FDA crackdown on fat melting injections

It is nice to see a regulatory agency regulating.

I frequently blog about the people who use gimmicks and marketing, make false claims, and do dangerous things… When did medicine become something done in a mall?  Where anyone can claim anything without proving it does what it says?

So I was happy to see this today in the news.  The associated press reported the FDA is cracking down on the medispas who are doing lipodissolve injections.

The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on what are billed as fat-melting injections used in spas across the U.S., saying the drugs have not been proven safe or effective.

Lipodissolve injections, a popular nonsurgical alternative to liposuction, are used to dissolve small fat deposits around the legs, arms and belly. The FDA said Wednesday the drugs have not been cleared by federal scientists, as required by law.

FDA is not aware of any credible scientific evidence to support these claims,” said Kathleen Anderson, an FDA deputy director, on a call with reporters.

Spas that offer the injections say they are safe and effective. But public safety advocates have called for proof and urge patients to think twice before paying thousands of dollars for an unproven procedure.

FDA said it has received reports of permanent scarring and hard lumps on patients’ skin, as well as skin deformations after receiving the therapy.

These fat melting injectable procedures use naturally occuring substances, mixed with other materials (a process called compounding), and then they are injected under the skin.  As I have criticized mesotherapy for, there is not good science behind these injections.  There is no “standard” mixture or protocol.  (I had a patient once who came to me after trying mesotherapy and ending up in the ICU in liver failure because of the injections.  She came to me for liposuction- the injections had not worked.) Also, with fat removal by any method, the goal isn’t just the fat being gone.  You want the result to be smooth.

I never thought I’d say this, but hooray for the FDA.  Let’s get safety, science, training, and honesty back into medicine.

to see the article, go to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100407/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fat_melting_drugs_fda