San Francisco Liposonix doctors
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William Ting, MD
Bay Area Dermatologic Surgeon
2262 Camino Ramon Suite #200, San Ramon |
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3 answers |
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Miguel Delgado, Jr., MD
San Francisco Plastic Surgeon
450 Sutter Street Suite 2433, San Francisco |
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Stephen J Ronan, MD
San Francisco Plastic Surgeon
3600 Blackhawk Plaza Circle, Danville |
Recent Answers
Liposonix is already available in Europe and is promoting results. That people see permanent results in 8 to 12 weeks, you can reduce your waistline by about 2.8 cm, or one dress or pant size, after a single 1-hour treatment. Is this hype? As a medical expert, are you skeptical or optimistic? Are you planning to offer Liposonix in your practice?
As one of the first U.S. board-certified aesthetic physician practitioners of Vaser Shape, the only FDA approved external ultrasound body sculpting device, I can state that I am seeing the clinical results that have been reported by our Canadian and European colleagues. However, there is a significant learning curve involved in using Vaser Shape and one should seek out a clinic with significant clinical experience. In our hands, we have seen on average one inch reduction in circumference after first Vaser Shape treatment. The therapeutic course involves 5 weekly noninvasive, minimally painful one hour procedures. The clinical result can be variable depending on one's lifestyle, workout routine, water retention tendency, and diet. Liposonix is a similar ultrasound device (that may require less treatment sessions but involve significant discomfort during treatment) is not currently available at U.S. as of 2010.
That being said, tumescent liposuction remains the gold standard as it offers permanent fat removal; however, for those who are committed to an active healthy lifestyle and do not want any risk of scarring, infection that may be associated with liposuction, Vaser Shape, Liposonix and other forthcoming external ultrasound body sculpting devices may be viable and quite appealing.
I've had a consult with a cosmetic surgeon and decided I am not prepared to have surgery to repair the loose skin I am left with after childbirth. She suggested liposonix as a non-surgical alternative, but said I have very little fat to remove. Will liposonix offer any improvement then? The skin seems thicker just under my bellybutton and horizontally across my abdomen from there. Does it really tighten the skin as well as remove fat?
Tumescent liposcution with or without Tummy Tuck remains the gold standard for instant gratification. However, if one is looking for a noninvasive body sculpting procedure without risks of downtime or infection, one may want to pay attention to a new generation of external ultrasound-based fat melting devices such as Liposonix, Vaser Shape, Ultra Shape or external cryosurgical device Zeltiq.
My friend (yeah, right :) is considering ultrasound contouring, and I am helping with his research. Ultrashape has apparently been used here in Canada for some time, and Liposonix is expected to obtain approval soon. The representatives of Liposonix of course claim its superiority over Ultrashape in terms of results, but I am wondering whether there are independenet clinical trials of each, and whether either is superior.
He has been told that he is an ideal candidate for Ultrashape, needing only fairly small areas of superficial fat emulsified. The bottom line of this question is whether he should go ahead with the Ultrashape, or wait until Liposonix is available? (or do neither, if clinical trials have shown little benefit).
All three devices utilize external ultrasound technology to emulsify fat pads underneath the skin. Both Liposonix and UltraShape are not approved in the US as of september 2010. Your only option is Vaser Shape which has received FDA clearance for cellulite and can be used in an off-labelled fashion to achieve body sculpting via fat emulsification.
