Med-spas treatments can help recontour your body’s trouble spots.
For some of us, the arrival of warm weather heralds the dreaded spectre of donning a bathing suit and other revealing clothing. During the cooler months, when covered up with cozy layers, it’s much easier to ignore those diet-resistant trouble spots on our bodies.
Shifting stubborn fat deposits is often impossible despite a good diet and regular exercise and could be attributed to factors like age, pregnancy or a surgical procedure. In the not-so-distant past, invasive cosmetic medical procedures like liposuction and tummy tucks were seen as the only solutions: that or just accepting the status quo. As with everything else, technological advancements have ushered in options for effectively reshaping one’s body. These days medi-spas offer non-invasive, low-risk treatments for correcting various problem spots.
Heat, produced by monopolar radio frequency is an increasingly popular way to improve trouble spots like the abdomen and produce results for some individuals in as early as six weeks. Whereas with Cool Sculpting, the freezing of fat cells, results are evident over time, usually months to see the full effect, and can also have the rare side effect of making the fat cells larger.
Thermage, a monopolar radiofrequency machine, is one of the effective treatments for reducing fat and recontouring, says Ruby Dillon, owner of North Vancouver’s Deva Med Spa & Body Contouring.
The heat is conducted via a single-use tip on a grounding pad that is attached to the device. There are different tips for various parts of the body that allows for different depth of heat penetration.
“So you select the area that you want to do,” Dillon says. “Then you mark it as a special grid you can mark it with, and then you do the treatment according to a preset protocol.”
Results can be noticeable in as little as six weeks depending on how may treatments are done in that timeframe.
Dillon says the clinic also employs another form of heat for fat reduction: Ultherapy that uses ultrasound heat instead of radio frequency. “That’s a good one too on the face and on the body. The results take a little bit longer, though, to see. So, if you're on the face, you're probably looking at one to three months to see results; on the body, you know, perhaps about the same amount of time.”
Both treatments provide the benefits of tightening the skin and boosting collagen, and the effects can last up to two years. Deciding between the two types depends on individual concerns and time schedule.
Another body sculpting option is to combine muscle toning with fat reduction which is what Cutera is recommending with their truBody approach which utilizes both their truScupt (which is monopolar radio frequency heat) and truFlex muscle-toning machines to achieve optimum, long-lasting results.
“We know from having these devices for so long that the best results come from when you reduce fat and build muscle at the same time,” says Katie Neff, marketing director for truBody by Cutera.
Neff says the best way to lose weight is by strengthening your muscles, so integrating the two treatments is an ideal approach.
“We're able to claim with truSculpt, which is the fat reduction, 24 per cent less fat per treatment area after 12 weeks.” Neff explains “And then with truFlex, we're able to claim up to 30 per cent increase in muscle mass, which, you know, muscle mass is like just what everybody wants to live a long life, to have muscle tone, to be stronger, to stand up straighter.”
She says that it’s not only an effective technology but that it doesn’t take much time out of your day, especially compared to the time spent at the gym to achieve similar results.
Dillon says that Crestotherapy, a lymphatic drainage treatment, is beneficial and produces timely, noticeable improvements—such as less bloating, puffiness and fat reduction. “So, you're basically draining the lymphatic system,” she says.
For another non-surgical but slightly invasive method to combat cellulite and fat deposits, there’s Lipodissolve, a certified injectable that purportedly destroys fat cells permanently in targeted areas. Some studies have stated it can be as effective as liposuction and of all the medi-spa treatments provides the longest lasting results.
Although, these treatments are considered safe, they aren’t suitable for everyone. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should avoid them, as should anyone diabetic. Dillon says these treatments are for healthy people with a BMI of less than 30 who just have stubborn body fat they can't get rid of any other way. However, it's not a weight loss program.
Pricing for the treatments—ranging from $199 and up— depend on the type of service and the number of applications.