Mesotherapy is a very useful and effective medical-aesthetic treatment to combat cellulite and localized and limited chronic pain of various kinds. A practice that can really be a solution if you’ve played all your cards to get rid of the orange peel.
But how does mesotherapy work? Who is it for and when? What is it for? Let’s find out all the benefits, the drugs with which it is performed, the pathologies and disorders that can be treated with mesotherapy and also all the side effects.
What is mesotherapy: meaning and definition
Mesotherapy is a minimally invasive medical practice, born for the cure and treatment of edema, a highly appreciated technique in the medical field. But then also successfully used in aesthetic medicine, above all to counteract the effects of aging, for the drainage of liquids and for localized weight loss.
The action of mesotherapy tends to eliminate the stagnation of liquids in the skin and subcutaneous tissues: a reason that has made it famous in the treatment of cellulite and wrinkles on the face.
Furthermore, numerous scientific studies have shown that injecting the healing substances directly into the skin, as occurs in mesotherapy, allows for maximum benefits to be obtained, while containing the undesirable or side effects of the drugs.
However, this means that mesotherapy can only be used in pathologies that respond to superficial pharmacological treatments: it cannot, therefore, be used for the treatment of internal organs, viral or bacterial diseases.
In such cases, traditional therapy is therefore necessary, which involves the administration of drugs orally, intravenously or muscularly, depending on the specific case.
What to know before undergoing treatment
Treatments must be performed exclusively by doctors in authorized health facilities. Therefore, beauticians and beauty centers are not authorized to offer this kind of therapy.
Initially, the doctor makes the diagnosis and, on the basis of this, establishes the most suitable drugs to be injected into the patient.
Mesotherapy drugs and treatment
Mesotherapy is an intradermal injection therapy: through the use of special small needles, with a length of 4/6 millimeters, the patient is administered drugs capable of resolving his ailment. The drugs reach the mesoderm, the middle-deep layer of the skin.
Intradermal injection allows small quantities of drugs to be injected into the patient: since these are injected directly into the intradermal area, the waiting times necessary for the drug to take effect are very short.
Its action is practically immediate and lasts for a few hours. The active ingredient arrives directly at the site, persisting for the time necessary to perform its activity in the best possible way.
The drugs used are mainly lipolytic (ie fat-dissolving), revitalizing for skin rejuvenation, protective of the capillaries together with small doses of anesthetic, to make the treatment totally painless.
Obviously mesotherapy cannot be used for every pathological form. It is indicated only for those who respond positively to an intradermal treatment.
What is mesotherapy for and who is it for?
First of all, it is necessary to distinguish the methods of using this technique in the aesthetic field from those performed in the medical or analgesic field.
Aesthetic mesotherapy for cellulite (and more)
In the aesthetic field, mesotherapy is used above all to combat cellulite and its blemishes, helping to eliminate the stagnation of liquids and fat deposits.
It is used successfully, in association with diet and physical exercise, also in the treatment of localized fat deposits and accumulations of “stubborn fat”, resistant to weight loss. The blemishes that can be treated are:
- Cellulite.
- District adiposities.
- Anti-aging effect on the face.
- Stretch marks.
Furthermore, the specialist could decide to combine mesotherapy with other support treatments to guarantee the achievement of the established objective, such as lymphatic drainage sessions, whirlpools, thermal mud and laser therapies.
To these treatments, the specialist could always decide to combine a particular diet or, as in the treatment of cellulite, substances that stimulate the microcirculation.
Analgesic mesotherapy
Analgesic mesotherapy is useful for relieving pain in patients suffering from pain in the joints and the musculoskeletal system, both in the acute and chronic phases. It is effective in cases of:
- Microtraumas from sports.
- motor rehabilitation.
- osteopathy.
- Arthropation.
- Shoulder pain.
- Backache.
- Knee pain.
- Low back pain.
- Elbow or wrist pain.
- Hip pain.
The drugs that are injected during the sessions depend on the pathology to be treated, on the frequency and duration, decided exclusively by the doctor.
Generally these are anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants, analgesics and anesthetics. The drugs reduce pain in the treated area without exposing the patient to side effects.
Benefits of mesotherapy
Do you know what are the main benefits of mesotherapy?
- Elimination of pain with fewer side effects than taking oral painkillers (analgic mesotherapy).
- Immediate effect of the drugs, due to the method of administration which makes them easily absorbed by the part of the body involved in the treatment (analgic mesotherapy).
- Elimination of fatty deposits (aesthetic mesotherapy).
- Cellulite reduction (aesthetic mesotherapy).
- Reduction of stretch marks (aesthetic mesotherapy).
- Anti-aging effect (aesthetic mesotherapy).
- No recovery time is required.
The benefits, especially as regards applications in the aesthetic field, are appreciable starting from the third session.
How mesotherapy is performed
Before carrying out the micro-injections, the doctor must ascertain that the patient’s disorder can actually benefit from the mesotherapy treatment. Thus, he makes an accurate diagnosis.
Immediately afterwards, it is verified that the patient is not allergic to the drug to be injected, so as to avoid the appearance of undesirable effects.
The drugs are diluted in saline and injected into the intradermal area using single injectors (a single needle), or multi-injectors containing up to 18 needles.
How many sessions should be done?
A single session is almost never enough to obtain adequate results: generally the patient must undergo a cycle of multiple sessions.
However, there is no standard duration of mesotherapy treatment: however, it is possible to suggest that, in principle, a complete cycle includes from 8 to 15 sessions lasting about 15-20 minutes each.
The sessions are held on a weekly basis. To prolong the beneficial effects obtained from the therapy over time, it is possible to undergo one session a month after the end of the cycle.
The results last for about 6 months. After this time, it is advisable to repeat the cycle.
Costs of mesotherapy
Mesotherapy, despite being a medical practice aimed at treating recognized pathologies, is not loanable and is not practiced in state hospitals.
Indicatively, each mesotherapy session costs between 50 and 100 euros, depending on the professional, the type of treatment used and the size of the area to be treated.
Side effects of mesotherapy and contraindications
Mesotherapy is contraindicated in the event of pregnancy and breastfeeding, in the presence of oncological pathologies or in patients following therapy with oral anticoagulants.
After mesotherapy treatment, the following side effects may appear:
- Wheals caused by the possible rupture of a vase by the needles: they disappear on their own.
- Ecchymosis caused by needles.
- Burning sensation.
The fact that the drug tends to remain in a limited area greatly limits the possibility of side effects appearing.
Mésothérapie, a treatment that was born in France
Mesotherapy was born in 1952 when a French doctor, Dr. Michel Pistor, was the first to demonstrate the effectiveness of using drugs through intradermal injections.
This methodology was adopted by Pistor to relieve pain in musculoskeletal pathologies, to treat venous insufficiency of the lower limbs and other vascular diseases, as well as to limit the side effects of the drugs themselves. The official birth dates back to the year 1958.
According to its creator, there are 3 principles on which this medical technique is based: little, rarely and in the right place. In 1970 he arrived in America and in 1975 the Italian Society of Mesotherapy was born.
In collaboration with Doctor Diego Gigliotti, Physician and Aesthetic Surgeon, Rome.
