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Kybella Procedure Breakdown
Step 1. Taking baseline photographs. We use this to monitor the patient's progress. Step 2 is applying numbing cream on the area. Step 3 is cleansing the numbing cream off. Step 4 is marking the areas. Step 5 is the actual procedure itself. Using a very small syringe and a tiny needle, there are several tiny pinches placed about one centimeter apart.
What is Kybella?
Kybella is the first and thus-far only FDA-approved non-surgical injectable treatment for the double chin or what we call submental fullness. We are able to use it on other areas such as the belly, bra fat below the underarms, and the banana roll under the butt.
How does Kybella work?
The active ingredient in Kybella is a naturally occurring salt found in the body that's used to digest the dietary fat. When placed in the skin it will dissolve the fat and it's eliminated by your body naturally over time.
How many Kybella sessions do you need?
Most people require anywhere from two to four sessions of Kybella, sometimes up to six sessions. I recommend spacing out the sessions every three months. Typically between the first and second sessions, I recommend a series of six skin tightening treatments are done once a week and that will help the results.
How do you maintain the results of your Kybella treatment?
The best thing about Kybella is that once the fat cells are gone, they're no longer able to store nor accumulate fat. So, after you do your series of treatments, you won't need any maintenance treatments as you do with other cosmetic treatments such as Botox or fillers.
How can Kybella boost confidence?
The Kybella treatment definitely changes patients' confidence. A lot of people don't like the fact that they don't have a definition in their jawline. Especially when they're taking pictures from the side or with their chin down. With Kybella people can have their chin up in their photographs and they're very happy and very confident not only taking photographs but interacting with other people. People have said it's definitely changed their lives.
What are the side effects of Kybella?
The most common side effect of Kybella is swelling. That's actually a normal reaction. If you don't get swelling, then there's something going wrong. Definitely, there is swelling for about a week or two. And that's normal. We recommend applying cold compresses like ice packs. We have a strap that we apply for patients. I recommend that patients sleep on an extra pillow and avoid salty foods for a few days. As with any other injections, risks include pain, bleeding, bruising, infection, redness, swelling, and tenderness. We take special precautions to minimize that. We numb the area with some numbing cream before the treatment for about 15 minutes. During the treatment, we use a painless injection technique that you'll see. We blow cold air on the skin and that numbs the skin. We also have a vibrating distractor called the beauty bar that's placed on the skin nearby. You'll see it vibrating and it actually vibrates the whole area. It looks like the whole area is shaking. But that makes it really comfortable and really easy. Afterwards, the patient feels a little bit of heat for about 15 minutes and we apply a cold compress to help with that.
What happens in a Kybella consultation?
When patients come in for a consultation for Kybella, often times they'll tell me what they want to look like. Sometimes they'll bring in pictures of what they want to look like or, for example, what they looked like ten years ago or when they were younger and we actually go through our own before and after pictures and show them what kinds of results they can expect. So that helps out a lot in the process.
Who is the ideal candidate for a Kybella treatment?
The ideal candidate for Kybella is someone who has mild to moderate fullness here under the chin in the submental area or what we call the double chin. These are graded as mild, moderate, severe, and extreme. For people in the severe to extreme categories, definitely, liposuction would help or surgical intervention. We also have Cool Sculpting that will help debulk that. Often times people will do a couple of sessions of that and then go down to the moderate stage. At that point, then you can have some Kybella to go down to mild.