Until recently, those wishing to erase a double chin had only one truly effective quick-fix option: surgical liposuction. Now, however, streamlining the jaw requires nothing more than a trip to the dermatologist. The same molecule used by our digestive system to break down dietary fat is being injected into double chins to melt away neck fat. The long-awaited ATX-101, now known as Kybella, has finally been FDA approved. "It destroys fat cells and increases local collagen production," New York–based dermatologist Francesca Fusco, MD, says in the March 2015 issue of ELLE, making loose flesh—a side effect of some fat-removal methods—less of a worry.
"It's simply an injection, so the ease of use is a great thing," Fusco says of the jawline sculptor. Using a synthetic version of the same molecule, deoxycholic acid, that our digestive system uses to process dietary lipids, Kybella shrinks the small pockets of fat that cause double chins. In clinical trials, patients experienced significant loss in submental fat as well as an increase in skin firmness following a series of up to six injections spaced four weeks apart.
But the procedure isn't entirely flawless. In one clinical study, over 20 percent of patients experienced moderate postshot pain and some experienced bruising and swelling that can last two to five days after each treatment.
