Who's a Candidate for Kybella®?

Your chin used to be defined, creating a clear dividing point between your face and your neck. Now, a double chin has blurred the divide, and you’re none too pleased by the development. Luckily, there’s a minimally invasive solution that can effectively reduce the double chins in most people — Kybella®.

At Cosmetic Surgery Center, Dr. Trent Fogleman offers surgical solutions for problems like double chins, but he also recognizes that surgery isn’t for everyone. While few solutions are as effective as surgery, Kybella comes pretty darn close, which is why we offer this innovative treatment to your patients.

If you’re wondering what Kybella can accomplish and whether you’re a candidate, read on.

How Kybella works

In 2015, the FDA approved Kybella, making it the first and only injectable for double chins to receive this distinction.

The ingredient behind Kybella’s ability to destroy fat cells under your chin is synthetic deoxycholic acid. In its natural form, you can find deoxycholic acid in your own body, mainly in your bile, where it breaks down and absorbs fat cells during digestion.

With Kybella, we use a synthetic version of deoxycholic acid to break down the fat cells in your submental area (the area under your chin).

The Kybella process

To get the most out of Kybella’s amazing ability to reduce your double chin and restore your profile, you should undergo a series of Kybella treatments — usually about 4-6. We space these treatments apart by a month between each session to allow Kybella to destroy fat cells.

During each treatment, we inject the Kybella in different areas underneath your chin for full coverage. You may feel some soreness afterward because of the multiple injections, but the discomfort is easily remedied with an ice pack and some over-the-counter medications.

As you progress through your Kybella treatments, you’ll be thrilled to watch as your double chin slowly recedes, allowing your real chin to take center stage again.

Once Kybella eliminates the fat cells, they do not regenerate. That said, please note that the remaining fat cells under your chin can still expand if you start to gain weight, and your double chin can return.

Candidates for Kybella

To get to the question we pose in the title of this blog post, Kybella is safe to use on most anyone over the age of 18 who is unhappy with their profile due to a double chin.

If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, it is unknown whether Kybella might interfere with either of these conditions, so you might want to delay your Kybella treatments.

The only other area of concern is if you have an infection in or around your chin or neck, in which case we will defer your Kybella treatments until the infection is cleared.

If you’d like to learn more about Kybella or schedule your first Kybella treatment, please contact our office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to schedule an appointment.