For the last ten years I have been working as a nurse cosmetic practitioner in Harley Street. During that time I have worked with several injectable products designed to improve physical appearance, notably in the reduction of lines and wrinkles. Last year I started to use New-Fill in my cosmetic practise, and last June I was approached by the clinic to work as their nurse injector. To date I have carried out over 220 treatments with New-Fill for the indication of lipodystrophy alone.
Because I see clients for three to four treatments I develop a relationship with every person I treat. Many speak of their experience with lipodystrophy. Although not life-threatening, I have heard at first-hand about the impact it has on the mental well-being of the sufferer. Because the effects appear quickly, patients find themselves having to explain the change in their physical appearance to family members, friends and work colleagues who do not know their status. Conversely, other social groups recognise the condition and ostracise patients with visible signs of it. Most have spoken of symptoms of social withdrawal because of their condition, of giving up work, of not going to clubs, pubs or restaurants, of reducing social life and only seeing friends who know about their condition. Some talk of knowing that “lipodystrophic look” and associate it with the beginning of the loss of friends or loved ones through HIV-related illnesses.
Everyone who has embarked on a course of treatment of New-Fill has benefited from it, without exception. Most patients I have treated are desperate for some resolve from the obvious distress of looking at themselves and knowing that they have this condition. The majority of patients I have treated are physically fit and well, having successfully assimilated lifestyle and diet changes in addition to complex drug regimes, and the often dramatic facial effects of lipodystrophy are the sole daily reminder of their status. Their reaction to the change in their physical appearance after treatment is overwhelmingly positive.
New-Fill treatment is about getting people who can manage their condition to feel well about themselves when they look back into that mirror. Client testimony itself is enough proof to me that this is the safest way forward in treating the problem of lipodystrophy until such a time as we have systemic resolve of the condition.
Patients’ remarks include :
“Thank you for not only giving me back my face but for giving me back
my life”
“I would rather have Lymphoma than have lipodystrophy”
“I’m eating well and exercising more as I fit in now in my local
gym”
“This is costing me a fortune as I am going out more!”
“I have asked for my old job back.”
Several clients have been offered anti-depressants to overcome their distress. Others have been offered counselling and therapy. All of these treatments cost the N.H.S. money, and can only offer variable success rates. I feel that offering practical treatment for physical effects brings immediate quantifiable results in the well-being of sufferers. My hope is that this money can be used toward the funding of New-Fill treatment.
Odile Brennan, January 2001
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