If you have never heard of Lipo Ex before, you’re not alone. Although it has been approved for use in other areas of the world for nearly a decade, Dr. Alexandra Lambrou says that the procedure has only been offered to customers in the United States for a few short years. Because the technology is so new to many Americans, Lambrou says she has heard from countless men and women who aren’t quite sure what the procedure entails ever since her office, Sculpt Medical Spa, became the exclusive provider of Lipo Ex in the Chicago area.
Lipo Ex is a non-invasive type of lipoplasty procedure that patients of all ages can use to reduce fat deposits and lessen the appearance of cellulite throughout the body. Unlike traditional liposuction, patients undergoing Lipo Ex don’t need to go under any anesthesia or have any operations done in order to get their desired results. Using Lipo Ex, physicians like Lambrou are able to heat up the fat cells in a patient’s body and essentially liquefy the cells’ contents using radio waves. That liquid substance is later excreted from the body through its natural processes in the lymphatic system—all without any incisions or surgical processes.
Despite its popularity among those who’ve tried it, Lambrou says the relative newness of the technology is the main reason why many people haven’t heard of it yet. Since it was invented in 2000, Lipo Ex has been in use in countries throughout the Asian and South American markets, Lambrou explains. “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is historically slow to move on anything new, and Lipo Ex wasn’t even introduced in the U.S. until the FDA began its clinical trials in 2006.” Lambrou adds that Lipo Ex is currently in its third phase of clinical trials, which is the last stage required by the FDA in order to obtain approval. “Right now we are one to nine months away from getting an FDA approval,” she says.
Safety has never been the issue holding Lipo Ex back from achieving complete approval by the FDA,she explains. “What is holding it back has to do with how hard it is to quantify the amount of fat loss with Lipo Ex, since the results can be different for everyone.” While traditional liposuction techniques take a measurable amount of fat from the body using various hand pieces and syringes, the fat that is lost through Lipo Ex is excreted through the body’s lymphatic drainage system. “That’s where the FDA is at right now—they are just trying to figure out how quantifiable the process is.”
The amount of fat that a patient is able to excrete through the Lipo Ex process has to do with how rigorously he or she follows the physician’s post-procedure instructions, which include taking a walk or exercising mildly within two hours of the treatment. Patients should also be sure to drink plenty of water after the treatment, adds Lambrou, because that can help the body transport and excrete the fatty acids that were released during the Lipo Ex procedure. “Lipo Ex is really a partnership between the patient and the doctor, because both parties have to do work in order for the outcome to be successful,” explains Lambrou. “That’s why measuring the outcome of these procedures can be somewhat difficult for the FDA.”
Another reason why many patients have not heard too much about Lipo Ex is because it is not currently available in all areas of the United States. Currently, Dr. Lambrou’s Sculpt Medical Spa is the exclusive provider of Lipo Ex technology to patients throughout the Midwest region. “The company that distributes the Lipo Ex equipment is only operating in the Southwest and on the West coast right now. They don’t even have a sales team in the Midwest yet,” Lambrou says. While there are a few areas on both the East and West coasts where Lipo Ex is available right now, the procedure is not widely in use throughout the country just yet. “It’s great to be on the cutting edge of this new phenomenon,” she says, “and it’s really nice to be the first to bring this technology to people in the Chicago area.”
