A Lawrence doctor certified to administer a controversial fat-dissolving injection criticized on Sunday a state board’s decision to restrict Lipodissolve to drug trials.

“I’m very particular about the type of person that I OK’d it for,” said Dr. Carla Phipps, a family practitioner at the Lawrence Family Practice Center, 4951 W. 18th St.

Phipps estimated that she has administered the trademark product to 100 patients since October 2006.

Members of Kansas State Board of Healing Arts on Saturday unanimously ruled it could only be used as part of a drug trial amid concerns about certain business practices and side effects, like the forming of nodules and nausea.

The injections are not designed to treat obesity but can be used to remove fatty deposits after someone has lost weight, Phipps said. She sells each patient a plan of a certain number of treatments, and they are administered one month apart.

“It totally hit me by surprise,” she said of Saturday’s decision.

Although the restrictions are expected to start in September, the Lawrence physician will stop performing the procedure and refund money to patients with scheduled treatments remaining. She said Lipodissolve treatments generate a quarter of the revenue from the cosmetic side of her practice, which is only part of her overall work.

On Sunday, she stressed her careful screening of patients and said only two did not want to continue after the first injection because of swelling and other side effects.

“Those are side effects that I warned people about,” Phipps said. “It certainly wasn’t anything that my patients aren’t well aware that these are recognized side effects that you might have – none of which are long-lasting, none of which are permanent.”

One Lawrence plastic surgeon in an interview earlier this summer said he wouldn’t try Lipodissolve because it was not FDA approved and that he was happy with results from 15 years of performing liposuction. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery released a warning about Lipodissolve earlier this year.

“I am not seeing the big advantage of doing a series of five or six treatments that many people are telling me are pretty painful,” said Dr. Scott Thellman, of Lawrence Plastic Surgery, 1112 W. Sixth St., Suite 210.

But Phipps predicted that once Lipodissolve is studied more it could make a comeback in Kansas.

“I still don’t have any concerns about the safety of this chemical,” she said.