Many patients achieved improvement in submental fullness after one treatment session of Kybella in a private practice setting, according to study results published in Dermatologic Surgery.

Sachin M. Shridharani, MD, of Luxurgery, New York, conducted a prospective study of 100 patients (mean age, 45.4 years; 39 men; mean BMI, 26.1) with submental fullness who received subcutaneous treatment of Kybella (deoxycholic acid, Allergan), also known as ATX-101. The injections (2 mg/cm²) were in the submental area for a maximum of six sessions with intervals of at least 1 month.

Clinician-reported submental fat rating scale and retrospective independent photographs reviewed by two physicians were used to measure treatment response at 1, 5 and 7 weeks posttreatment.

There were 152 treatment sessions: 58 patients had one session; 33 patients had two sessions; eight patients had three sessions; and one patient had four sessions.

Eighty-eight patients had a clinician-reported submental fat rating scale score improvement of at least one point from baseline, including 46 patients with one session, 33 patients with two sessions, eight patients with three sessions and one patient with four sessions.

Adverse events reported included local edema for a mean of 7.7 days, numbness for a mean of 28.5 days and tender injection sites for a mean of 3.5 days. Marginal mandibular nerve paresis was reported for two patients. Among patients receiving a single treatment, one patient each reported nausea, vomiting and headache.

“Patients are likely to require [more than] one session to achieve the desired aesthetic goal from a clinician’s’ perspective; however, an improvement in [clinician-reported submental fat rating scale] score was seen in many patients after a single treatment,” Shridharani concluded. “When compared with [randomized controlled trials], [deoxycholic acid] injection volume and number of sessions needed to reach aesthetic goals are likely to be less in private practice.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Medical writing support was provided by Cactus Communicatiosn and funded by Allergan. Shridharani reports servings as a consultant to Allergan medical and receiving an educational grant for writing assistance, as a member of Facial Aesthetics Advisory Board and Kybella Advisory Board and serving as a consultant to and receiving travel expenses from Allergan and Galderma.’