Good question! Thermi Smooth alone does not shrink fat. The Thermi 250, however, has the ability to shrink fat. It is all a matter of understanding the physics of the machine. Thermi 250 has 10 times the power of the Thermi Smooth and depending on what hand piece the physician chooses, you can target different depths beneath the skin (ie targeting skin/dermis for skin tightening, superficial fat for cellulite or deeper fat layers). That's why it is so important to have a face to face consultation and exam with a Board Certified plastic surgeon who understands and has the tools to potentially treat unwanted fat either invasively (liposuction), minimally invasively (Thermi Tight), or non invasively ( Thermi 250, CoolSculpt, etc). That way you have a unique treatment plan developed specifically for your own body issues.
Thank you for a great question. Unfortunately, there is not a cut-and-dry answer to this one, since there are no studies I am aware of to address this. I rely on ThermiSmooth and their new device Thermi250 for many applications in my office. For patients who are concerned about the theoretical risk of loss of facial fat, I ONLY use the smallest head or the bipolar attachment, as I know those heads will not penetrate deeper than the skin or dermis. The larger the diameter of the head, the deeper the penetration into tissue and the larger heads do cause some shrinkage of the fatty layer. To date, I have not had a patient lose facial fat volume as a result of using the more superficial ThermiSmooth or Thermi250 treatments, so my gut feeling is that you should experience facial fat reduction if the smallest head or the bipolar head are used, but, again, this is not based on a formal study, but only my own clinical experience.
