Weight loss is a tough battle, and there are many diet plans, surgical procedures, and fitness guides that have been designed to help you reach your goals. However, while changing your diet and lifestyle can provide some benefit, for many the changes that diet and exercise produce are simply not enough. If you’re interested in learning more about body contouring, call Aurora Innovative Healthcare Center for Women in San Antonio, TX.
What Are the Benefits of Non-Invasive Body Contouring?
Less Risk
Traditional body sculpting works by making incisions and removing excess skin and body fat. With non-invasive treatments like Vanquish ME, far less physical stress is put on your body’s tissues. There’s no bleeding involved and no anesthesia is needed.
Faster and Easier Recovery
With non-invasive body contouring, the body does not have to work hard to repair all of the damage done with traditional surgical methods. Depending on the scope of the surgery, patients who undergo traditional body sculpting procedures can be left in bed and out of work for weeks on end.
Consistent, Long-Term Results
Since non-invasive treatment only targets fat cells, it is much more accurate than surgical procedures. The treatment kills fat cells dead, and they stay that way, so the only way fat returns to the area is when new fat is introduced. With proper exercise and a healthy diet, you’ll be able to maintain your ideal body shape.
Easily Accessible
While surgery can sometimes be the best option according to some patient’s needs and condition, not everyone is able to undergo surgery. Those who have very sensitive immune systems or blood conditions and certain physical body types may not be qualified to undergo surgery. Non-surgical contouring has far fewer limits as to who is and isn’t a candidate for treatment. It works on all body types.
What Is Vanquish ME?
Vanquish is the first fat removal treatment that is non-invasive, non-contact, and has no pain or downtime. It is FDA-approved for deep tissue heating and uses high frequency radiofrequency to warm the fat layer beneath your skin, creating heat that damages and kills off unwanted fat cells in the area.
Vanquish ME Tissue Selectivity
The device uses new technology that governs the delivery of energy to help target the thermal effect into deep tissue where it’s needed while protecting the surrounding layers of skin. The frequencies used are specially selected to impede deep tissue and specifically affect those layers while leaving everything else unharmed.
A Unique Thermal Profile
The part of your body that has been selected for treatment will be located in the high-frequency electric field the device produces. The temperature of the target tissue (i.e. fat cells) increases while the surrounding tissue remains protected from reaching these high temperatures and the cell damage that comes with it.
How Does It Work?
Vanquish uses an adjustable panel that hovers over the targeted area and uses radiofrequency to disrupt the underlying layer of fat. The radiofrequency energy used in the Vanquish ME treatment is specifically tuned to target fat cells. The energy passes easily through the skin but has a much more difficult time getting through the fat.
As the energy collects in the fat, it causes the heating of fat cells, which in turn leads to thermal damage that causes a natural, controlled form of cell death known as apoptosis. The elimination of fat cells in this way leads to a decrease in the thickness of the fat layer in the area of treatment.
What Is Radiofrequency?
Radiofrequency is a form of electricity. It is used extensively in dermatology and in cosmetic surgery to target specific layers of the skin to help with things like skin tightening, collagen regeneration, and fat elimination.
Who Is a Good Candidate for Vanquish ME?
Adults who are in good physical shape who have areas of unwanted fat but do not want to undergo surgery make good candidates for Vanquish. Also, good candidates are typically already physically active and eat a healthy diet.
Is Anyone a Poor Candidate?
While most people make good candidates for body contouring with Vanquish ME, there are a few who should not undergo the treatment. These individuals include women who are pregnant or breastfeeding or individuals with a metal or implantable device.
Which Areas of the Body Are Treated With Vanquish?
Vanquish is intended specifically to treat your core. The treatment device fits over the abdomen and flanks to help reduce the size of your belly and love handles. However, just because the treatment was intended to target this area does not limit its use to your abdomen alone. The panel can be adjusted to treat the back of the waist and eliminate the dreaded muffin top.
Currently, it is likely that Vanquish can target the back of the bra line and outer thighs. Future developments in the applicator technology make it likely that the treatment of the arms and inner thighs isn’t far away.
What Does It Feel Like?
The treatment has been described as feeling similar to having a heating pad placed on the area of treatment. Vanquish is not a painful way of removing unwanted fat cells, and your comfort level is constantly monitored during treatment.
How to Prepare for Treatment
First and foremost, any metal jewelry you have in the treatment area must be removed. You should make it a point to drink a lot of water and stay hydrated for at least two days before your treatment. You should continue to drink appropriate amounts of water on the day of treatment as well as the day afterward.
Hydration may not seem like much, but it’s extremely important to be able to undergo any treatment or procedure. With Vanquish ME, water helps to hydrate the skin and makes it easier for the radiofrequency energy to travel easily through that layer and target your fat more effectively.
How Many Vanquish Treatments are Needed?
Since Vanquish ME delivers continuous energy evenly to a large area of your body, your sessions will be significantly shorter than with other options. Additionally, you will probably need fewer treatments to reach your body contouring goals. Generally, the recommended number of treatments is four to six sessions, once a week, for four to six weeks.
Keep in mind that individual results may vary, and not everyone requires the same amount of fat removal to meet their aesthetic goals. Some individuals will require more treatments than others to achieve the results they want. However, regardless of the number of sessions, the time for an individual session remains relatively constant at between 30 to 45 minutes.
After Treatment
Once your treatment session is complete, the skin in the area will be warm to the touch. The core of fat will reach a temperature of about 120 degrees while the skin on the surface will reach a temperature of about 100 degrees. Remember that your normal body temperature is more than 98 degrees already, so these temperatures are nothing to be afraid of. The only thing that will be harmed are the fat cells you’re trying to kill! Your skin will remain warm and slightly pink for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours following treatment.
How Long Does It Take to See Results?
Clinical studies indicate that most patients begin to see a marked improvement in the target area about two weeks after their fourth treatment. There are a few reasons why it takes a few weeks for your results to begin to be noticeable.
The first is that the treatment doesn’t kill off all the fat in the target area right away. More than one treatment is necessary to reduce fat while keeping you comfortable. The second reason is that it takes time for the body to eliminate the dead fat cells. Removal doesn’t all occur right away. Finally, it takes time simply because the results occur gradually and are harder to notice until a significant amount of fat has been removed.
What Happens to Fat Cells After Treatment?
The fat cells deep within the layers of your skin that undergo apoptosis are broken down by the body’s scavenger cells, filtered through the lymphatic system, metabolized by the liver, and eliminated from the body through urine.
Are There Any Side Effects?
Vanquish is a safe treatment for deep tissue and has been proven in both animal and human studies, and there are very few side effects. During treatment, a patient’s skin may warm and cause light perspiration that can attract heat, leading to a sensation of increased warmth.
Can It Hurt Internal Organs?
There are built-in safety measures to ensure your comfort and protect your health during treatment. The high-frequency nature of the device preferentially targets fat, leaving the skin, sweat glands, hair follicles, muscle, and internal organs unaffected. Clinical studies have been conducted to prove the safety and efficacy of the device. It will not harm your internal organs or other tissues.
Is Fat Loss Permanent?
Post-treatment fat loss using Vanquish ME is permanent. The treatment causes apoptosis–the death of the fat cells–and permanently eliminates them. However, it’s important to understand that the treatment is designed to help remove fat and aid in body contouring. Vanquish ME is not a treatment that prohibits your body from accumulating and storing fat in a natural way.
What this means is that the treatment is a way to rid your body of existing unwanted fat, not to keep your body from storing fat in the future. That’s why the treatment gets the best, longest-lasting results when it’s used in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle. It’s extremely important that you maintain good habits post-treatment to ensure the unwanted fat doesn’t return.
What Happens If You Gain Weight Later?
If you engage in activities that result in weight gain following treatment, the fat may return to the areas treated by Vanquish or it may appear in greater quantities in untreated areas.
If you’re unsure about how to maintain your newly contoured physique post-treatment, speak with your doctor. They can provide valuable suggestions on how to maintain an ongoing healthy, consistent body weight for years to come. If you need additional help, they may be able to refer you to a dietician or nutritionist to work with you.
Is It Right for You?
Non-invasive body contouring treatments are becoming increasingly available thanks to advances in technology. The relative ease of treatment and recovery, as well as the clinically proven effectiveness of the treatments, have led many to pursue non-invasive treatments as opposed to traditional surgical body contouring options.
If you think that body contouring with Vanquish ME will help you meet your goals, call Aurora Innovative Healthcare Center for Women in San Antonio, TX today. The body you want is within reach.