The Lipodissolve Clinic Blog

In my Chicago area office, I see many patients with thick unsightly scars and keloids.
Many of the patients think they have to have a surgical procedure to remove them. And, if they make keloids, they often avoid the surgery because there is a good chance they'll form another keloid.

Another option for removing these scars is to inject a naturally occurring enzyme called collagenase. This breaks down the peptide bonds in the scar and the scar levels out. Once the scar is flat, an intense pulsed light and radio frequency is used to reduce the abnormal pigment or redness.

It is common to see these scars after a tummy tuck or a mini face lift.

Another common disfigurement that I commonly see are lipomas. Lipomas occur for mostly unknown reasons although they can occur in an area that had been physically traumatized.

Lipomas respond very well to either collagenase, or another substance we use in lipodissolve called phosphatidylcholine/deoxycholate or PCDC. In hard lipomas I employ collagenase, in soft ones the PCDC mixture.

An unfortunate but common location for woman to accumulate fat is in the back of the neck. This phenomenon has a few names: dowagers hump, buffalo hump and protease hump. Men can form these as well,but it is less common.The formation of this hump or fatty deposit can be in response to corticosteroid use or cushings syndrome. But I have seen it in patients who tend to accumulate fat in an apple body type fashion, in patients with metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetic) and in woman with underlying kyphosis or rounding of the spine.

The fatty prominence of "dowager hump" is responsive to the treatment mentioned above, but the procedure does nothing to straighten out the spine.

I do tend to address the underlying reason for the hump and try to reverse the process so it will not return.

Be careful what you wish for.

I've had more than a few patients walk in my Chicago area office with silicone filled lips or problematic bumps on their face from Sculptra that were unhappy with their outcome but could not do anything about it.

One of the unhappy patients had silicone enhanced lips and had never even had a temporary filler prior to the silicone. This, I believe is absurd, as it is always helpful for a patient to see how they will look like prior to a permanent change. Her doctor suggested a permanent implant the first time she asked for lip enhancement. This is a doctor to run from. The patient turned out looking like a pair of walking lips. She can have the implants removed, but this is not a simple procedure like injecting hyaluronidase into an area that was over filled.

While a patient might look good and be happy with a permanent implant down the road, one should always recommend trying the look temporarily at first to make sure it works.

Sculptra and some of the other fillers that stimulate lots of collagen production deep in the dermis, can achieve phenomenal results, they can also create lumps and bumps that are often visible. Even in the hands of a skilled doctor, there is a risk.

Sculptra seems to be the best for HIV related facial lipodystrophy. These patients have lost so much volume in their faces that they really can't look over filled compared to how abnormal they looked prior.

The over filled look, or even filling to perfection, can often look obviously abnormal. The planes of the face can become distorted. So if you think you want to fill to perfection, do it at first with a short acting filler. If you don't love the look, it will be gone in few months. If you love the look, repeat it the next time with a longer acting filler. Just remember, it is normal to have some amount of smile lines starting in your twenties. Smile lines can actually add more dimension to your face which is usually more visually appealing and interesting.

Growth factors are naturally occurring proteins that promote tissue growth. They are the hottest trend in upscale skin care lines.

The growth factors that are being used have been shown in the lab to promote collagen generation and to decrease collagen degeneration.

Skin is a wonderful impermeable protective organ. Water soluble topical applications to not absorb well.

Mesotherapy with needles or with an electric current greatly improve delivery of product.

The newest form of mesotherapy to hit the medical spa market is the microneedle derm roller. This is typically accompanied by pharmaceutical growth factors EGF and TGF, often with copper peptides.

In my Chicago area office in Evanston, I employ the use of full needle mesotherapy, electric mesotherapy which has the added benefit of an electrical current that contracts the muscles and tightens them, and microneedle derm rollers.

All the above methods greatly improve delivery of often expensive products that one would not want to waste by just applying them topically.

I can achieve lightening of dark skin spots while avoiding the use of hydroquinone by applying safer water soluble products.

By placing patients on oral astaxanthin which reduces collagen breakdown by 30%This accompanied by pharmaceutical EGF and TGF used with dermal rolling can not only prevent collagen loss, but can actually promote new collagen growth to the point of filling in small vertical lines.