Dr Khalid Mahmud, former FDA consultant, responds to the Press on media sensationalism

Dear Ms. Tricia Kent,

This is in response to your search for “victims of Lipodissolve”.

I am a physician who performs lipodissolve, the procedure developed by the American Society of Aesthetic Lipodissolve. We use a standard formula and technique and select our patients carefully. We perform the procedure ourselves and not delegate to paramedical personnel at multiple sites without supervision.

The procedure has been very effective, with good results in 95% of the patients. Over the last 2 years I have performed approximately 700 procedures. My most “serious” complication developed in one patient who had a skin breakdown and an infection which resulted in a scar on the side of the hip. Three patients had prolonged pain beyond a day or two. About 1 in 20 patients becomes briefly light headed as a result of the ingredient that causes vasodilatation. Really, there has been no serious complication. No one has died.

It has been estimated that more than 100,000 patients have been treated in the US during the last couple of years. A report appeared in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal September/Octobor 2006 issue titled “Clinical Safety Data and Standards of Practice for Injection Lipolysis, by Dr. Duncan and  Chubaty [pages 1-11] that you may want to look at. It details the results in 17,376 patients who had a total of 56,320 treatments. There were no serious complications…and no one died. On the contrary, Liposuction, the most prevalent procedure in the U.S., is associated with serious complications including blood clots, fat embolism, infections, fluid over load, lidocaine and epinephrine intoxication and even death [Deaths reposted with liposuction: case reports and review of the literature, Journal of Forensic Science, 2002 January, pages 205-7].

The reason this procedure is so safe is that the 2 ingredients of the mixture, phosphatidylcholine and deoxycholate, exist in our bodies for many important functions. These 2 compounds are present in our bile. When we eat meat, they breakdown the fat cells in the meat and help digest the fat. This happens all our lives without causing any harm to the lining of the intestine. When injected in to fat over the body, they do the same thing: breakdown the fat cells and “digest the fat”. The areas of dead fat cells are then gradually removed by the inflammatory cells in 8-10 wks, just like when you have dead cells from sports injuries or even from liposuction which removes fat cells but also leaves behind a lot of dead fat cells. The inflammatory response makes these areas tender for a while, which should not be considered a complication, but a physiological part of the procedure.

Because some organizations may have done the procedure recklessly, does not mean that the procedure should be condemned itself.

If you should like to see before and after pictures of Lipodissove and Facial Liposculpture, please go to our site: www.idinhealth.com

I hope you will be fair in your analysis and look at all the evidence.

Sincerely,

Khalid Mahmud, MD, FACP
[Internist-Hematologist-Oncologist-Specialist in Anti-aging and Preventive Medicine, former member FDA advisory committee, Device and Radiological Health]

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