Introduction: Facial lipoatrophy in HIV-infected patients under tri-therapy occurs frequently and alters their quality of life. No systemic treatment is capable of curing this problem.
Patients and methods: Eighty-one patients were included in an open, prospective, compassionate study. A strict intradermal injection of a biodegradable, polyacrylamide cationic copolymer was administered in several sessions.
Results: In all the patients, the correction of the facial lipoatrophy was considered satisfactory and stable over a period of 6 months using comparative photographic clichés. The thickness of the dermal skin, assessed by sonography, was doubled. No local or systemic side effect was reported.
Conclusion: Our study shows that is it possible to durably correct the facial lipoatrophy of HIV-infected patients under tri-therapy by using a biodegradable implant.