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unregistered guest
16 Jun 2009
I just got my first treatment of VelaSmooth and i think my cellulite is worse today? Am i crazy?
16 posts
29 Jun 2009
Hello, VelaShape should not be making the cellulite worse, although during the treatment series there are some changes going on cause the skin to look different. This would be due to swelling, possible bruising (especially during the early treatments that are causing a lot of new stretching of the connective tissues, etc). It is definitely important to have the treatment performed correctly for the best results. The practitioner should first determine your treatment areas, and they should be divided into areas approx the size of two open hands (two adjacent 8"x8" areas). They should treat the area of 1 "hand" size for about 5-7 minutes, then do the adjacent "hand sized" area for 5-7 minutes. Then they should return to the first "hand" sized area and repeat the process again. Each of these "2-hand sized" areas should be treated for a total of around 25 minutes. The total time is just a critical for a good response. I had one patient come to see us after being treated somewhere else for 25 minutes total for 3 areas. They should have been treating her 3 areas for a total of 75 minutes! Once we did it correctly, she saw immediate improvements over the failed 4 treatments done elsewhere incorrectly. They should be moving the large head slowly at first in a back and forth motion or circular motion. After the area starts to get much hotter, then the movement is much faster to avoid overheating the skin. However, the ideal threshold is when the skin is just getting uncomfortably hot. There are also settings on the device for infrared level, RF electrical level, and suction level. In our office, these settings are adjusted depending upon what the problems are. If it is fat that needs to be reduced, we use minimal infrared (lowest level, 0 or 1), highest level RF(level 3), and low level suction(level 1). If it is cellulite we are after, then we use medium infrared (level 1 or 2), high rf (level 3), and medium suction (level 2 or 3). If it is skin tightening needed, then use higher infrared, medium to high RF, and low level suction. Finally, ask the practitioner when they were trained on the VelaShape, and how much experience they've had with it, and if they've checked on the latest protocol update from the laser company. VelaShape first came out in August 2007, but the protocols were updated in June 2008. Wish you the best, and hope everything turns out great for you. John Shieh, MD