Background: Increasing numbers of patients are expressing an interest in mesotherapy as a method of reducing body fat. Cutaneous infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria are a common complication of such procedures.
Methods: We followed up patients who had developed cutaneous infections after undergoing mesotherapy during the period October 2006-January 2007.
Results: Sixteen patients were infected after mesotherapy injections performed by the same physician. All patients presented with painful, erythematous, draining subcutaneous nodules at the injection sites. All patients were treated with surgical drainage. Microbiological examination was performed on specimens that were obtained before and during the surgical procedure. Direct examination of skin smears demonstrated acid-fast bacilli in 25% of the specimens that were obtained before the procedure and 37% of the specimens obtained during the procedure; culture results were positive in 75% of the patients. Mycobacterium chelonae was identified in 11 patients, and Mycobacterium frederiksbergense was identified in 2 patients. Fourteen patients were treated with antibiotics, 6 received triple therapy as first-line treatment (tigecycline, tobramycin, and clarithromycin), and 8 received dual therapy (clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin). The mean duration of treatment was 14 weeks (range, 1-24 weeks). All of the patients except 1 were fully recovered 2 years after the onset of infection, with the mean time to healing estimated at 6.2 months (range, 1-15 months).
Conclusions: This series of rapidly growing mycobacterial cutaneous infections highlights the difficulties in treating such infections and suggests that in vitro susceptibility to antibiotics does not accurately predict their clinical efficacy.