Treat a double chin, no surgery
Kybella is deoxycholic acid injected under the chin in a grid pattern. Expect 15 to 30 minutes in the chair, two to four sessions at least a month apart, and about a week of swelling after each. Treated fat cells don’t come back. At Skinovatio Lincoln Park, on Lincoln Avenue just north of Wrightwood, it’s the only double chin treatment we offer.
$599
to start
At a glance
Kybella- Appointment
- 15 to 30 minutes, ice and lidocaine first
- Downtime
- Swollen and tender 3 to 7 days, numb for weeks
- First results
- 4 to 6 weeks after each session
- Full results
- 4 to 12 weeks after the last session
- Sessions
- 2 to 4, some need up to 6, at least 4 weeks apart
- Cost
- From $599. About $150 per payment across 4 with Afterpay or Klarna.
What to expect
What the appointment is like
Your injector pinches the pad to confirm there’s enough fat above the muscle, then draws the grid. Next, the area is iced and numbed. The injections only take a few minutes. As the drug starts working, you’ll feel burning and stinging under the chin for about 10 minutes, per RealSelf, patient-reported, followed by a full, tender feeling. You’ll go home with an ice pack and no dressing, and most people go straight back to their day.
Consult
A pinch test and profile photos. We’ll estimate your vials and sessions and put them in a written plan. If the concern is skin rather than fat, we’ll discuss other options.
Numbing
Ice and topical or injected lidocaine, then we draw the grid with a skin marker.
Treatment
0.2 mL injections 1 centimeter apart across the grid. Under 10 minutes of needle time, with burning for about 10 minutes after.
Before you leave
Ice, written aftercare, and your next session booked 4 to 6 weeks out.
Your results
A predictable timeline
For the first week, you’ll mostly see swelling. Reduction shows 4 to 6 weeks after each session, once the swelling resolves and the treated cells are cleared. Your full result appears 4 to 12 weeks after the last session, which is the best time for comparison photos. Trials followed patients for up to 6 months after the last treatment. Individual results vary.
Day 0 to 3
Swollen, tender, and numb, which is expected. Ice and keeping your head raised help.
Week 1
Swelling is settling, though it’s still firm to the touch.
Weeks 4 to 6
First reduction visible. Time for your next session, if planned.
Session 2 to 4
A similar week of swelling after each, at least 4 weeks apart.
Weeks 4 to 12 after the last
Your full result, and the time for comparison profile photos.
Month 6 and beyond
Lasts as long as your weight stays stable.
What it costs
Clear pricing, planned by the visit
Two things shape your cost: vials per session and the number of sessions. A larger pad needs more vials to cover the grid, and most people need more than one session. That’s why Kybella is planned as a series rather than a single visit. At your consult, we’ll set the vial count and session count in a written plan, and your second session builds from that record.
- How many vials per session
- The size of the fat pad
- How many sessions you need
- Whether the skin also needs firming afterward
At Skinovatio Lincoln Park
Kybella
$599
to start
- Kybella
- $599 per session
- Consultation
- $50
- With Afterpay or Klarna
- About $150 × 4 payments
Many people need 2 to 3 sessions, so $1,198 to $1,797 for the full course. Your quote covers the full course, not a single vial.
Book your Kybella appointmentSimilar purpose, different options
Kybella or something else?
The right option depends on whether the concern under your chin is fat, skin, or both.
| What we’d suggest | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Fat, good skin | Kybella, 2 to 4 sessions | Approved for exactly this, and skin with good elasticity contracts on its own |
| Skin, little fat | Forma or Morpheus8 under the chin | Radiofrequency tightens skin. It doesn’t remove fat volume |
| Both, moderate | Kybella first, then a Forma or Morpheus8 series | Clear the fat, then tighten what’s left |
| Both, heavy | A surgeon | A neck lift can only be done surgically, and liposuction removes more in one go |
Fat, good skin
- What we’d suggest
- Kybella, 2 to 4 sessions
- Why
- Approved for exactly this, and skin with good elasticity contracts on its own
Skin, little fat
- What we’d suggest
- Forma or Morpheus8 under the chin
- Why
- Radiofrequency tightens skin. It doesn’t remove fat volume
Both, moderate
- What we’d suggest
- Kybella first, then a Forma or Morpheus8 series
- Why
- Clear the fat, then tighten what’s left
Both, heavy
- What we’d suggest
- A surgeon
- Why
- A neck lift can only be done surgically, and liposuction removes more in one go
Surgery removes more fat in one procedure, and a neck lift can address skin and muscle bands at the same time, per the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. It also comes with the recovery and risks of surgery. Kybella suits a small, discrete pad with good skin in someone who prefers a nonsurgical option with about a week of swelling per session. Morpheus8 Body and Forma address the skin over the fat, not the fat itself, so they’re a second step rather than an alternative.
Is it right for me?
Who it’s for, and who it isn’t
Kybella is a good fit for adults with a moderate to severe pad of fat under the chin and good skin elasticity. The label’s trial population was people “without excessive skin laxity,” and that’s who it works best for.
A good fit for
- A soft, pinchable pocket of fat under the chin
- Skin with good elasticity over the fat
- Adults wanting to avoid surgery
- Commonly people in their 30s and 40s
Not recommended
- Loose skin or neck bands rather than fat
- A large fat pad or heavy neck (surgery fits better)
- An active infection at the injection sites
- During pregnancy or breastfeeding, or with swallowing trouble
Side effects are common and mostly local: swelling, bruising, pain, and numbness. The important rare risk is temporary nerve injury along the jaw (4 percent in trials), which resolved on its own in a median of 44 days.
In detail
What it treats
Kybella treats one area. Its label covers “moderate to severe convexity or fullness associated with submental fat in adults,” per the prescribing information. Within that area, most patients fall into a few groups.
This is the ideal case: skin with good elasticity and a pad of fat you can pinch. It matches the trial population, and it’s where the label’s 70 percent response rate came from.
Some people ask about jawline filler or threads when the cause is a fat pad weighing down the jawline. In that case, we’d start with Kybella, and consider PDO threads later, if the jowl is still there.
Many people with this pattern are lean, with a chin pad that has been there for years. Diet and exercise often don’t change it, but Kybella can, with a week of swelling after each session as the main trade-off.
Loose skin without much fat, and large volume with heavy skin, are both better suited to a conversation with a surgeon. If your concern is mainly skin, or there’s more fat than a series can clear, we’ll tell you at your consult.
How it works
Deoxycholic acid is a cytolytic drug: it breaks fat cell membranes where it’s injected, and the destroyed cells are cleared by the body over the following weeks. Cells that are destroyed don’t regenerate. Neighboring cells can still enlarge with weight gain, which is why we describe the result as long-lasting rather than permanent.
The dose is fixed by the label. Injections of 0.2 mL spaced 1 centimeter apart into the fat above the platysma, up to 50 injections (10 mL) per session, and up to 6 sessions at intervals of no less than a month. In the trials, 70.0 percent of Kybella patients reached a one-grade composite improvement versus 18.6 percent on placebo after up to 6 treatments, and 59 percent of subjects received all six.
The label is specific about where Kybella can be used: “The safe and effective use of KYBELLA for the treatment of subcutaneous fat outside the submental region has not been established and is not recommended.” That’s why we don’t use it on the jowls, bra line, or stomach.
Afterwards
Downtime and aftercare
Here’s what to expect, day by day. Day 0 to 3: swelling is expected and can be significant, which is why it’s often called bullfrog swelling. You may also have redness, bruising, numbness, and firmness, and the swelling is usually visible to others during these days. Days 4 to 14: swelling settles, while numbness and firmness linger. By this point the chin usually looks only slightly full. Weeks 2 to 6: some residual firmness and numbness, usually noticeable only to you.
Per the label, reactions lasting more than 30 days occurred in more than 10 percent of subjects: numbness (42 percent), swelling (20 percent), pain (16 percent), and induration (13 percent). Patients on RealSelf report mild to moderate swelling for up to a week and severe swelling taking up to a month.
Aftercare is simple: use a cold compress, keep your head raised the first nights, avoid massaging the area, hold off on strenuous exercise for 2 to 3 days, and skip NSAIDs and alcohol for a couple of days if your provider agrees. A soft chin strap helps some people too.
Why here
Why Lincoln Park
You’ll find us on Lincoln Avenue just north of Wrightwood, a block up from the Apollo Theater. Take the Brown Line to Diversey, then head south on Lincoln, or the Red, Brown, or Purple Line to Fullerton, then head north. The 11 Lincoln bus runs right past our door. A Kybella visit takes 15 to 30 minutes, and midday appointments tend to book first.
If you have an event coming up, plan backward from the date. For a wedding, aim for your last session 8 to 12 weeks out, which means starting the series about five months before the date. Your injections are done by our nurse practitioner under medical direction.
Questions
Common questions, answered
Yes, for fat under the chin in people with reasonable skin. In the FDA trials, 70 percent of Kybella patients reached a one-grade improvement versus 18.6 percent on placebo after up to six treatments. It doesn’t treat loose skin, and most people need two to four sessions to reach their result. Individual results vary.
Kybella is deoxycholic acid, a cytolytic drug. Injected into the fat under the chin, it breaks the membranes of fat cells, and the body clears the destroyed cells over the following weeks. Destroyed cells don’t regenerate. The swelling in the first week is the body’s response to that process.
Treated fat cells don’t come back, so the result lasts as long as your weight stays stable. Trials followed patients for six months after the last session. Neighboring fat cells can still enlarge with weight gain, so the label calls it improvement rather than permanence.
It depends on the size of the pad. The label allows up to 50 injections of 0.2 mL, or 10 mL total, per session, and a larger area needs more of the grid covered. We’ll set your vial count at the consult and write it into your plan.
Days 0 to 3 are the peak: a full, firm, sometimes dramatic swelling under the chin with numbness and bruising. From days 4 to 14 it settles, though firmness and numbness remain. By weeks 2 to 6, any remaining firmness is usually noticeable only to you. In the label data, numbness lasted more than 30 days in 42 percent of subjects and swelling in 20 percent.
The swelling is most visible for the first three days. A collar or scarf can help cover it during that time. From day four it usually looks like a slightly full chin. If you have work commitments, a Thursday or Friday session puts the peak swelling over the weekend.
Aim for your last session 8 to 12 weeks out. Full results land 4 to 12 weeks after the final session, and you’ll want the swelling long gone. With two to four sessions at least four weeks apart, that means starting the series about five months before the date.
No, it removes fat. Skin with good elasticity contracts on its own once the pad is gone, which is why the trials excluded people with excessive laxity. If your skin is loose, we’d suggest Forma or Morpheus8 after Kybella, or a surgeon if the laxity is heavy.
No. The label says safe and effective use outside the submental region has not been established and is not recommended. That includes the jowls, bra line, and stomach, so we treat under the chin only.
No, we don’t run body-contouring devices at Lincoln Park. For a double chin, we offer Kybella. For loose skin, there’s Morpheus8 or Forma. And for overall weight, there’s medically supervised weight loss under a nurse practitioner. If none of these fits your concern, we’ll discuss other options at your consult.
Kybella is not reversible. Deoxycholic acid destroys the fat cells it reaches, and they don’t come back. That’s what makes the result last, and it’s why we start conservatively and reassess a month later rather than treating aggressively in the first session.
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Start with a consult
Tell us what you’d like to work on. We’ll assess your skin and goals, walk you through your Kybella options, and give you a clear plan and price before anything begins.
Afterpay and Klarna are available at checkout for eligible treatments.