Original Article by Elise Minton.
Think the fat fighter Kybella is limited just to eradicating fat in the chin area? Think again. There's a new off-label use that has women lining up for the fat reducing treatment.
Kybella is an injectable drug that is used to rid a double chin of fat once and for all. Comprised of an ingredient called deoxycholic acid, which is naturally found in the body, when injected into the area under the chin, the acid permanently dissolves fat by causing fat cells to burst and be reabsorbed by the body.
Despite the fact that fillers and injectables are approved for explicit purposes, doctors always find new ways to use them off-label. Although Kybella is only FDA-approved for the chin area, it has made its way off the face and onto the body. “We're now using it off-label to treat fat on the inner thigh,” says Montclair, NJ, dermatologist Jeanine Downie, MD. “It's not pain-free-it definitely burns and stings during and after the treatment-but some patients are losing up to one inch off their thighs in a single session.”
While the treatment is expensive due to the amount of product needed to treat the area, Dr. Downie says the 10-minute procedure (you'll need at least four sessions in total to see optimal results) gives a liposuction-like result without the wavy look that some women can get from having their thighs treated with surgery.