Fats we love: The kind in avocados and nuts. Fats we don't: The kind hanging out around our organs and under our skin. And if that subcutaneous fat also happens to be beneath your chin, it's particularly tough to deal with. "Fat in this area is not something that will just go away with diet and exercise," says Salma Pothiawala, MD, a dermatologist at Schweiger Dermatology Group in New York City. That means that your only jawline-defining options are spending up to $40,000 on a lower face and neck lift, or shelling out up to $9,000 for liposuction in the area. That is, until this month's introduction of newly FDA-approved injectable Kybella to dermatologists' and plastic surgeons' offices nationwide. The syringes of deoxycholic acid, a fat-metabolizing chemical naturally produced in the body, are injected into the fat beneath the chin, about a centimeter apart (which can mean as many as 50 injections), which kills fat cells there for good. You can expect to see a great reduction in fat, but but nothing comes without a price, and we're not just talking about the damage you'll do to your credit card statement (Kybella’s cost has not been announced yet, but dermatologists in the know speculate that it could be around $1,000 per session—2-3 total treatments are recommended). The procedure will only take about 15 minutes, tops, but you'll notice redness and heat in the injected area within minutes and have excess fluid—a mixture of melted fat and your body's own surging immune response—in your neck for about a week, until your body can absorb it, says Macrene Alexiades-Armenakas, MD, PhD, a New York City based dermatologist and clinical researcher who was one of the lead investigators for the Kybella's FDA trial. You may also experience bruising or bleeding. After two weeks any discoloration should disappear, says Marina Peredo, MD, an associate clinical professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, who will be a physician trainer for Kybella. And after a month, you should see the bulk of your first session's results, and recovery is much easier than what you'd go through after lipo or plastic surgery, Alexiades-Armenakas says. So should you go for it? If your double chin bothers you enough to do something about it, sure. Though the FDA approval release says that in worst-case scenarios, Kybella can cause trouble swallowing or nerve injury, it's still the least invasive option out there for fatty deposits under the jawline, and the risks are similar to that of any other injectable, says Pothiawala (who is not affiliated with Kybella). Source
