Officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have vowed to crackdown on companies offering injections they claim dissolve fat, according to Wednesday media reports.
An FDA report targets procedures with such names as lipodissolve, mesotherapy, lipozap, lipotherapy, and injection lipolysis, all of which involve the injection of two drugs–phosphatidylcholine (PC) and deoxycholate (DC)–whose alleged fat-reducing effects have not been proven by the organization.
“We are concerned that these companies are misleading consumers,” FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Dr. Janet Woodcock told reporters in a press statement. “It is important for anyone who is considering this voluntary procedure to understand that the products used to perform lipodissolve procedures are not approved by the FDA for fat removal.”
FDA officials have also confirmed that they have sent warning letters to several manufacturers of these injections, including Monarch Medspa in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; Spa 35 in Boise, Idaho; Medical Cosmetic Enhancements in Chevy Chase, Maryland; Innovative Directions in Health of Edina, Minnesota; PURE Med Spa in Boca Raton, Florida; and All About You Med Spa in Madison, Indiana.
According to information provided to the Associated Press by Dr. Jennifer Walden, a plastic surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, “PC” and “DC” are chemicals that naturally occur in the human body and play a role metabolizing fat.
However, as she noted in an April 7 interview, “they were never intended to be extracted, mixed with other ingredients and reinjected to break down fat” and the process is usually only administered by spas or beauty care specialists with limited medical training.
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