I first heard about Caroboxtherapy for the treatment of cellulite some 9 years ago. I have never used or advised this treatment despite a recent resurgence about this treatment in the cosmetic "advert-article" media circuit. The adverse outcome report reproduced below speaks for itself.
http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/10/01/2009-10-01_florida_woman_rohie_kah_declared_brain_dead_after_receiving_carboxytherapy_treat.html
Florida woman, Rohie Kah, declared brain dead after receiving Carboxytherapy treatment at a spa
Thursday, October 1st 2009, 3:12 PM
A spa visit is meant to make clients feel refreshed - but a Florida woman left one spa brain dead. Rohie Kah, a 37-year-old mother of three, visited the Weston MedSpa in Weston, Fla., Sept. 25 for a procedure to remove cellulite and stretch marks, ABC news reports. But things somehow went horribly wrong.
Kah, a registered nurse, is now on life support. "It's just a matter of time before she's dead," Michael Freedland, one of her lawyers, told ABC.
A regular customer at the spa, Kah reportedly often booked services like massages and manicures. Her lawyers say she was scheduled for a different service this time - a procedure called Carboxytherapy.
The spa’s Web site describes this particular “medical service” as injections of carbon dioxide that improve the appearance of cellulite or stretch marks. The cost ranges from $140 to $160 per injection.
Kah was taken by ambulance from MedSpa to a local hospital when she became unresponsive, her lawyers said. She’s been declared legally brain dead.
Sadly Treatments for Cellulite remain very elusive. I'm still waiting to see a reliable treatment for established or mature (white pearly) cellulite. There is a lot of money spent on disappointing or even dangerous therapies.
Effective treatment of cellulite is the holy grail of cosmetic medicine/surgery. I am dying to offer a treatment for cellulite, which has a high patient satisfaction rate. Please let me know if you find one!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think caused the death of this poor lady, Dr F?
Naomi XXX
Thank you for your comment Dr. Naomi. Further reading on this matter suggests the possibility of Lignocaine toxicity. The reports are vague but it does appear that the patient had laser liposuction perhaps combined with Carboxytherapy. The message here is that combining too many treatments in one session increases risk significantly. One must respect the tissues and not overly stress them and also not overly extend the patient's physiological boundaries and tolerance. It is not well appreciated that such overzealous cases can sometimes end up with severe morbidity (and as evidenced) even death. In my clinic I would rather get the patient back for another session than to attempt extensive treatments in one sitting. The patients are quite simply less traumatised and the risk of adverse outcomes very much reduced. I remember well the great Dr. Pierre Fournier stating: "there is no such thing as time in cosmetic surgery-what you do for a patient is for a lifetime." He was emphasising is that speeding in order to maximise the achievement a surgical outcome is unnecessary and ultimately counter-productive.
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