When it comes to body styling and body contouring, there are three leading non-surgical treatments that use three very different techniques: Cryo Freezing (Coolsculpting), low light lasers (i-Lipo), and radio frequency (TriPollar).
KO’AN Center Executive Director Lisa Watts, who has been in the industry for 20 years, said the most popular modality is Coolsculpting.
Developed by Harvard scientists, this unique, patented, clinically proven procedure involves freezing fat cells without damage to the skin.
“Coolsculpting is basically freezing the fat,” Watts said. “It works because it causes Apoptosis, which is the medical term for cell death. Once the fat cell is dead, it’s gone and it doesn’t reproduce itself.”
Watts said the process is used for body styling, opposed to a fat loss.
“Coolsculpting technology works because fat cells actually freeze at a higher temperature than skin cells, blood cells, veins, and any other cell in the body. The machine is able to kill the fat without damaging other tissues.”
For best results, patients usually repeat the procedure two to three times per area.
The fat cells are naturally eliminated from the body over the following few months.
Meanwhile, i-Lipo, which is another popular device, uses low level laser technology that stimulates the body’s natural process to release stored fatty acids in adipose cells, converting to energy.
This process shrinks fat cells allowing the patient to style their own body’s shape and dictating where fat will be used for energy.
Watts said i-Lipo was perfect for the person who decided they are changing their lifestyle – regularly working out and implementing healthy eating habits.
“i-Lipo’s low light laser creates a bio chemical reaction in the fat cells that causes the fatty acid to release into the blood stream,” Watts said. “Working out after i-Lipo treatment is mandatory.”
Each treatment is 20 minutes in length, and 10 sessions are needed spaced over a 24 to 36 hours period. Loss of inches can be just over 20 days away.
Watts said this treatment was best for removing fat from most any place on the body. Some of the most popular places are arms, above the breast, bra flanks, legs, under the chin and the strangest of places, tops of feet.
Watts said the i-Lipo boldly goes where no device dares to try.
She said i-Lipo was the first direct skin contact laser device designed for fat reduction and body contouring to receive FDA clearance for circumferential fat reduction.
Finally, TriPollar heats the skin from within using medically proven radio-frequency (RF) energy.
Watts said this machine applied heat through a handheld massage, basically melting the fat underneath the skin.
The internal heat causes collagen fibers, which are the key structural components of the skin, to contract. This contraction results in immediate wrinkle reduction.
Simultaneously, the heating causes fibroblast cells, the cells responsible for collagen production, to generate new collagen. The new collagen provides the skin with added flexibility, which yields long-term wrinkle reduction.
A typical TriPollar treatment plan is once a week, for seven to 10 weeks.
Watts said that these devices can’t replace lipo suction, but they are great tools outside the operating room.
KO’AN Center is located at 1301 20th Street, Suite 150A, Santa Monica.
For more information, call 310.315.3022 or visit www.koancenter.com.
