Abstract
Liquid body contouring by intramuscular injection of site-enhancing oils (SEOs) for
muscle volume enlargement has increasingly become a popular practice in bodybuilding.
Its immediate and long-term health consequences remain ambiguous, and postinjection
complications are sparsely documented in medical literature. We report a series of
patients presenting with postinjection complications upon self-attempted liquid body
contouring through injection of SEOs. Ten patients visited our departments for plastic
and reconstructive surgery for variable local and systemic complications. All patients
gave a history of single or multiple SEO use and presented on average nine years postinjection
with variable complications. Most patients experienced painful nodular indurations
and swellings in the injected target muscles. Two patients showed signs of infection
including erythema, fever, and local inflammatory findings. One patient presented
additionally with a severe form of nonparathyroid hypercalcemia. Four patients ultimately
underwent surgical treatment. The use of SEOs for liquid body contouring is a dangerous
practice and is associated with potentially systemic and life-threatening complications.
Surgical treatment may be the only therapeutic option in advanced cases and should
be performed timely. Guidelines on diagnostic and therapeutic measures are warranted.
Educational measures should be undertaken to raise awareness among athletes and medical
professionals.
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Clinics in DermatologyAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Les premiers “fillers”, vaseline et paraffine. Du miracle à la catastrophe [The first “fillers”, vaseline and paraffin. From miracle to disaster].Ann Chir Plast Esthét. 2007; 52 ([in French]): 157-161
- The usage of synthol in the body building.Polim Med. 2009; 39: 63-65
- Irreversible muscle damage in bodybuilding due to long-term intramuscular oil injection.Int J Sports Med. 2012; 33: 829-834
- Bodybuilding ved hjaelp af intramuskulaer injektion af valnøddeolie [Body building aided by intramuscular injections of walnut oil].Ugeskr Laeger. 2001; 163 ([in Danish]): 6758
- Painful muscle fibrosis following synthol injections in a bodybuilder: a case report.J Med Case Rep. 2012; 6: 248
- Oil injection for cosmetic enhancement of the upper extremities: a case report and review of literature.Acta Biomed. 2020; 91e2020082
- Myositis from intramuscular oil injections in a bodybuilder.CMAJ. 2020; 192: E480
- Cosmetic doping—when anabolic–androgenic steroids are not enough.Subst Use Misuse. 2014; 49: 1163-1167
- A case of severe side effect due to muscle oil injections in combination with chemotherapy in a former bodybuilder.Clin Case Rep. 2021; 9: e04444
- No pain no gain: tender nodules in a competitive bodybuilder.Dermatol Online J. 2018; 24 (13030/qt5w91h58x)
- Anabolic-androgenic steroids: procurement and administration practices of doping athletes.Phys Sportsmed. 2019; 47: 10-14
- Bodybuilders’ accounts of synthol use: the construction of lay expertise online.J Health Psychol. 2016; 21: 1939-1948
Brennan R, Overbye M, Van Hout MC, McVeigh J. “A slippery slope”: a scoping review of the self-injection of unlicensed oils and fillers as body enhancement. Perform Enhance Health.2021;8:100185.
- Muscle mania: the quest for the perfect body.BMJ Case Rep. 2016; 2016bcr2016217208
- Severe hypercalcemia secondary to paraffin oil injections in a bodybuilder with significant findings on scintigraphy.AACE Clin Case Rep. 2020; 6: e234-e238
- Foreign-body granuloma of the penis in sexually active individuals (penile paraffinoma).J Eur Acad Dermatol Venerol. 2008; 22: 845-851
- Self injection of foreign materials into the penis.Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2017; 99: e78-e82
- Non-parathyroid hypercalcemia associated with paraffin oil injection in 12 younger male bodybuilders: a case series.Eur J Endocrinol. 2018; 178: K29-K37
- Severe hypercalcaemia, nephrocalcinosis, and multiple paraffinomas caused by paraffin oil injections in a young bodybuilder.Lancet. 2014; 383: 2098
- Hypercalcemia in a male-to-female transgender patient after body contouring injections: a case report.J Med Case Reports. 2014; 8: 71
- Paraffin oil injection in the body: an obsolete and destructive procedure.Ann Plast Surg. 2002; 49: 391-396
- Injektion af synthololie hos bodybuilder gav kroniske sår og deformerende ar [Injection of synthol in a bodybuilder can cause chronic wounds and ulceration].Ugeskr Laeger. 2015; 177 ([in Danish])V12140642
- Compression bandage as treatment for ulcers induced by intramuscular self-injection of paraffin oil.Acta Derm Venereol. 2009; 89: 196-197
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 05, 2022
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.