Kybella (Deoxycholic Acid) Injection is an injectable treatment for both men and women with moderate to severe fat below the chin. Mark A. Bishara, M.D. P.A. administers this rather simple yet life changing treatment at all three of our Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa locations. Fat can accumulate beneath the chin due to aging, genetics and weight gain. Kybella proactively targets stubborn fat below the chin (submental fullness) that can be resistant to diet and exercise alone. An active ingredient in Kybella is deoxycholic acid. Deoxycholic acid is a naturally occurring molecule in the body that helps breakdown and absorb fat. When Kybella is injected into the fatty tissue it starts going to work and destroying fat cells immediately. Once the fat cells are destroyed they will no longer be able to store or accumulate fat. Up to 6 treatments may be administered by Mark A. Bishara, M.D. P.A. at the Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa with each treatment being one month apart. Together, you and Mark A. Bishara M.D. P.A., decide how many treatments will best suite your desired results.  Dr Bishara offers this Kybella injections in Mansfield, Texas every Wednesday.  Dr Bishara also offers Kybella injections in Southlake, Texas,  and Dallas, Texas throughout the week.

Sex: F   Age: 35       Photos taken Before and After 4 treatment sessions with Kybella

Sex: M   Age: 34     Photos taken Before and After 5 treatment sessions with Kybella

Sex: F   Age: 55      Photos taken Before and After 5 treatment sessions with Kybella

 

 

About forty-five million Americans diet each year and Americans spend approximately one to $2 billion a year on weight loss programs. It is believed that consumers spend about $30 billion per year trying to lose weight or prevent weight gain, and 55% of Americans are actively trying to maintain or lose weight. In the last five years weight loss surgery has experienced a tremendous resurgence. Over fifty thousand patients in the United States will undergo some form of gastric bypass surgery during the year, and the positive effects of this surgery are immeasurable. The health benefits of massive weight loss are numerous and profound.

However, after a patient experiences massive weight loss, the body skin is not able to retract to the smaller size of the body underneath. This results in large pendulous hanging breasts, significant excess underarm skin (sometimes known as bat wings), and significant lower abdominal skin and laxity that causes rashes, impairs the ability to wear normal clothes and sometimes even daily activity. In the face, this excess skin often leads to significant signs of aging when the skin is no longer able to retrace following massive weight loss.
Body Contouring is a safe and effective group of procedures that can help a patient drastically improve their appearance!  Dr. Mark Bishara and The Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa offer body contouring surgery designed specifically for patients who have achieved significant weight loss. Procedures that remove skin or fat, tighten and lift can be used as a complement to help your clothes fit better and allow you to participate more comfortably in your favorite activities.

BODY CONTOURING – ARE YOU A CANDIDATE?

Not everyone who loses a lot of weight needs body-contouring surgery. Moreover, experts say, not everyone needs it for the entire body.
A lot depends on your age, your genetics, level of sun exposure, how evenly the weight was distributed, and, more importantly, how you feel when you look in the mirror. If you’re not unhappy about the way you look, you shouldn’t be made to feel you need body- contouring surgery.
What can also make a difference, however, is where you lose the weight. While a loss of 50 pounds that was concentrated in your midsection might leave you with a lot of loose skin in that area, a 100-pound loss that was more evenly distributed on your body may have less of an effect on skin.
If you do end up with droopy, sagging skin and think there’s some other way around it, experts say, forget it. Short of surgery, there is really nothing that can help. Exercise won’t tighten it, and skin creams and lotions won’t do a thing to help.
Interested in what body contouring can do for you? Contact Dr. Mark Bishara’s Office in Mansfield and Southlake, today to learn more about the transformative treatments we offer. Call us at (817) 473-2120 to find out more information.
www.MarkBisharaMD.com


 

A recent article in Bloomberg Business discusses how people who suffer from an unsightly double chin may not need to contort their head, neck and face into funny positions to try to work off the extra roll if U.S. regulators sign off on a new drug.
Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc.’s experimental drug is injected into fat under the chin. The drug is a version of deoxycholic acid, a molecule that occurs naturally in the body to help destroy fat.

Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. aims to bring true, rigorous clinical science to cosmetic dermatology with prescription drugs that modulate novel biological pathways in aesthetic and restorative indications.

The injection is still not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A panel of outside advisors and academics will discuss whether the FDA should approve the first-of-its-kind treatment on March 9. The agency doesn’t have to follow the panel’s recommendation.
Kythera, based in Westlake Village, California, says the drug, ATX-101, contours the chin without affecting surrounding tissue. Injectable drugs like Allergan Inc.’s Botox and dermal fillers aren’t approved to fix fat and loose skin under the chin, making ATX-101 potentially the first injection for the area to hit the market if approved.

ATX-101, is an adipolytic agent discovered at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA Biomed) and identified by Munshi. Adipolytic therapy, dissolving fat by injection, has been used for several decades, primarily outside of the US, but the products used are unregulated; thus there has been no real understanding of their mechanism of action.

Chin augmentations were the fastest-growing category of plastic surgery in the U.S. in 2011, according to an analysis by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. There were 20,680 chin procedures in 2011, and they grew more than breast augmentation, Botox and liposuction treatments combined, according to the society.
The FDA is scheduled to rule on the drug by May 13. It would be Kythera’s first product for sale, and could generate $505 million in sales in 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The drug has been tested on 1,600 patients in clinical trials, more than 90 percent of whom maintained a meaningful reduction of fat after two years, Kythera said on its website.
 


Plagued by less than taut skin but don’t want to go the surgical route? From your face and your neck to your stomach and beyond, loose skin can be treated nonsurgically with skin-tightening devices, which offer real results—in record time—making them totally worth the expense. “Skin tighteners are safe for all skin types and colors. They are not long procedures—30 minutes at most. And, when used on the face, they tighten skin in a way that is really natural.


How it works:
With a handful of options to choose from, skin-tightening machines, make use of radio-frequency or ultrasound energy, infrared light or direct heat to tighten skin from the inside out. With each treatment (six to eight every one to two weeks are needed, as well as annual maintenance treatments), the skin tightens as new collagen grows via the energy source that was emitted.


What to expect:
For the best results, you need to have some loose skin but firm muscles. It can take three to six months for the results to appear. You can’t beat the results you get for the price without having to undergo anesthesia and a recovery period.


The benefits:
Skin tighteners are pain- and downtime-free. It’s a great option for someone who doesn’t want to spend what surgery costs or isn’t ready for surgery but wants to fix the laxity.


The cost factor
: Skin tightening Treatments (most machines are not first-generation and major research dollars have gone into fine-tuning them) don’t put nearly as big of a dent in your bank account as surgery. A skin tightener isn’t even in the same ballpark price- wise. There’s no downtime and next to no risk.
This Information is Brought to you courtesy of Dr. Bishara and The Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa
 

The BotTom line when it comes to an insurer’s decision to pay for plastic surgery is typically whether a procedure is considered medical necessary.

Americans love to look good, but insurers are often reluctant to pay the bills to help us look better.
Last year we spent nearly $11 billion on cosmetic procedures, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Of the more than 10 million procedures performed, the most requested was breast augmentation.
But Cameo Wichinsky, a 42-year-old investment fund manager living in Santa Monica, wants to take her figure in the opposite direction.
Having long lived with the discomfort of breasts large enough to cause shoulder and neck pain and to limit her level of physical activity, she’s ready to go under the knife to reduce her breast size and, she hopes, improve her quality of life.

“I’m at the stage of my life when I’m ready to be active and be at my highest level. These things get in the way,” Wichinsky said.
Despite the fact that she has health insurance, she says she’ll have to shell out the nearly $9,000 for breast reduction surgery, which she has scheduled for November. Her insurer won’t cover the procedure.
“Insurance is a huge hassle,” Wichinsky said.
There was a time when health insurers more readily paid for breast reductions. We tend to think of breast reduction as reconstructive surgery and not cosmetic, even though it has that cosmetic aspect to it.
Plastic surgery is expensive. It’s important to know ahead of time what insurers will pay for.
The line between the desire for improved physical appearance and medical need can be fuzzy in the world of health insurance. Although few people expect to have their health plan pay for their tummy tucks or face lifts, there are procedures that legitimately warrant coverage.
The bottom line when it comes to an insurer’s decision to pay for a procedure is typically whether it’s considered medically necessary, experts say.
“Generally, if a procedure is necessary to repair or preserve the healthy functioning of the body, it’s likely to be medically necessary,” said Carrie McLean, senior manager of customer care with online insurance broker eHealthInsurance.com.
“If the procedure is typically considered standard practice for any given diagnosis, that may also meet the criterion for medically necessary,” she said.
Exactly where that line is drawn depends on the individual and his or her circumstances, not the procedure itself, said Patrick Johnston, president of the California Assn. of Health Plans, which represents 40 health plans insuring more than 21 million Californians.
For example, a middle-aged man interested in a tummy tuck to restore the six-pack of his youth isn’t likely to get much sympathy from his insurer, he said, but it’s a different story for someone who lost 150 pounds after bariatric surgery and is left with excess skin.

“This is a recognized standard of treatment for morbidly obese individuals,” Johnston said.
In the same way, he said, a nose job to correct a deviated septum or surgery to lift drooping eyelids that impair vision are other common surgeries likely to be covered by a health plan.
Consumers have a variety of legal protections that guarantee access to certain cosmetic procedures.
Women who have undergone a mastectomy after a diagnosis of cancer, for example, are guaranteed coverage for reconstructive surgery.
“Both federal and state laws guarantee a woman who has had a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer coverage for breast reconstruction,” Johnston said.
California law also requires insurers to cover the repair of a child’s cleft palate, which includes any medically necessary dental or orthodontic services that are an integral part of reconstructive surgery.
If you’re in the market for a cosmetic procedure, here are some important reminders.
• Check with your insurer in advance. In most cases you’re likely to need your insurer’s pre-authorization to obtain coverage.
It’s a good idea to work with your doctor. Submitting medical records, letters from specialists who have treated you for long-term symptoms and in some cases photos can all lend support for the medical necessity of the procedure and increase your chances of gaining approval.
• Pre-approval may not be enough. Breast reduction surgery such as what Wichinsky plans is a good example of the devil being in the details.
Most insurers dictate how many grams of tissue must be removed from each breast for the procedure to be covered. Asking in advance what those requirements are can help avoid surprise bills.
• You can appeal insurer decisions. Don’t be deterred if your insurer initially denies coverage. You frequently have to appeal the claim … to obtain insurance coverage.
This Information is brought to you courtesy of Dr. Bishara and The Paragon Plastic Surgery & Med Spa