Unveiling the Best Stubborn Fat Treatment Options

Sometimes a balanced diet and regular exercise just won’t shift stubborn pockets of fat. Since opening in 2013, we have seen a huge range in those seeking non-invasive fat removal at our fat reduction clinic; males and females of different shapes and sizes; those who work out religiously and those who don’t; those on a weight loss journey; those who want fat removed from their stomach all the way through to wanting fat removed from the double chin area. In our vast experience, there is no ‘typical’ person who seeks out this type of treatment, the motivation is often as unique as the individual.

It stands to reason that with such a range of people wanting fat reduction, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to fat reduction; this is why we invested in a suite of leading treatments that destroy fat cells, to be able to cater for the many different individuals and their requirements. With this experience and knowledge, today I’m going to run you through some of the different treatments available and answer a few questions we so often get asked.

What is Non-Surgical Fat Removal?

Let’s start at the very beginning. You may see non-surgical fat removal described as body contouring, non-invasive fat removal, non-surgical fat reduction, silhouette shaping, or body shaping- but they’re talking about the same thing. They are referring to a professional treatment either using injections or a treatment device.

There are several treatments within each category, injectable or device. Let’s delve into some of these now:

Fat Dissolving Injections

These injections are administered by a medical practitioner into your trouble spot. They contain a synthetic form of bile acid; we use bile acid naturally to break down and digest fat. When injected into pockets of fat, this synthetic version breaks down and dissolves the targeted fat cells.

Fat-dissolving injections offer a permanent result because the treated fat cells are dissolved and safely removed from your body naturally. You can learn more about this fat removal treatment in our short blog post: Fat Dissolving Injections vs Weight Loss Injections.

At our Hertfordshire clinic, we have carefully selected the brand of fat-dissolving injections we offer our patients: Deso fat-dissolving injections. Desoface, which we use to treat the double chin and Desobody.

Fat Removal Treatment Devices

There are many, many body fat removal devices available and, let me start by saying, that they are not all equal. I’m not going to discuss the cheap and the knockoffs with you today because you want to know about treatments that work, have science behind them, and have clinical studies to back them up. I hear you. Let’s go.

Non-surgical fat treatments are usually placed on to your skin and work by using heat, cold, or sound waves directly into your fat cells to destroy aka kill them. They do not injure the surrounding tissue or skim, rest assured. We use this type of body fat removal on the body here at Skin to Love. Let’s have a quick look at some of the treatment devices available.

Emsculpt Neo: This treatment uses a combination of technology; radio frequency (heat) to target your fat cells and HIFEM to stimulate muscle contractions (20,000 of them per session) to strengthen and tone the underlying muscles. A double whammy, some might say.

With an average 30% fat reduction and a 25% increase in muscle, it’s easy to see why Emsculpt Neo has become a cult treatment amongst professional athletes and celebrities, as well as us, mere mortals.

Incredibly, Emsculpt Neo has been shown in clinical studies to reduce visceral fat too (fat that sits around your organs) by 15% if your stomach is treated. This reduction in visceral fat can make a big difference to your health, helping you to manage insulin resistance; insulin resistance can lead to prediabetes and many people with prediabetes have insulin resistance.

No pain, no recovery time (even after all those muscle contractions), completely non-invasive AND can positively impact your health. With quick 30-minute sessions, a course in Affordable Emsculpt Neo can easily fit into your lifestyle. Tell me, what’s not to love?

Cristal: Cristal is a brand name for medical cryo-lipolysis or fat freezing. Why ‘medical’? Because it’s able to reach lower levels of temperature, making it a single treatment session, whereas beauty therapist-led fat-freezing treatments will not reach the same temperature, therefore often requiring a course of treatments.

Fat freezing does, well, just that; lowers the temperature of the targeted fat cells to induce their death. Those fat cells are then broken down and safely (and permanently) removed through your waste.

Taking an hour, this (usually) single-session treatment is non-invasive, offers permanent results, and allows you to resume your usual activities the same day.

Didn’t someone wise once say “The cold never bothered me anyway”?! If you know, you know.

Liposonix: This fat cell busting treatment uses HIFU technology (high intensity focused ultrasound-so sound waves) to directly target those unwanted fat cells in small pockets of fat and permanently remove them, comfortably, without damaging any of the surrounding skin or underlying tissue.

Usually only a single treatment session and with the ability to resume your usual activities immediately, this treatment has been a staple in our non-surgical fat reduction suite since 2013!

Hopefully, this has given you a flavour of the type of treatments available to you, but now onto the REAL question…

Does Non-surgical Fat Removal Work?

The key to getting the best out of body fat removal treatments is a consultation. At our clinic, we will assess the area you would like to treat and match you with the most suitable treatment for your desires, the amount of fat in the area, the area you wish to be treated, and go through your medical history to ensure that the chosen body fat removal treatment is a safe option for you.

We will also discuss your expectations of the treatment and give you an understanding of what you may be able to achieve with body fat removal during your consultation. This is important because if you are expecting a 90% reduction in fat, but your treatment averages approximately a 30% reduction, when you start seeing your results you may think the treatment hasn’t worked.

Your treatment may have worked beautifully… you may have exceeded the average fat reduction, but if you’re expectations and the type of results that non-surgical fat reduction offers don’t match, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

Be honest with your practitioner about what you want to achieve from the start; their goal is to get you good results, safely. If you want most of your fat removed then they may discuss surgical fat removal with you and/or the possibility of you having multiple treatment sessions, rather than just a single session, to accumulate more dramatic results.

With all that said, at Skin to Love we only ever onboard non-surgical fat reduction devices that use technology that is well-researched and have clinical studies evidencing their claims. Equally, we have enough experience to be able to match the right candidate with each of our devices.

Non-Surgical Fat Removal From Your Stomach

The stomach is one of, if not the, most popular treatment area for both females and males at our clinic. That’s why it’s getting a special mention.

The type of treatment best suited for you will depend on how much fat you have on your stomach, your medical background, and your preferences so you’ll discover more during a consultation; as I mentioned before, this is key to your safety and satisfaction.

You may like to read more on the topic of non-surgical fat removal for your stomach in our blog especially on this subject.

Non-invasive Fat Removal and Skin Tightening

Sometimes a combination of fat removal and skin tightening may be required to get the best results;, we’ve had patients consult with us about non-surgical fat removal and upon assessment, they need skin tightening rather than fat reduction.

Often when someone has lost a lot of weight, their skin will become loose. In some cases, this will need surgical removal if there is lots of excess skin remaining. In some cases, non-surgical skin tightening treatments may be suitable.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but a consultation will uncover the best path for you as an individual.

Some of the skin tightening treatments that are suitable for both the face and body include Thermage, Profhilo, and HIFU.

Safety

There are often treatments, including fat removal treatments, that go viral; please, be cautious.

A recent craze has been for the injectable fat-dissolving treatment, ‘Lemon Bottle’; now, this requires very little commitment from the injector, and it’s relatively cheap for them to buy quickly Google will show you that you can buy 5x 10ml vials for £79. The investment in non-surgical treatment devices is SIGNIFICANTLY more; 500 to 2,000 times more.

This means that Lemon Bottle is accessible to many, including beauty therapists and those with absolutely no qualifications but who want to give aesthetic medicine a go, read: make a quick £ without taking the time or investment to get qualifications and training, and ensure safety and hygiene standards. Nor are lay injectors equipped to deal with possible side effects or complications.

As it currently stands, Lemon Bottle is not FDA approved nor has a CE mark. Why? It doesn’t fall under any drug licensing laws because it contains no active pharmaceutical ingredients and is not classed as a medical drug. Now this instantly raises my eyebrow-would I want a ‘cosmetic’ product injected into my body?

For context, products that we tend to think of when it comes to medical aesthetics such as Botulinum Toxin A (AKA Botox) a prescription drug dermal fillers and Deso fat-dissolving products are both classified as medical devices.

*Lemon Bottle seems to have no clinical trials nor evidence backing up its fat removal claims and, perhaps more importantly, evidencing its safety. They have NO data so they cannot say that there are no side effects (which they’ve claimed). Testimonials seem to be what they’re using as “data”. Without any safety data, it can be assumed that in a worst-case scenario at best the treatment won't work.

With any injectable, there is a risk of infection, necrosis, and other known risks. These risks are much lower when you have a medical professional treating you in a safe environment, with a product that has a known safety profile.

It’ll be less likely that you’ll find someone with a medical background offering Lemon Bottle because of the lack of data and unknown safety profile of the product.

You’re smart, so I know you’ll do your research before jumping on a trend. But don’t you think that it’s CRAZY that stuff like this *points to the Lemon Bottle rant above* is allowed to happen in the UK?

Non-Surgical Fat Removal Near Me

Perhaps you’re looking for fat-freezing Hertfordshire, Emsculpt Neo, Desobody, or simply body contouring to get a flavour of what’s available to you, then reading this may make up part of your research: mega important step.

Part of this research should also be having a consultation with some clinics that offer non-surgical fat removal near you, who specialise in this treatment; as I’ve mentioned throughout, this will enable you to better understand treatments and allow professionals to match you with appropriate fat removal treatments. It also allows you to ask specific questions and get a feel for the practice.

Non-surgical fat removal is not currently regulated, so you may like to use registers such as the CQC or Save Face to shortlist clinics; these registers put practitioners and clinics through rigorous assessments (and I mean rigorous) to ensure they are who they say they are, are qualified and insured, are using legitimate products and devices from trusted sources, and adhere to strict safety and hygiene protocols.

We know, we elected to be on both registers.

So, if you’re looking for non-surgical fat removal in St. Albans, Harpenden, Watford, or any of the areas within Hertfordshire, as well as areas close by including London and Essex you may like to book a consultation at our clinic to discuss your needs and how our expertise and suite of non-surgical fat reduction treatments may be a good fit for you.

We’re very accessible with close links to the M25 and are a short 20-minute train ride from St. Pancras station.

We look forward to meeting you and discussing your requirements.

*Information about Lemon Bottle was given with the current information available at the time of publishing.

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