HIV/AIDS Lipoatrophy-Before & After
Individuals living with HIV and AIDS may not only have to deal with the threat of illness but the toll of illness and all it requires to stay healthy and alive can leave an everlasting mark! I’m referring to the loss of subcutaneous fat from the face, commonly referred to as facial wasting or Lipoatrophy. While individuals are often able to re-gain weight and build up muscles on their arms, shoulders, and other areas, they fail to be able to replace the loss of fat to their face. Although fat loss in the face has been reported in individuals who are not taking HIV/AIDS medications, large numbers (up to 80%) of people on antiretroviral combination therapies (Protease inhibitors and nucleosides) are developing Lipoatrophy. Reportedly, the longer a person is on HIV/AIDS medications the greater the likelihood of developing problems with facial wasting. Along with surviving, many show in their face the tell tale signs of living with HIV!
Most of us infected at one time or another has feared the onset of facial wasting. The longer we are on medications the more we become concerned. Facial wasting causes great anxiety; knowing full well the stigma and discrimination that one often receives because of it! These circumstances affect self esteem and can cause individuals to become socially withdrawn and cut off their ties with family and friends. Even so far as to stop working. Individuals report people treating them badly. Often treated like they are drug addicts or homeless street people because their faces are so caved in from Lipoatrophy; when the truth of the matter is the treatments that enable them to live have brought this on!
The fact that I was able to go with out HIV medications for some 13 years (the exception being 9 months on AZT in 1990) meant that I personally did not experience the devastating effects of Lipoatrophy I witnessed in others. But, in the last 7 years taking medications, I have watched the fullness in my face slipping away. Then last summer (2004) my face started to rapidly sink in; caused by the fact I've been living with HIV for over 20 years, along with the side effects from HIV medications necessary in these later years. There was only sadness for a situation for which I thought there was no lasting treatment. I knew only of people who sought out some temporary fixes that fell short of what was necessary for repairing the deep scaring of Lipoatrophy. I was not aware of the long term or permanent treatments available.
In November, 2004, John McCahill, President of Pur Medical Corporation in Toronto contacted me through my website. John informed me of a product being brought to Canada that will help to restore the natural appearance in the face for people living with HIV antiretroviral drug induced Lipoatrophy. The product called Bio-Alcamid or polyalkylimide made by Polymekon, an Italian company, is a synthetic gel made up of 96% water and 4% synthetic reticulate polymer that is injected below the skin to restore volume and natural contours of the face. Bio-Alcamid is one of the only products that can be used in large volumes necessary to correct this problem with results that are permanent.
”We have implanted this substance in 73 patients with up to three years' follow-up. The aesthetic results were deemed excellent by both physicians and patients. No implant dislocation, implant migration, granuloma, allergic reaction or intolerance was recorded”. Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy (2003)
John McCahill organized Pur Medical Corporation’s first treatment training session for facial restoration in Toronto, Canada on November 26, 2004, where Drs. Beninger, Kasrai, Weiglein and Rice treated 8 volunteer patients with Bio-Alcamid. The following day 3 others and I participated in a training session here in Vancouver for some of Western Canada’s top cosmetic practitioners. This included Drs. Alastair and Jean Carruthers, Robert Thompson and Calgary’s Wayne Perron. Dr. Peter Velthuis from the Netherlands, one of the highest volume users of Bio-Alcamid in the world, flew in to direct the physicians in the subtleties of the technique. These 12 volunteer patients were the Canadian debuts of a product that has been used in Europe and other countries for 5 years.
Dr. Alastair Carruthers, cosmetic dermasurgeon, Clinical Professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and Vice-President of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery, performed my procedure. Forty minutes later, my sunken face was restored! Over a period of two months my own body creates collagen and a film will form, encapsulating the Bio-Alcamid, making my face appear natural and feeling soft under the skin. Swelling lasted several days and each day since my face has become smoother and softer to the touch.
I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to participate and receive Bio-Alcamid for my facial Lipoatrophy and I would recommend this product and procedure to people living with Lipoatrophy concerns; Bio-Alcamid has rejuvenated my face and having the treatment has increased my self esteem.
Until now, people living in Canada have gone to Mexico, South America and Europe to have Bio-Alcamid treatments done at an expense which is out of the reaches of people in need. Currently Bio-Alcamid is available in Canada under provisions of the Special Access Program which involves application on a patient by patient basis.
Many individuals living with HIV and AIDS have often overcome bouts of illness but the side effects of the medications have left deep facial scaring affecting their self image physically and mentally. This will contribute to their hardship and ill health! We need government to recognize the severity of the problem and treat Lipoatrophy like that of the restoration treatments cancer patients receive. Lipoatrophy is a direct result of the medications to treat HIV infection and to repair the problem, this needs to be covered under Health Care.
I believe we can All work together, recognizing that there is a need; helping to create change and providing better care!
Bradford McIntyre, HIV+ 20 years
www.PositivelyPositive.ca
Pur Medical Corporation
http://www.purmedical.com/
Before and After photos
http://www.purmedical.com/beforeAfter2.htm
