Double Chin Fat-Dissolving Injection: If You Lose Weight, Won’t It Come Back?

💡 Please check this before reading


Q. If the double chin goes away after DCA, won’t it come back when you gain weight later?

A. No. DCA destroys and removes the fat cells themselves, so those cells do not come back. Even if you gain weight, the area where the cells are gone won’t get fat again.


Q. Does the double chin fat-dissolving injection really work?

A. Yes. However, it works best for certain types of cases. It is suitable for people with a sufficiently thick layer of fat.

📌 Key points of this article

The double chin fat-dissolving injection DCA destroys fat cells and removes them, so it has a permanent fat-reduction effect. Even if you gain weight, that area won’t.

Because there are no fat cells there.

Why a fat-dissolving injection is different from dieting — it doesn’t ‘shrink’ cells, it ‘eliminates’ them

This is a point many people misunderstand,

When you diet, people say you lose fat.

But in fact, what you lose through dieting is

the ‘oil’ inside the fat cells,

not the cells themselves.

To put it simply,

It’s like the air coming out of a balloon.

The balloon stays there, only the air is gone.

So when you eat again,

air goes back into that balloon.

DCA is different.

It’s a method that bursts the balloon itself and removes it.

DCA (Deoxycholic acid), or deoxycholic acid in Korean.

It is a component originally found in bile in our body.

It has the property of directly destroying the membrane of fat cells.

When injected into the subcutaneous fat layer under the double chin,

the cell membrane dissolves, the fat cells burst,

and the contents are removed through the lymphatic system and expelled from the body.

Once a fat cell is gone, it does not regenerate.

After adulthood, the number of fat cells is almost fixed.

So even if you gain some weight,

there are no cells left in the area removed by DCA,

so that area gains less fat.

This is not just a marketing phrase,

it is a basic principle of fat-cell biology.

When I first learned this procedure,

this part was really interesting to me.

👨‍⚕️ Dr. Wi Youngjin’s key summary:


DCA works by destroying and removing fat cells themselves.


Diet and exercise reduce the fat inside cells,


while DCA eliminates the cells themselves, so the principle is fundamentally different.


Because cells that are gone do not regenerate,


the structure that maintains the effect is different from other procedures.

So who is this procedure for — let me break it down by type

Honestly,

DCA does not work equally well for every double chin.

We need to look at what is causing the double chin first.

There are three main causes.

① Double chin caused by excess fat

→ This is the case DCA works best for.

When the subcutaneous fat is thick and firmly settled,

it directly destroys the cells, so it is the most effective.

② Double chin that sags because the skin’s elasticity has decreased

→ In this case, DCA alone is not enough.

Melting the fat does not make the skin automatically lift back up.

Combining it with lifting treatments like Ulthera or Thermage is the right approach.

③ Problems with neck muscle structure or bone structure

→ DCA will not solve this.

This requires a different approach.

But there is one important thing here.

Whether the double chin is due to fat or skin sagging

is hard to judge without seeing it directly.

If it feels soft and pinchable when you touch it, it is probably fat,

and if the skin itself feels wrinkled and loose, it is more of an elasticity issue,

so you can roughly tell the difference,

but the exact cause has to be checked in person during the consultation.

It varies by case, but

the two things I always check during the first visit are

the thickness of the double chin and the condition of the skin’s elasticity.

You need to look at both to decide which combination is right.

What happens when you get DCA — the procedure process and honest drawbacks

The procedure itself is short.

Multiple injections are placed in a grid pattern across the double chin area,

and it usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes.

But it’s not all good news.

If I’m being honest about the drawbacks of DCA,

the swelling is fairly noticeable.

As the cell membranes are destroyed, an inflammatory response occurs,

and the swelling and lumpiness during that process can last 3 to 7 days, or up to 2 weeks if it is prolonged.

Right after the procedure, it may even look thicker.

Some people come in without knowing this beforehand and get surprised,

so I make it a point to mention it in advance.

And the effect is not visible immediately.

Because it takes time for the destroyed fat cells to be removed through the lymphatic system,

results usually appear after 4 to 8 weeks.

Rather than a single session, it is a procedure where you build up the effect through 2 to 3 sessions.

Still, even if you put up with this swelling,

it is definitely a procedure that delivers results for people with a thick fat layer.

There have been quite a few cases where people who got Ulthera multiple times elsewhere without results

were satisfied after 2 to 3 DCA sessions.

For those patients, the problem was fat from the beginning, not laxity.

Frequently asked questions

Q1. Is one DCA treatment enough, or do you need several?

A. You may notice some change even after one session,

but in most cases, 2 to 3 sessions are needed for noticeable results.

Usually, we check the condition 4 to 6 weeks after the first treatment

and decide whether an additional session is needed.

Because fat thickness varies from person to person,

we can roughly tell you how many sessions would be appropriate at the first consultation.

Q2. Can pregnant or breastfeeding women get it?

A. It is not recommended during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.

Although DCA itself is a component naturally present in the body,

because of the inflammatory response and physical burden caused by the injection procedure,

it is best to avoid it during this period.

Q3. Is the double chin fat-dissolving injection very painful?

A. This one is a bit hard to answer,

because everyone feels it differently.

Rather than the sting of the injection itself,

many people say they feel a burning sensation as the DCA spreads through the fat layer.

We perform local anesthesia before the procedure,

so most people say it is much more tolerable during treatment.

For 2 to 3 days after the procedure, you may have lingering soreness and a pulling sensation.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by KakaoTalk or phone.


This has been Dr. Wi Youngjin.

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