Laser lipo has long been a favourite with clinics and medi-spas for tackling those pockets of fat that exercise and diet don’t seem to shift. The laser fat removal treatment’s cheaper, quicker and less invasive than liposuction.
However, today’s body-contouring technology has moved on and laser lipokysis, as we know it, has largely been replaced by a host of high-powered alternatives. So MyFaceMyBody has rounded up the pick of the treatments to bust fat:
Vaser Lipo
Vaser lipo (or vibration amplification of sound energy at resonance) is similar to traditional liposuction as the fat cells are removed from your body. It’s less invasive though, and crucially it uses ultrasound technology to break down the fat cells. The other advantage of Vaser is that it can be used to target very specific areas, and add definition. “It also uses different methods of sculpting to create a more muscular of high definition look, for example the Vaser Hi-Def can give you abs,” says Dr Amanda Wong Powell, who uses Vaser at her clinic in London’s Harley Street.
Non-invasive laser fat reducing
Laser lipo traditionally involves a small incision made into the skin to pass a laser directly into the fat cells to kill them off, however there are some devices that use cool laser technology applied on top of the skin for a completely non-invasive treatment.
“Originally designed to speed up healing, doctors noticed that cold laser technology could liquefy fat cells painlessly,” explains Dr Surinder Sandhu, who uses a non-invasive laser lipo device in his Bedford Chiropractor Clinic. “It works by focusing the cold red laser to warm up cells, and the contents of the fat cells are released.”
Crucially, this treatment doesn’t kill fat cells like other lipolysis treatments, and gets its best results when combined with a fat-busting exercise regime.
Ultrasound, radio-frequency and cryo-lipolysis
These are the big three when it comes to non-invasive body-shaping technologies. Ultrasound, or ultrasonic body contouring, uses a device to transmit ultrasound waves into the body to breakdown the membrane of the fat cells and disperse the fat, which is then removed naturally by your body’s lymphatic system. It’s not quite the same at Vaser lipo, which applies the ultrasound via a canulla into the fat itself.
Radio-frequency works by heating the fat layers beneath your skin to achieve the same end result (dispersing fat for removal via the lymphatic system), while cryolipolysis freezes the fat cells to break them down, for the body to remove it via the lymphatic system. Find out more about these different technologies here.