Abdominoplasty for Removal of Skin Necrosis as Side Effect of Mesotherapy

Yoon, Sean Hyuck; Kim, Peter Chan Woo; Park, Dae Hwan

Abstract

Mesotherapy is one of skin rejuvenation methods and known to be effective for anti-aging, cosmetic treatment, and improvement of obesity. Furthermore, the side effect of mesotherapy has been known to be very little, therefore, it has been used widely. Because of these reasons, complication of mesotherapy has been disregarded. A 32-year-old woman visited a private clinic for improvement of obesity. The patient had placenta injection with aminophylline, lidocaine and epinephrine on abdomen for several times and she did not have any symptoms. However, placenta injection was carried out at the last time with aminophylline, lidocaine, epinephrine and dehydrated alcohol. Four days later, abdominal partial necrosis was developed. And she was refered to our department. Wound of the abdomen had eschar formation and reddish color change. So, debridement of necrotic skin, and immediate reconstruction using flap and cosmetic abdominoplasty were done immediately, and the patient was satisfied with results. Based on various circumstances, we concluded that one of the etiologies of necrosis might be dehydrated alcohol and epinephrine effect. The standard of materials that are mixed in mesotherapy has not yet been established. In fact, the safety of additives has not yet been verified. Therefore, more studies on the standard materials and safety are needed.