Thank you for your question. SculpSure uses laser technology applied by up to 4 heads, each roughly the size of a credit card, to deliver the energy deep into the fatty tissue that lies beneath the skin. The laser heads also cool the skin periodically, in order to make the treatment more comfortable. The main purpose of SculpSure is to heat up the fatty tissue enough to cause cellular damage and subsequent death to the fat cells, which results in less fat in the area. Decreased fat, whether from weight loss from dieting, SculpSure, or liposuction, will result in some degree of skin tightening in most people. The degree of skin tightening depends on many variables, such as smoking history, weight gain/loss, pregnancies, age, and genetics, to name a few. Cynosure, the company who makes the SculpSure, is seeking an FDA clearance specifically for skin tightening, so they believe the device can do this more than would be attributed to fat reduction alone. In my practice, we do not market or rely on SculpSure to treat skin laxity. In my opinion, SculpSure should not be expected to cause much skin tightening, since it does not heat the skin enough, compared to other devices on the market. We often couple SculpSure treatments with Thermi250, which is a non-surgical radiofrequency (RF) device for enhanced skin tightening. Interestingly, Thermi250 works fairly well for fat reduction too and, most likely, SculpSure will also prove to give more skin tightening than simple liposuction, although the research to support the latter is pending at this time. As you can probably guess from my answer so far, the important factor is the heat and what tissues are being heated. If skin temperature with SculpSure can approach 45 degrees C. and stay there for most of the treatment time, then one should expect to see some skin tightening. The question in my mind, is, given the fact that the skin surface is being cooled by the device, can it actually achieve skin temperatures high enough to get this result? I do not know the answer to that one - in my practice, I have been assuming this is not the case. The most impressive device for skin tightening is the minimally-invasive RF device, ThermiTight. It delivers heat to the under surface of the skin and heats full thickness to whatever desired temperature the physician selects, but usually in the range of 45-65 degrees C deep with skin surface temperature around 40 degrees. As a general rule, if you have good skin quality (no stretch marks, no laxity, no smoking history or severe sun damage, and are under age 60) you should not worry about getting loose skin from SculpSure. If your skin is already loose, then SculpSure should reduce fat, but do not expect it to do much for skin laxity. If you already have loose skin, then you would be better off with an additional procedure to address the skin laxity, such as those I mention above or other RF or laser devices specifically aimed at skin tightening.
