MedAesthetic Spa

Velashape™ for Circumferential Reduction and Cellulite Treatment

How Does Body Fat Affect Our Health?
Overweight and obesity continue to be an alarming health problem in the United States. Over 72 million adults in America are overweight or obese. These people have a substantially increased risk of death from several diseases, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, and certain cancers. Among U.S. adults aged 20-74 years, the prevalence of obesity has increased over the last twenty-five years. In 2006, one third of men and 35.3 percent of women were obese.

The percentage of children and adolescents who are overweight has more than doubled since the early 1970s. About 15 percent of children and adolescents are now overweight. We know that overfed children tend to become fat adults because adipocyte hyperplasia, or the multiplying of fat cells, occurs in childhood. The unhealthier we eat as a child, the more fat cells we make. Later in life, however, fat cells stop multiplying - they just become larger, a process known as adipocyte hypertrophy. Only on rare occasions, like in morbid obesity when adipocyte hypertrophy becomes too pronounced, do new adipocytes form in adults.

Usually, we each reach a stable number of fat cells, and as these fat cells (adipocytes) get larger, we get fatter, or vice versa. Understanding this process is important when considering weight loss programs, and treatments for cellulite, unwanted fat and lipodystrophies.

The location of body fat also is an important factor in health risks for adults. Excess fat in the abdomen (stomach area) is a greater health risk than excess fat in the hips and thighs. Visceral fat (waist size) is more important in the disease process than subcutaneous fat which is just under the skin (“love handles”, “pinchable inches”). Abdominal fat cells appear to produce certain compounds that may influence cholesterol and glucose metabolism. A waist size greater than 40 inches in men or 35 in women is an indication of increased health risks.

The average person grows up thinking about their weight, without taking into account their body fat percentage and whether the pounds come from fat or muscle. In order to assess your physical fitness level, regularly monitor your body fat. Reducing body fat and building muscle is associated with numerous benefits, such as greater strength, reduced likelihood of injury, and higher metabolism.

The evidence is now convincing that carrying excess body fat increases the risk for cancer of the colon, kidney, prostate, pancreas, esophagus, endometrium and post-menopausal breast cancer.

Smoking and excessive alcohol increase abdominal fat and the risk for diseases related to obesity. Vigorous exercise helps to reduce abdominal fat. Studies have revealed that women who engage in aerobic activity and reduce calories have a significant reduction in the size of fat cells in the abdominal and buttocks area.
A recent study published by Kaiser Permanente on March 26, 2008, showed that people in their 40s with larger stomachs have a higher risk for dementia when they reach their 70s. Research findings imply that changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease may start in young to middle adulthood, and that high abdominal fat may be tied to greater brain atrophy.

But What About Cellulite?
Cellulite is not about your weight. Cellulite is formed when fat layers mesh into the upper layers of the skin, trapped in compartments by collagen and elastin membranes. Cellulite does not really pose a health risk. A cellulite cure, though, does require a reduction of fat cells, along with smoothing and tightening of the skin.

What Are The Key Technologies Used To Treat Fat And Cellulite?
Liposuction is still considered the gold standard for treating fat and is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States. However, because traditional liposuction has been associated with high morbidity, and even death, there is a need and desire for non-surgical and/or safer surgical procedures that can address the endemic of focal lipodystropy.

Velashape™ is the newest and best non-surgical device for the treatment of cellulite, and also achieves circumferential reduction on the abdomen and thighs, enhances body contouring, produces tightening and smoothing of the skin. Velashape™ employs Syneron’s ELOS™ technology, a combination of mechanical, light, heat, and radiofrequency. The deeply penetrating and sustained thermal effect of the RF is critical in potentiating maximum results. Along with the safe, patented LipoLite® program, which utilizes a natural lipolytic FDA-recognized compound in harmony with the thermal and massage effects of VelaShape™, further fat reduction can be achieved.

LipoLite® should not be confused with mesotherapies like LipoDissolve. The latter involves injections only, using chemical cocktails which are not recognized by the FDA. Lipodissolve injections are placed into the deeper layers of fat, which cellulite is not, shrinking adipocytes but not breaking-down the membranous compartments, thus being ineffective in treating cellulite. These chemicals also may be highly reactive and lead to complications.

How Do Cosmetic Treatments Converge With Medicine?
Biological, psychological and even social factors can all contribute to the process by which your body stores energy in fat cells. It becomes quite apparent that treating the body, specifically unwanted fat and cellulite, should recognize what research indicates – that fat loss can extend human longevity.

Those of us in professions that address body fat want to improve not only how people look and feel, but to energize self-esteem and ultimately to improve quality and longevity of life by reducing serious health risks.
At MedAesthetic Spa®, we are committed to treating each patient individually by tailoring their treatment program to their specific situation. Certainly no one thing is right for everyone. Sometimes a combination or synergy of products, procedures and programs is needed to reach a realistic goal. It begins, however, with a foundation of proper nutrition, good eating habits, exercise, and a healthy lifestyle. Committed to that approach, MedAesthetic Spa® is now also a Center for Medical Weight Loss.

By Joseph DeFranco MD – Dr. Joseph DeFranco is the founder and operator of MedAesthetic Spa®. He is licensed and certified in advanced aesthetic procedures, including laser, IPL and treatment of cellulite and non-surgical body-contouring. He is one of only a very few physicians in the entire Mid-South trained and certified in LipoLite®. He has been a skilled surgeon for over 25 years and is a national speaker on medical topics.