Misty Shores’ regular morning routine always went something like this: get out of bed, slightly stretch, and then reach down with both hands to pinch and examine her belly roll. “I’m not sure how this happened,” says Shores, a woman in her forties, “but I suspect [my belly fat] has something to do with my advancing age and the fact that my job keeps me chained to a desk for 10 hours a day.”
Her stomach fat was consuming her thoughts so much, that Shores would spend time at work researching different ways to get rid of it. “I thought liposuction was too invasive, and I’d tried another noninvasive option before, and while it did work a little, it was not nearly as easy breezy as they made it sound,” says Shores.
SculpSure® treatments were another option that Shores found online, and after learning that it would cost approximately $1,500 to get her abdomen treated, she spent the rest of the afternoon “contemplating if I should just pull the trigger [and get the treatment] or spend the money on buying bigger pants.” It wasn’t until a day or so later, when she bumped into her “6’2”, perfectly-chiseled, stunningly beautiful ex-boyfriend” at a spinning class that she decided to get the SculpSure treatment.
The SculpSure treatment is different than other body contouring treatments on the market. This FDA-cleared, advanced, non-invasive laser body contouring treatment, SculpSure treatments helps patients achieve a natural-looking, slimmer appearance on multiple parts of their body, including the abdomen, love handles, inner and outer thighs, the back and under the chin. Shores’ SculpSure treatment was performed by New York City plastic surgeon, Lawrence Bass, MD. “The SculpSure treatment is patient-pleasing and provides reliable contour reduction in a rapid, flexible treatment without taking patients out of their regular routine,” says Dr. Bass.
There is essentially no downtime with SculpSure treatments, and here’s why—the treatment uses targeted laser energy to heat fat cells under the skin without affecting the skin’s surface, raising the temperature of the fat cells, and therefore damaging their structural integrity. Over the next three months, those damaged fat cells are processed and eliminated by the body’s lymphatic system, and patients may see results as quickly as six weeks after their treatment (although optimal results are typically seen at 12 weeks).
Shores described her treatment as a scene from the movie Alien. Dr. Bass “attached a belt with four rectangular plastic cutouts across my stomach and pulled it tight enough that the bulge was popping through the center,” explains Shores. Then, “he attached four applicators [to the frames and belts], which are attached to four long hoses.” When the treatment begins, you immediately feel a burst of cooling, but then you start to feel peaks of deep warmth followed by cooling. For 25 minutes, the treatment goes through cycles of cooling and deep warming sensations, but it is tolerable. “I ended up answering emails on my phone and texting pictures of me hooked up to this contraption to the girls at work, and before I knew it, it was over,” she recalls.
Shores says that she felt no pain afterwards, and that there were no red marks or swelling on her abdomen, either. “The only visible traces were a few marks where the frames were, similar to the lines left on my belly from the too tight waistband on my pants, just not as bad,” she says. A few days after the treatment, though, Shores felt a little tender to the touch in the treatment area, but no visible discoloration or marking of any kind.
It wasn’t until the fifth week after her treatment that Shores began to see major results in her stomach. After performing her regular morning ritual of getting up, stretching, and grabbing her roll, she realized how much smaller it felt. “My side-to-side jelly belly roll had shrunk down to a small donut that surrounded my belly button,” she said. Shores couldn’t believe that it hadn’t even been six weeks yet. “I was overjoyed. Well, as overjoyed as I could have been before having coffee but overjoyed nonetheless.”
Patient and physician were compensated for their product endorsements. Cynosure and SculpSure are registered trademarks of Cynosure, Inc.
