He is tried again before the Paris Court of Appeal on May 27 and 28, according to The Parisian. The inventor of the lipotomy, Serge Bernstein is sued for unintentional injuries on five former patients, in 2006 and 2007 in Paris. He had already been sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, 12 of which were suspended, while his lawyers had pleaded for acquittal. The 63-year-old defendant therefore appealed. But what is the controversial technique used by the doctor attacked in court?
Not sufficiently tested
The goal of lipotomy is to rid the skin of cellulite in a few sessions, and this for a purely aesthetic purpose. For this, the fat cells are “swollen” by injections with hypo-osmolar fluid. The cell walls are thus damaged. Then the weakened cells are “exploded” using ultrasound. A technique without surgery, developed in 1995 by Dr. Bernstein, he says. For that, he would have been inspired by a DIY sander, and would have first tested it on himself.
However, the procedures intended to destroy fat by injections, which includes lipotomy, have not been scientifically validated. Beyond bruises and edema, sessions can lead to severe complications. In 2009, a report from the Directorate General of Health reported necrosis or death of the tissues. Because the technique does not make it possible to effectively evacuate the fat contained in the cells. Unable to be treated correctly by the kidneys and the liver, it is scattered in a hazardous way in the general circulation. Lipotomy was therefore prohibited by a decree of 2011, the Council of State arguing that the practice has not been sufficiently tested to be used.
Lesions in “direct and certain” link with lipotomy
In 2013, its inventor even lost the right to practice medicine for six months. Sanctions taken following the filing of a complaint by the parents of a 14-year-old girl in May 2008. Complexed by her saddlebags, she had performed sessions with the practitioner, before seeing her “Legs transformed into a shower of pus”. She then developed a Staph aureus infection. The schoolgirl, whom Doctor Bernstein tried to treat alone, will end up being hospitalized in emergency. She will undergo three operations. An amputation was even considered for a time, written The Parisian.
Four other plaintiffs have thus taken legal action, following serious complications. The experts also indicated that the lesions observed on the patients were almost all related “Direct and certain” with lipotomy. The doctor, who appeared on June 29, 2017 before the criminal court, evoked a “Great shame and great guilt”. However, he defended his invention at all costs, while describing these aggravations as “Abnormal”.
Read also :
- Cellulite: lipolysis, laser, injections … Update on prohibitions
- Firm buttocks with self-massage with suction cups
