David M. Kang, MD

I was tired of ruining silk shirts with deodorant stains or having to wear a jacket during a presentation to make sure I didn't have sweaty armpits. The procedure took over an hour. The numbing process was much longer than I expected and then about 20 minutes per arm. Once everything was numb I couldn't feel any pain during the procedure. I followed immediately with about 20 minutes of icing. The numbing lasted 3 or 4 hours. I continued icing every two hours the rest of the first day and took several aleve for the swelling. The first night was very painful once the numbing wore off and my arms were very swollen. I took a few vicodin for the pain which helped and enabled me to sleep. The next day my arms were still very swollen but the pain was much better. I continued with icing and aleve but didn't need pain killers anymore. By day two the swelling was almost all gone with a small amount of bruising and tenderness. By day three almost all the swelling was gone and I felt good enough to resume light exercise. Today is day four and I felt good enough for a run and didn't have any problems. The results are amazing already. I don't seem to be sweating at all and have stopped wearing deodorant! So worth a few days of pain and swealing.

I'm 5-foot-4 and currently weigh 115 pounds. I've always been petite, and have been into distance running for the last 15 years. During that same period, I've always had cellulite. I tried smart lipo a few years ago, hoping it would also help my cellulite in addition to getting rid of my saddle bags. Saddle bags are gone, but the doctor warned it would not help the cellulite. I'm excited to see what cellulaze can do. I have more cellulite on my left thigh than my right due to a soft tissue injury from a car crash in 1995. I'm hoping the doctor can fix that. Updated on 31 Jan 2015: You'll notice that my left thigh is wider and has more cellulite. I'm 5-foot-4 and 115 pounds. 40 years old. Updated on 7 Feb 2015: I had Cellulaze yesterday on both back thighs, as well as a little smart lipo on my left thigh to smooth out unevenness left from first smart lipo a few years ago. Surgery took about 2 hours. They gave me one pain pill and then a few pricks before adding the numbing fluid under my skin. Procedure was uncomfortable but not painful. So far, recovery been a cake walk. Very little pain. I feel like I've had the hardest workout of my life and thighs are sore to stand or sit. Updated on 9 Feb 2015: Very little pain on day one post-op. Soreness continues to improve. Lots of bruising. More on left than right as expected. Right thigh is an example of cellulaze bruising whereas the left is smart lipo and cellulaze combined. Updated on 26 Feb 2015: Not seeing much difference yet. The bruising is pretty much gone by two weeks though. Still wearing the compression garment as instructed. Updated on 2 Mar 2015: Not really seeing any improvement. I will hold my judgment for at least six months. I'm also doing velashape ultrasound twice and may continue doing it only on my leg thigh which has more cellulite. The goal of my cellulaze was to get my legs to look the same. Updated on 5 Apr 2015: So, I wanted to wait to see if there were any noticeable improvements after two months before posting a review. I'm still not seeing any. The bummer is that the procedure has had a side effect for me: spider veins. I now have a couple on the left thigh procedure area. Great. I'm also surprised that the soreness has not gone away after two months. My thighs are still sore when I get out of cars, jog, get into bed--anything that applies pressure to the area. It's tolerable though. I guess I can say the good news is that the targeted lipo on my left thigh did improve the size of my leg, making it more consistent with the right leg. Jury is still out. It's not looking good for cellulase. Updated on 5 Apr 2015: I forgot to include this photo in the last post Updated on 5 Apr 2015: Now on both thighs where Cellulaze was done. Updated on 29 Aug 2015: Well, cellulase was worth a try. If you've got $2,000-$3,000 to spare, I guess it's worth the gamble when there aren't any other viable solutions for cellulite. Looks like some women have had positive results. As you can see from my photos, my thighs look no different now than they did before the surgery. I won't post any other updates on this procedure unless I see an improvement. Cellulase did not work for me. Updated on 29 Aug 2015: I wanted to share some insights from two friends who are estheticians in Texas. I told them about my cellulase procedure and the lack of results. They pointed out that FDA approval of such procedures means that they are proven not to kill/injure/harm people. FDA approval doesn't prove efficacy -- the desired result. That mean the manufacturers of these products actually don't have to prove it works all the time--just that it won't harm the patient. Isn't that crazy? Updated on 30 Sep 2015: I have made an appointment with a different doctor to get the spider veins that were caused by the cellulaze procedure removed.