Would you suggest "Vanquish to your patients? Does it melt the fat around your waist?

Dear Joyce Elaine,Non-surgical, permanent liposuction
devices come in a variety of sizes, shapes and energies. Vanquish is one of the newer body-contouring
technologies that are non-surgical in nature and purport to have permanent fat
reduction. Vanquish uses a specific
frequency of radiofrequency energy, almost bordering on microwave energy, with
a no-touch technique, to achieve some reduction of the hip, waist and
flank. Other options included Zerona™, which is low-level light laser therapy, as well as some of
the more common and popular techniques, such as freezing the fat with Zeltiq® (CoolSculpting®) or using
ultrasound waves, such as UltraShape® or
Liposonix®. Permanent reduction can also be achieved with
Vanquish-type energy, but one which touches the skin, called BodyFX™, which uses various frequencies of radiofrequency waves to
permanently kill fat cells non-surgically.

I have been performing non-surgical
liposuction procedures for over eight years and have been a leader and pioneer
in the development of these technologies, as my personal belief is that there’s
no one technology that will give you the best possible non-surgical permanent
reduction of the abdomen and waist, hip, flank or any other body area. The most experienced and successful
non-surgical liposuction centres will usually give you two different types of
energy devices to optimize the non-surgical permanent reduction of fat.

In my centre, we frequently will combine
UltraShape®, which is a high-frequency
focused ultrasound, similar to Liposonix®, together
with a high-amplitude radiofrequency device called BodyFX™ to provide significant permanent reduction of the abdomen,
hip and waist. There are other technologies
that we can apply to this fat, such as Zerona™ or
cryotherapy – freezing of the fat – to enhance the results. By combining two energy devices, I find we
get the best possible non-surgical fat reduction.

It is important to note, however,
that the best results are generally achieved with modern approaches to
liposuction procedures. Modern
approaches to liposuction include SmartLipo™, BodyTite™ and VASERlipo™, which are
gentle fat reduction procedures performed under local anaesthesia. Your physician performing your liposuction
will be able to provide optimal permanent fat removal; whereas the non-surgical
solutions provide a pleasing, but less compelling result. Non-surgical liposuction techniques are
generally reserved for those patients who absolutely have no interest in
minimally-invasive modern liposuction techniques or do not have the capacity of
the three to five days of down time that liposuction requires.



At my centre, generally we offer
patients the opportunity to try then non-surgical liposuction technique yet,
over time, still apply a significant amount of their non-surgical
(“Vanquish”-type) procedures against a more permanent result with SmartLipo™ or BodyTite™, should they elect to do so within five years of their
non-surgical procedure.

Seek
the advice and consultation of a physician that has a number of non-surgical
permanent fat reduction technologies.
Remember that non-surgical permanent fat reduction, although successful,
generally results in results that are very modest. If you’re seeking significant results, it may
be best to wait until you have the recovery time and opportunity to seek more
permanent, minimally-invasive lipo contouring results with modern approaches to
liposuction surgery

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

R. Stephen Mulholland, M.D.,
Certified Plastic Surgeon, Yorkville, Toronto