Archive for the ‘Cellulite Treatments’ Category:
I was in our break room at work the other day, and someone always brings in the newspaper and leaves it in there, and I noticed a flyer/insert that was sitting out about a new technique to help reduce wrinkles, reduce the appearance of cellulite, and overall just rejuvenate the tissues with increased collagen production and smoothing, called the Lulum technique, or the Lulum energy treatment for body rejuvenation.
The before and after pics were pretty impressive on there, which is what made me take notice. The place that offered it out here in Ohio was in Avon called Stags Family Chiropractic/Wellness, and it was a chiropractic clinic, which it appears is the only offices that offer it so far, as the only other place I found was in Texas and it too was chiropractic practice.
They had one of a woman’s mouth before and after, it was less lined and her lips appeared a tad fuller, one of a woman’s neckline, which was more taught and smooth after, and one of a woman’s thigh with dimpled cellulite allover it before and very smooth “after first treatment”. The process is non surgical, non invasive, and there is no downtime at all, so I thought, wow, if I were rich, I’d be signing up for this! I couldn’t find the cost for the Lulum energy treatment anywhere online though. In fact, I could find very little on the treatment at all, it must be so new.
My guess is it might be kind of like microdermabrasion or most other cellulite treatments for body, maybe a hundred bucks a pop, although I don’t know how many treatments you need to maintain or even achieve results. If any practitioners read this, please leave comments with this information and your office info for interested people, that would be great.
I was able to find out how the Lulum energy treatment works though. It is a device that uses several different types of electrical currents, color therapy, and heating therapy, to deeply stimulate the tissues, which probably explains how it rejuvenates collagen production. This is probablyl also how it breaks up cellulite formation and is useful as a cellulite treatment as well. Oh, there was also a pretty amazing before and after picture of a woman with crows feet who looked very smoothed out after treatment.
This treatment, like most other rejuvenating aesthetic treatments for anti aging and body sculpting, probably requires ongoing maintenance to maintain any achieved results, but hey, if you get great results, it may be something you choose to use in your anti aging and wrinkled reduction arsenal, and also your body shaping and cellulite treatment regimen. Anyone who has experience or knowledge of the Lulum energy treatment, please comment and share. Thanks!
One of the many fat dissolving procedures that has grown in popularity and recognition over the past few years is one that originated in Europe called mesotherapy. Not only has it’s effectiveness been called into question many times, and some patients complained that it did not work at all on them, but now French researchers are questioning it’s safety and citing several instances of infections that result from the treatment that can get pretty serious.
The mesotherapy treatment consists of several stages of injections of a fluid directly into the fatty deposits that patients want to get rid of. They claim that this “all natural concoction”, which still remains unclear as to what exactly it contains, breaks up and destroys fat cells. The whole premise is that the fat cells, after they have been destroyed, are basically absorbed by or expelled by the body through natural waste elimination efforts. The areas that are treated may become noticeably smaller within either weeks or months, depending on the patient.
However, some patients end up with almost disfiguring areas of oozing and bacterial infection in the areas where they were injected, and that has caused some concern over the safety of this increasingly popular procedure that has been performed for years in Europe by practitioners. Some of the patients identified as having serious infections actually had to be opened up to drain absesses that developed because of the infections, while other were successfully treated nonsurgically.
Most of the cases identified as serious were from a specific clinic where patients were given several rounds of mesotherapy, which is now closed, so it is unclear whether this procedure is just plain dangerous no matter who performs it, or whether this one particular clinic had exceptionally high rates of infection in their patients.
Mesotherapy is still a popular option because it is often cheaper than other methods of fat removal like liposuction and Smartlipo, both of which usually use suction to get the fat out, with the latter using lasers to melt the fat first. Other methods of cellulite removal and fat removal have gained popularity amongst women who often struggle more with cellulite and fat deposits because of hormones.
I purchased the Sephora brand cellulite massager about one month ago now, and have been using it pretty regularly, at least once a day, if not several times a week after my shower before I go to bed, to help reduce the appearance of my cellulite. I use a good cellulite cream with it as well so that I can really get the most benefit out of it. Cellulite creams have a further firming effect, so using them in combination with high pressure massage is one of the best ways to reduce your cellulite in my opinion and experience.
There are a few things I really like about this Sephora cellulite massager. First off, it’s very easy to handle. It it a solid constructed product with a larger round rubber head that covers a lot of surface area, so you get a lot of area covered in a shorter amount of time. It also has a great handle that allows you to put the full pressure of your arm strength on the treated areas which is ergonomically well constructed so you can get optimum pressure without all the effort. You hold it basically as you would hold a loofah sponge, to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
The pink massager part is very well constructed, and it’s not made in such a way that over time it will peel off of the handle, like a lot of other cellulite massagers do. I have used it with very high pressure for numerous days now with no signs of stress or breaking, so that’s already better compared to a lot of the other cellulite massagers I’ve used in the past.
The pink massagers are small little bumps that are contoured in such a way that they will help break up the fat deposits topically by applying pressure to them and manually forcing them apart, which is basically what cellulite is, fat deposits that are intermittently dispersed with excess water weight and therefore they look spongy.
You do have to use it with a very good, thick emollient cellulite cream, which is how most cellulite creams are made, because if you use it with a cheaper normal cream, it does not glide as easily and makes it much harder to put a lot of pressure on the areas you’re targeting. All this was less than twenty bucks on Amazon, so I consider it to be well worth the price thus far, and by the way, I have noticed a visible reduction in the appearance of my cellulite. Oh, and don’t be surprised if you notice you have a lot of little bruises at first, this is just from the pressure and you’re skin getting used to it.
I was curious if a certain plastic surgeon in my area offered the smartlipo service, since he has done hundreds of liposuction surgeries and they all look pretty fantastic according the before and after pictures on his website. He’s located in the Akron, Ohio area and has a good reputation for great looking “work”. I’ve been researching this smart lipo thing for a while.
Not that I’m going to even get it, although I’d never rule out anything that was minimally invasive that I could afford without putting my other bills in jeopardy that would make me feel great about myself, but it’s kind of my job to know what the latest, greatest techniques for all these fun, new and exciting forms of plastic surgery and self improvement are. Not to mention, it’s a great time reading about all of it!
His staff did write back to me. I questioned whether he offered it because I couldn’t imagine that he didn’t, being so up on everything else, and I was right. Although his website showed only liposuction before and afters, his staff wrote back and told me he uses the Pro Lipo system for laser assisted liposuction.
I couldn’t find much on the internet about people’s experiences with this type of liposuction, nor could I find much about the specific brand name, except what I did find intrigued me since this appears to be just like liposuction, except the laser assists in breaking up the fat, and the cannula is probably smaller as well, and the recovery time is reduced, but they actually suck the fat out like they do in regular lipo, not just rely on the body to “get rid” of the fat after it’s broken up and supposedly destroyed by the heat of the laser.
That’s the only reservation I had about Smartlipo. It seemed that not every doctor used suction as well, and some people were saying they weren’t getting results after the surgery, making me wonder if there was no suction, did their body really “get rid” of the fat cells that were “destroyed”? It is hard to find docs that tell you they use suction along with the laser, so you’d have to go talk to them about their method. Laser assisted liposuction is supposed to help treat the appearance of cellulite as well, which is another bonus, since usually the areas we’re getting treated for are also marked with cellulite, which gets worse in fatty areas of the body.
The more I’ve been reading about the Smartlipo procedure, the more enticing it becomes. And then I start to think I should be happy with myself. I’m not overweight, in fact I’ve recently shed close to twenty pounds, however I still have that stubborn saddle bag fat that sticks to the side of my thighs, unmoving, even though I eat right and exercise.
I’ll admit it, I’m a perfectionist, and it’s not the best thing in the world, but I also feel like it’s gotten me places that perfectionism and obsession may not have taken me. It can be a burden though, and even though I do tell myself that I don’t have to be perfect, there are certain things I’d like to be content with, and a certain way I like to look in and out of clothes. Call me vain, but my theory is that you only have one time around, why not look and feel your best, and present your best self forward to the world?
There really isn’t much you can do about certain pockets of fat that have been there your whole life. Shoot, ever since I started to develop a woman’s figure, my thighs were there – bang, boom, pow. I wouldn’t mind them if they didn’t also have cellulite on them, but they are an aggravating part of my anatomy I’d like to change if I get the chance, and what with the recession and Doctors reducing prices on non essential procedures, it might just be the right time to take the opportunity to get this bothersome part of my body improved.
Sure, I could spend it on home improvements, but then again, sometimes I think, you only live once and if you aren’t happy with something, why not change it and throw caution to the wind, especially when it’s a totally safe and minimally invasive procedure, and may even improve cellulite? After all, you have a certain amount of fat cells in your body, and the only way to reduce the amount of them is literally to have some of them sucked out.
It’s true that when you gain weight, you don’t actually gain more fat cells, it’s just that the ones you do have grow larger and take up more space, thus expanding parts of your body that are problems, for women namely the buttocks, hips, thighs, belly and upper arms. Researching Smartlipo has lead me to several reputable doctors in the Ohio area, but it’s hard to tell which are the most reputable and most reasonably priced. What is the most important thing when considering who will do your Smartlipo?
Definitely the Doctor’s experience with Smartlipo specifically. If your chosen doctor is new to this procedure, it leaves you wide open to being a guinea pig who may or may not get the best results. If you’re booking a consultation, ask for before and after pictures and specific references for the Smartlipo procedure from former patients.
Move over SmartLipo, there is a newer, and claimed to be better, fat removal technique and tool that has the same benefits of SmartLipo, the fact that there is much less downtime than in traditional liposuction, less bruising and swelling, and less invasiveness, that has bumped SmartLipo out of the newest fad spot in localized fat removal and inch reduction. It’s called Smooth Lipo, and it’s by a brand name dubbed “Smooth Shapes”. It does not specifically address cellulite reduction, but it does say that many patients may experience a tightening in the skin after the minimally invasive procedure is done, resulting in less visibility of cellulite.
The supposed benefits that make this a little more efficient than the already fairly efficient SmartLipo procedure are that the laser is supposed to be specifically geared toward the liquification and destruction of adipose cells, so it does not really interfere with anything else, and is guided to only the cells it’s designed to remove, so it’s a more efficient fat tissue targeting agent, and more fat may be removed as a result of that (or may not, they seem to be careful not to make outlandish claims even on their site).
I couldn’t find anything about the cost of Smooth Lipo on their website, but I’d imagine that it’s about the same as SmartLipo and traditional liposuction, which runs around 3,000 per body area. It’s still a pretty expensive procedure, but if you have tried dieting and exercise and still can’t seem to get rid of certain pockets of targeted fat, than you may want to look into something like this if you have the money and are so inclined to spend it this way.
They do caution that this is not a permanent fix against gaining back in those areas again. If you overeat or stop exercising, you will gain the weight back again in those areas and then some, your fat just sort of redistributes itself, so this is not something that should be viewed as a weight loss mechanism at all, in fact it should not be viewed as a replacement for dieting and exercise either, because if you do not incorporate those into your daily routine to begin with, you will just end up putting it back on anyways.
I was going to talk a little more about two of the more interesting, and increasingly popular, cellulite treatments that are out there for women like you and me to have done so that we can have that object of desire : smooth thighs, buttocks, and belly, without the divots, holes, and “cottage cheese” look that cellulite has given us thanks to our different body chemistry and hormones, in addition to the fact that women tend to have more body fat since we are the sex that nurtures human life within us. Yes, another one of nature’s cruel jokes, but we are women and we shall overcome 
I talked a little about Smartlipo in the last post, and I really want to taper that off her because Smartlipo is really more of a spot fat reduction treatment that also claims it may help to smooth and tighten skin, which means that cellulite may also take a hike eventually, in addition to those ounces of fat removed. It is not however a primary treatment specifically for cellulite reduction, so we’ll focus more on Endermologie and Velasmooth.
To start with, both treatments are pricey, although it’s looking like in most areas Endermologie has the edge over Velasmooth when it comes to cost. Energmologie usually runs around a hundred bucks a pop, while Velasmooth runs anywhere from two hundred to three hundred dollars, but also claims to give results a little faster due to it’s three pronged approach, which is suction/vacuum action combined with infrared light and heat, which is supposed to effectively break up the collagen bands that cause cellulite (that puckered look).
I do happen to know someone who had Velasmooth, just one treatment so far though. She said that she was very impressed, and that she felt she noticed an immediate difference in the appearance of her cellulite and a small size reduction in circumference as well. She had her upper arms done and also her thighs and buttocks, and said that her pants seemed to even slip on a little more easily right afterwards, and her arms already had appeared to be a bit smaller.
Now, this may not be for everyone, and I have read a lot of good and bad reviews on this treament, but it’s always encouraging to hear something directly from the horses mouth, so to speak. Endermologie gets mixed reviews, but there are lots of women who swear by it for the ultimate in cellulite reduction and treatment, and have been getting it done for years.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard that there was some new, fabulous cellulite treatment that really worked that you have to pay thousands of dollars for, plus usually upkeep of several hundred per year at least, I may actually have a decent amount saved up for a child’s college education.
Of course I’m exaggerating a tad, but you get the point. Cellulite has been the proverbial albatross around women’s necks (well really their thighs) for years now, and we can’t seem to get any good, firm data on a cellulite treatment that you can pay for in good faith knowing that it’s actually going to give you a thousands of dollar result like they all seem to claim.
Enter some of the more popular spa and dermatologist administered cellulite treatments that you can get professionally done today. Let me first stress to you that all cellulite treatment, even ones done professionally in a Dr. or professional’s office, must be kept up with some sort of maintenance schedule. Cellulite is not something that you can just zap away forever, because the collagen bands that make that puckered look will eventually come back together and form “holes” in the skin that make the unattractive appearance of a sponge or grapefruit that we all know and love (not).
That means that whether you choose endermologie, which runs about one hundred dollars a session, but varies per demographics of where you get treated, or you choose something like smart lipo or Velashape, you will have to make sure you keep the treatments up, although usually at a lesser pace and frequency, in order to maintain whatever results you enjoyed during your initial regimen.
Since this is fairly lengthy (cellulite discussions always are) I’ve divided this into two posts. The next one we’ll talk more about the three cellulite smoothers that we mentioned, Endermologie, Velashape and Smart Lipo, and which one may be best for you. In the end, it all comes down to digging in and finding the right place and person to do your treatments, and what you feel most comfortable with.
Ugh, it’s that ugly, spongy looking stuff that plagues even the thinnest of women. You’ve probably seen one too many gossip magazines with well known, famous, and beautiful women and even models, on the covers of these “expose” types of magazines, saying “ooh look who else has cellulite” as if to mock their perfect images and bask in their revelation that these gorgeous women also get cellulite, not just us poor shmucks who can’t afford the latest and greatest cellulite treatments and lymphatic drainage massages several times a week.
Well, I must say that sometimes seeing even the most beautiful and successful women get cellulite may sometimes make me feel a tad bit better about my own struggles with the spongy stuff, it still makes me mad that we have to deal with this on top of everything else a woman is made to feel insecure about by looking at all the fashion magazines and dealing with the increasing onslaught of near nudity in films, showing unrealistic figures and little to no real body fat.
However, we “regular women” do have several weapons against cellulite that we can use, and we can use them very successfully in our own homes, with dramatic results if we just use the right tecniques and the most effective products we can get our hands on. Most cellulite creams contain ingredients that help to reduce puffiness on the surface of the skin, by doing this, they tighten the skin and make any dimples that appear in the skin’s surface much less noticeable.
But you can add to the effectiveness of even the best cellulite treatments by using your own elbow grease to help smooth the lumps out. When you apply your cellulite treatment, make sure you apply it with plenty of pressure and also make sure that you apply the pressure going up toward your heart, instead of down toward your feet. We are trying to work against gravity – not with it, and you are trying to bring your skin and lumps up, not down.
Also, it may be slightly more effective if you use a cellulite massage, which is very inexpensive and can be found in even drugstores today, in the shower, when your tissue is heated and you can actually get better results since your tissue is more malleable and when it is heated it may be more conducive to smoothing out, at least temporarily.
I like the better results I get when I roughly massage my cellulite afflicted areas of my body, the thighs being the worst on me personally, however, I’m also fairly prone to easy bruising and that can be a problem when you are massaging very hard to help smooth out the bumps that cellulite produces in this area.
Sometimes I just used my hands and good old fashioned elbow grease to get the lumps out with my cellulite cream treatment, and sometimes I also will use a pronged massager that helps to more evenly massage the cellulite prone areas, with equal pressure, and both always result in bruising, unless I have gotten used ot the pressure and have been doing it a few weeks, then it tends to not bruise as much.
Well, I was reading something that if you bruise easily and are getting a procedure that may result in a lot of bruising, you can concentrate on eating a lot of pineapple a few days before you either go in for your cellulite treatment or your home treatment. What does pineapple have to do with bruising?
Well it contains a special chemical in it called bromelain which has been shown to help with bruising when taken a few days prior to a bruising treatment, such as injections with anti wrinkle and aging fillers or some other procedure that causes temporary trauma to an area. You can also try arnica salve, which is a natural treatment sold in ointment form in natural foods stores and even found also in your local drugstore sometimes.
There are bromelain supplements available also though if you’d really rather not eat pineapple – although pineapple, I must say, is delicious and nutritious and has tons of health enzymes that help cleanse the digestive tract and the organs while also helping to restore digestive health, especially when eaten alone without any other food within at least an hour of eating.
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