Up until recently, people who had excess fat under their chins resorted to surgery to remove it. The surgery is quite invasive, and it requires several days or even weeks of recovery time. Fortunately, a new product called Kybella can treat double chins without surgery.
What Is Kybella?
Kybella, or deoxycholic acid, is an injectable serum that your doctor can give you in his office. Deoxycholic acid is a natural acid found in the belly that dissolves fat during the process of digestion. Recently, physicians found that injecting the acid into other parts of the body could also dissolve fat in those areas. Once Kybella is injected into the area under the chin, it immediately goes to work attacking the fat and breaking it down for absorption by the body.
What Happens During the Treatment?
When you go in for your Kybella injections, your doctor will first mark your chin very carefully in order to target the fat deposits. Then, a few injections are made in the marked areas. Although the injections are not incredibly painful, you may experience some slight discomfort as the very small needles are inserted. A few patients reported that they also noticed a numbing or tingling sensation lasting up to 20 minutes following their injections.
What Are the Side Effects?
The side effects associated with Kybella are very mild and usually go away on their own over the course of a few days. The most commonly reported side effect is numbness in the injection area, followed by swelling. A few patients notice some slight bruising in the injection area, but this does not occur in every case. In fact, patients can usually return to their normal, everyday activities immediately following their injections.
How Often Do You Need the Treatment?
Unlike some other facial injections, the results from Kybella are semi-permanent. The deoxycholic acid actually dissolves and breaks down the fat. Patients return five weeks after the first procedure for a follow-up visit, and most patients require a total of four or five treatments in order to achieve the desired results. Kybella is approved for the treatment of fat beneath the chin and fat deposits in the neck area, as well.
Kybella vs. Surgery
Kybella is a simple injection that can help melt away fat under the chin permanently. Although surgery has been a staple for treating double chins for decades, it is quite invasive and generally entails laser liposuction or a neck lift with fat removal. However, this surgery results in significant bruising that lasts up to two weeks, and as with any surgery, there is a risk of infection. Kybella helps to mitigate these risks with its tiny injections and short (often non-existent) recovery time.
If you have been considering surgery to remove excess fat under your chin or in your neck area, then Kybella may be the answer. It is non-invasive, relatively pain-free, and often permanent for those who receive the number of recommended treatments. Talk to your physician today about the benefits of Kybella.
