We get a lot of calls from people who are shopping around and comparing prices. I’d just like to caution people who are wondering about widely divergent prices to make sure that they are comparing apples with apples.

There are different protocols for lipolysis out there. The original protocol from Brazil involved fewer injections of larger volumes repeated every 2 weeks. The NETWORK-Lipolysis members modified this protocol to get better results.

You can probably picture in your mind the difference between using larger volumes of Lipodissolve, spaced further apart and smaller volumes spaced closer together. The former protocol could result in pockets of fat-melting surrounded by unaffected tissue, making the end result have divots or lumps.

The NETWORK-Lipolysis protocol is supported by research. They took patients who were going to have a tummy tuck and did the injections with the addition of a blue dye to show where the injected fluid had gone in the tissue. The tummy tuck was then done and the resected tissue examined. The large volumes spaced far apart showed pockets of blue dye surrounded by undyed fat. The smaller volumes closer together showed that the blue dye stained the whole layer of fat under the skin pretty evenly.

This study explains why people treated with the NETWORK-Lipolysis protocol get such nice, even tightening of the skin in addition to volume loss.

NETWORK-Lipolysis members also found that repeating the injections in 2 weeks was too early. They tried different intervals between treatments, looking at lab values as well as appearance and change in measurements, and determined that 8 weeks was optimal.

Imagine telling someone that they needed another treatment before they had developed the full results from the first treatment. You could easily end up overcorrecting the problem.

My biggest concern with using the Brazilian protocol compared with the NETWORK-Lipolysis protocol is that you are treating people at least 4 times as often, exposing them to 4 times the risk of adverse effects for no improvement in results.

If someone is quoting you a very low price for a Lipodissolve treatment, find out how big an area they are treating, the total dose of PCDC per treatment and how frequently they want to repeat the treatments. That low price won’t be so cost-effective if you are going to need 6 – 12 treatments.