then yesterday, the Care Credit people tried taking out my monthly payment of $360.00. I was astounded! I had to leave work to got to the bank in person and barely got there in time to stop the transaction. This is an atrocity.I was shocked to find out that my Fig clinic here in Houston was shut down! I agree it wasn't working. It was TERRIBLY painful too, but I'm one of those women who will do practically anything to have that beautiful body. I have tried working out and just couldn't lose my stomach, so I thought this might be for me. Well apparently it wasn't for anybody! So then yesterday, the Care Credit people tried taking out my monthly payment of $360.00. I was astounded! I had to leave work to got to the bank in person and barely got there in time to stop the transaction. This is an atrocity.
I've heard also(as you mention) a number of times that this is a very uncomfortable injection.
Now FIG collapsing doesn't mean that there isn't some potential indication for injection lipolysis, it just means that we're just not at a point where this is as predictable as other modalities (eg. liposuction or direct excision) for treatment. FIG was capitalizing on the buzz and promise that you get "something for (almost) nothing" in re. to convenience and downtime.
There are a whole lot of very expensive machines coming down the pike which try to do the same thing.
I used to research and write for a lot of plastic surgeons across the country, and once in a while, I'd be asked to write about a mesotherapy treatment. I never really liked promoting it, because I've just read too many horror stories. I know it's not a medical journal or anything like that, but Allure had a pretty good article about mesotherapy - specifically lipodissolve - a couple of months ago. While I'm still sort of in the plastic surgery business (working with Columbus cosmetic surgery suites in Ohio), I don't have to try and sell prospective patients on mesotherapy and that's a good thing, because in my opinion, lipodissolve is a bad thing.
mesotherapy does work, and i have seen this- but we all know what will happen with this 'sanctioned' study. it will say that the therapy shows promise and long term results are not known and further studies are needed.
I have tried mesotherapy and I have to say it is the most painful treatment that I have ever experienced! I paid over $4000 to get four parts of my body done. I experience bruising so bad I appeared to be pregnant, I almost fainted a few times, I was not able to function at all as normal person doing normal daily activities. The pain was so bad I couldn't sleep the first few nights. I asked over and over the side effects of this treatment and I was told false information each time. No one new what they were talking about, now I am fighting for my money back because I didn't even finish the procedures, this all happened after one or two treatments. I am very upset and have decided to take this company to court. Anyone out their who is thinking about mesotherapy DON'T DO IT, IT'S NOT WORTH IT!!. It's not FDA APROVED which I wasn't imformed at all during my consultation.
As a board certified plastic surgeon this was yet another example of "promise much and deliver little" but the public travels away from surgeons who are honest in disclosing the limits and risks of procedures. Dr. J
Santa Rosa
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