The dreaded double chin is an apt name for the pesky fat under your bottom jaw that creates a twin just underneath your natural chin. As a result, the definition between your face and neck starts to blur, and your chin now slopes to your neck, creating a profile you aren't all that pleased with.
It used to be that the only way to make your chin a solo act again was through surgery, which is a big undertaking that comes with some risk and no small amount of discomfort.
These days, we have a new weapon in our double chin arsenal — Kybella® — which the team here at Orange Coast Dermatology is pleased to offer at our practice. Now, instead of going under the knife to get rid of a double chin, we use the power of a needle to get the job done – and done well.
To understand why Kybella is so effective, let’s first grab a look at how a double chin forms.
A double chin is made up of submental fat, which is the fat underneath your bottom jaw. In some cases, people are simply born with more submental fat under their chins, or they might have less pronounced chins that make any submental fat look like a double chin.
Another driver of a double chin is gaining weight — you don’t just add pounds to your belly as the fat collects in every corner of your body, including under your chin.
Lastly, aging is a common culprit behind double chins. As your skin loses elasticity, fat can shift and succumb to gravity, collecting under your jaw to create a double chin.
Now that we understand that the submental fat is responsible for your double chin, it makes sense that Kybella works so well since it’s a fat reduction treatment. And minimally invasive fat reduction treatments are gaining in popularity in the United States, with nearly 800,000 in 2023 alone.
More specifically, the active ingredient in Kybella is synthetic deoxycholic acid. In its natural form, deoxycholic acid helps to break down dietary fat in your body. With Kybella, we synthesize this molecule and direct it into the submental fat under your chin.
We administer Kybella via injections, which only take us about 15 minutes to administer. During each session, we make several injections under your chin to make sure we address all of the fat, and then we wait for four weeks, at which point you return for another quick-and-easy round of injections. In most cases, our patients need a series of treatments — between two to six.
The good news is that there’s no downtime after your Kybella treatments, though you may have some brief bruising and soreness from the injections.
As you progress through your Kybella treatments, you’ll be thrilled to see your double chin slowly fade away, giving your face and neck more definition.
If you’d like to learn more about Kybella or you want to go ahead and schedule your appointment, we invite you to contact one of our offices in Rancho Santa Margarita, Orange, or Mission Viejo, California, today.
