Does Kybella Really Work? Two Women Put the Chin-Fat Reduction Treatment to the Test.

A few years ago, if you wanted to banish a double chin, you had only one real option: going under the knife. Your choices were liposuction, laser liposuction, or a surgical neck-lift — all of which required significant downtime. Today, however, you have an entirely new set of options — CoolMini, Thermage, Vela III, and Kybella — most of which can be performed in 30 minutes or less and have your neck looking better in a few weeks. The question is, do they really work?

I decided to try Kybella with Manhattan-based dermatologist Macrene Alexiades-Armenakas, M.D., to find out. Alexiades-Armenakas was one of the lead investigators in the FDA trial of Kybella, the fat-blasting injections that launched last year. It has been touted as the biggest thing to hit the beauty world since Botox. Kybella uses deoxycholic acid, a naturally occurring molecule in the body that helps break down fat. Injecting it causes fat cells to be destroyed, taking a few weeks for the body to expel the fat.

Related: 5 Moves to Reduce a Double Chin

The initial reports on Kybella promised a series of injections with minimal pain, a few days of swelling, and a better chin starting within a month. That’s basically the way it goes, except there are several key details to fill in — the pain factor, the potential for crazy swelling, and the fact that you may not see a difference until you have several treatments. Kybella does affect each patient differently, so I compared my results with Hannah F., age 30. Here’s the scoop on what Kybella is really like.

Patient 1: Me, early 40s. Genetic double chin. Three treatments, but conservative — only one vial applied the first time and fewer injections.

Patient 2: Hannah F., 30. Double chin owing to weight gain. Three treatments, but more injections and the full amount of Kybella applied.

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Procedure

You are looking at an average of 20 to 30 injections each visit. A numbing cream and a pain reliever applied first are the key to minimizing any pain. The injections are done at different points around the chin.

Patient 1: There is a burning sensation that happens right after the injections and lasts about 10 minutes. It’s not horrible, but it’s unpleasant. Ice packs and fanning skin with a magazine help slightly, but basically I just have to wait until it passes.

Patient 2: I wouldn’t say it was painful, but it wasn’t nothing. I would say it was pain I could sustain knowing what the outcome was. It was a little sting that lasted a few minutes. The swelling is what was the most uncomfortable feeling — hot to the touch as I could feel my skin swelling up.

Downtime

When Kybella launched last summer, there were articles that suggested that the swelling would last only a few days and wouldn’t be especially noticeable. The fact is, downtime depends entirely on the patient. For example, Patient 1 and Patient 2 were completely the opposite.

Patient 1: While the average swelling lasts for a week, mine lasted two weeks. My neck looked much worse than it did to begin with (think “bullfrog neck”). While I had little to no bruising, the swelling was very disconcerting because the whole reason I was getting Kybella was to have my neck look better, not worse. After two weeks, I could see it going down slowly, and by the end of four weeks I could see an improvement from before. I definitely advise doing this procedure in the fall and winter, when you can wear turtlenecks — that’s the only thing that allowed me to go out in public.

Patient 2: I could feel my neck swelling for a day and a half. It was hot and very uncomfortable, but I felt like that meant it was working, so I was actually excited. I stayed home for two days and then I was able to cover it with scarves for a few days after that. I did have bruising the first time all around my neck. I went back to Macrene, and she used a device that helps with bruising. They were gone by that afternoon. After three days, I didn’t need scarves and looked like I did before the treatment. Then it got better after that.

Related: 7 Ways to Eliminate a Double Chin

Results

Patient 1: The results after a month were very minimal, which is most likely a result of the fact that I used only one vial and fewer injections to see how I would react first. Most patients get between two to four treatments. The patients in the clinical trials did six treatments (the max) spaced at least a month apart, with 79 percent reporting satisfaction with the procedure and 68 percent showing a Grade 1 improvement. The second treatment was both vials, and the third was more injections.

I didn’t really notice a difference until after the third treatment. That’s when you could really see that it was better. Not perfect, but noticeably better. Come fall, I will do a fourth, but I need to be able to wear turtlenecks to hide the swelling. For many, the key is to combine Kybella with a treatment like near-infrared skin tightening, which Alexiades-Armenakas uses for those with loose skin. “I start with Kybella to get rid of the fat and move to near-infrared to tighten,” she says.

Patient 2: A month after the first treatment, I noticed a lot of change. The second treatment was a breeze. I was shocked I was able to go and see people that evening and not notice any swelling. A month after the third treatment, I was thrilled. My double chin was totally gone. I feel like this is the way I supposed to look and I feel fabulous. I am definitely satisfied with all aspects of treatment. I am so glad I did it.

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Risks

Kybella can cause side effects that include nerve injury and trouble in swallowing. Most patients, however, just deal with swelling and some bruising.

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