Introduction

Dermal Fillers have become incredibly popular, with over 2.6 million people having received them in 2018 (the number is very likely much higher today). With that has come the inevitable rise in vascular occlusions caused by intravascular injection. Most aesthetic injections are performed with hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers, which are reversible with hyaluronidase. Accordingly, there has been a surge of interest in and use of ultrasound for the diagnosis and treatment of vascular occlusions, as well as for vascular mapping prior to injection. As a radiologist turned aesthetic injector, I have been following this trend very closely. My background: I am board-certified with 16 years experience in diagnostic ultrasound and ultrasound-guided procedures. After 7 years in aesthetics, I am finally able to apply some of my imaging expertise to my current practice.

There are currently 4 portable hand-held ultrasound systems available on the market at a relatively low cost ($2500 to $6900) considering the historical cost of standard units in the past (a GE or Philips system when I was a resident in the 90’s could run well over $300K). In this review I’ll explain the main features, advantages and drawbacks of the following devices:

• GE V-Scan Air
• Clarius (L-15HD and L HD L-20)
• Philips Lumify (L-12-4)
• Butterfly

The main criteria for this review are critical features needed to diagnose and treat vascular occlusion caused by hyaluronic acid filler in addition to vascular assessment prior to and during dermal filler injections. The use of these devices for other purposes is mentioned but is not the priority of my recommendations.
Critical features for ultrasound use in aesthetics: (I consider the following features a must-have)

• High-quality diagnostic images
• Color doppler to evaluate vessels
• Long duration of imaging time: potential for treatment of occlusions to take many hours
• Ease of use

Clarius

Design

The first hand-held device I evaluated was the Clarius. Clarius offers two US probes at this time– either of which could be used in aesthetics. The L-HD15 (up to 15 MHz) had a standard footprint and the HD L-20 (higher resolution up to 20MHz) has a slim footprint (similar to a hockey-stick). The first thing that stood out about the Clarius is that it feels like holding a brick. This thing is BIG and HEAVY. If you were operating this device for any length of time your hand and arm would fatigue quickly. The device itself is very large for an US probe. Though the L-20 has a slim footprint, the probe itself is the same huge size as the HD-15. Why is that odd? The slim footprint that the high-res hockey sticks are designed with have a very small handpiece so as to not get in the way of needle procedures or the patient’s anatomy. They are great for getting into small areas where things are in the way– say the nasolabial fold near the nose. The Clarius handpiece is missing this important feature.

Image Quality and Doppler

Image quality of both devices is excellent. Do you need the higher resolution of the 20MHz? In my opinion no. There is no added diagnostic value. Unless you are specifically looking for that smaller footprint, there would be no advantage. And having done more US-guided procedures than I could possibly count, the larger issue is that enormous handpiece. As with all 4 of these devices, the Clarius offers high-quality color doppler for evaluating flow. For an extra $1000 you can also get power doppler– but this really provides no benefit over standard color doppler and in my opinion is not necessary for aesthetics.

Battery Life and recharging

Battery life with the Clarius is about 60 minutes with 90 minutes to recharge. Importantly– the battery is detachable (this is actually part of the reason the probe is so bulky and heavy). This is critical if you have to scan for any length of time– especially for occlusions. With the Clarius, you can have a backup battery ready for when your probe conks out. Since lysing an occlusion can take hours– and there have been reports of cases lasting over 24 hours, albeit without ultrasound assistance– one vital feature is having a probe that will go the distance. With a recharge time of 150% of the battery life, you might run out of battery anyway if you only have 1 back up. But you can always have 2!

Ease of Use

The software design for the Clarius is intuitive and simple to use. The device is wireless, and communicates via bluetooth to any phone or tablet. The handpiece itself is limited by its bulk and weight– twice the weight of a standard ultrasound probe like the GE and 4 times the weight of the Philips Lumify. Unless you’re a football player, this will be a major limiting factor for any physician actively using this in practice.

GE Vscan Air

Design

There is a lot to love about the GE Vscan Air. It has a unique design, built with a Linear transducer at one end and a curved array at the other end, all within a single cordless device that weighs the same as any regular ultrasound probe. This makes it ideal to use for many practices with a wide range of diagnostic ability for almost any body part. For an aesthetics-only practice, however, the curved array is completely unnecessary. For a radiologist like me, it is almost irresistible! I scanned my whole abdomen, just for fun! But really– you won’t use that feature for aesthetics.

Image Quality and Doppler

At 12 MHz, the resolution is slightly lower than the Clarius. To my eye, the images were slightly fuzzier, but the diagnostic quality was excellent. Color Doppler on the GE is excellent as well. There is no power doppler, pulsed wave or even M mode at this time, but again, these are features not needed for aesthetics.

Battery Life and Recharging

According to GE, the Vscan Air battery lasts 50 minutes– but in my hands this was closer to 40 minutes. Recharging is wireless and recharge time is 60 minutes. The battery is built-in, so you can’t have a back-up battery. This is where the GE falls short for aesthetics: for treating occlusions, you must have a method of imaging over longer periods of time than 40-50 minutes. So, unless you have a second probe, you’re out of luck.

Ease of Use

The GE has a huge leg up on the Clarius for ease of scanning. The probe feels great in the hand and at half the weight, it shouldn’t tire you out (if only the battery could last that long). The software for the GE is the least intuitive of the bunch, but it is adequate. It can be used with any phone or tablet, so it is very versatile. However, I had to pair the device every time I used it, even on the same tablet. I’m not sure why this would be necessary, and I found it to be annoying and introduced a delay each time I used it. So, as much as it was absolutely delightful to scan with the GE, they have some work to do on the interface to make it more seamless.

Philips Lumify

Philips makes 3 Lumify probes for different uses. I evaluated the L 12-4 which goes up to 12MHz, like the GE. They also make separate curved array and linear phased array for other applications, each probe for the same price. The Lumify has a very different design– it is corded and runs off the power of the device it is attached to. Thus it has no battery. At first I thought that this would be a drawback but it turned out to be an advantage.

Design

The Lumify is amazingly lightweight (since it has no battery)– at less than a quarter pound it is half the weight of the GE and feels comfortable and nimble in the hand. It is also a slightly smaller footprint than the GE or Clarius L HD-15 making it very easy to use on the face. Though it does have a cord, I found it not to be a problem while scanning. Perhaps this is because I am used to having a cord that is present on all of the major systems I’ve ever used. Regardless, I don’t think this is a detriment to scanning.

Image Quality and Doppler

The Philips has excellent image quality. Despite having a frequency identical to the GE, I found the images to be crisper– not significantly different from the Clarius. The color doppler was excellent and easy to adjust. It happens that a patient walked in my office with a full-on occlusion (from filler placed elsewhere!) and we were able to evaluate her blood flow with ease with the Lumify. It was this experience that cemented my belief that the higher frequency of the Clarius does not help diagnosis or treatment of vascular occlusions.

Battery Life and Recharging

The Lumify is powered by the device to which it is attached. Philips recommends a Samsung tablet, which puts out plenty of power and will last over 6 hours on a single charge with continuous use. This is a tremendous advantage over the rechargeable probes. You can always plug the Lumify into a different tablet if you actually needed to use it that long. The disadvantage is that the longevity will depend on what device you’re using. Android tablets are all different and Philips does not supply data on how long each different device would last. And apple devices do not put out enough power to run it at all. The Lumify will work with an iOs device– but you’ll need a battery pack to go along with it– which itself has its own battery life. The Lumify battery pack for the apple devices lasts 2 ½ hours and has a recharge time of 3 hours, and of course you can have a backup battery as well. Either way, the Lumify is the winner hands-down as far as battery life.

Ease of Use

The Lumify was by far the easiest of the handhelds to use. The app launches automatically and is completely intuitive. The demo didn’t come with any instructions, but none were needed. I was up and running in seconds. With the lightweight maneuverable handpiece and easy interface, the Lumify felt like a natural extension of my hand.

Butterfly

The Butterfly is all over social media marketing directly to the consumer. This device is a completely different technology that uses an array of sensors on a chip rather than true piezoelectric crystals that traditional ultrasound devices use to produce the images. With one handpiece, they are able to reproduce the equivalent of the linear and curved array probes. The result is a very versatile device with relatively low-resolution images. I’m including it in this discussion because of its ubiquitous presence and its availability as a portable low-cost ultrasound imaging system. However, I find the images lack the diagnostic quality one needs for superficial, soft tissue and vascular imaging. Its size and weight are comparable to the GE. It is corded, but unlike the Lumify, it runs off of an internal battery, like the GE. The battery life is 120 minutes with a 300 minute recharge time. So it will scan for longer, but there is no backup battery.

Butterfly does not require a membership to function, but many features including image storage are turned off without one. The membership currently ranges from $200 to $1200 per year, so this cost offsets the cheaper price of $2500.

Because the images are moderate to poor, the Butterfly is not well-suited to aesthetics applications. However, it can easily be used in a pinch if one is available. And if all you want is to invest the least amount of money to have an ultrasound only for emergency occlusions, you could consider it. But if you use it and learn about ultrasound imaging at all, over time you’ll wish you had bought a better device.

Summary

I highly recommend the Philips Lumify for use in aesthetics. For ease of use, high-quality images and the ability to scan for hours, this light elegantly-designed hand piece is the ideal solution for imaging in the aesthetic setting. Because of the heavy bulky design, the Clarius is not recommended, but otherwise is a reasonable solution for image quality and a replaceable battery. The GE is beautifully designed, but its low battery life and no energy back-up option makes it unsuited to treat vascular occlusions. The Butterfly will do in a pinch if the family practice down the hall has one to spare, but it is not recommended for aesthetics.

What is cellulite?

Cellulite is mostly seen around the thighs but can happen elsewhere in the body. It consists of fatty areas that have dimpling of the skin surface. The result is a wavy, dimpled fatty appearance. The dimples happen because the fat around the thighs is permeated with fibrous bands of connective tissue, like a honeycomb. The thighs have this structure that is very different from other parts of your body, like your belly. Imagine the belly fat as a tub of butter. You could take a spoon and scoop it all out. Now imagine that the thigh fat is like a honeycomb with fat in each little pocket. If you tried to scoop that out, you wouldn’t get much– you would be blocked by a band of tissue. Now imagine you add butter to each space. The belly just expands and fills up. But the thighs– those fibrous bands are attached to the skin. As you add fat, the skin bulges out but the attachments to the skin are tugged in, resulting in a dimple. This is why cellulite looks like it does.

Treatments for Cellulite

Thigh creams: no matter what is in a cream, there is no way it is going to penetrate through your skin and release those bands or kill fat. Save your money.

Shock wave: there are several devices that send shock waves into the tissue in attempt to loosen the bands. We have one of them at Glow called Cellutone. We use this device for a very different purpose (breaking up fat that has been treated with Vanquish ME to help it resolve faster and prevent tender lumps as it goes away). Experiments using shock wave to loosen and smooth out cellulite can show minimal temporary improvement, but this is short lived and not enough to throw money at it. There are many devices out there that purport to do this– don’t waste your money.

Cellfina: This is a semi-invasive procedure that uses a device to target individual dimples in the skin and the physician slices through the band through the skin surface. Cellfina can really produce some nice results. But they are temporary. Why? If you are going in there and literally cutting the band, why would the results be temporary? Because (unfortunately) the bands re-tether over time. That’s right– your body rebuilds those bands as it heals. The dimples return. Plus it is fairly invasive and expensive. This procedure was exciting when it first came out, but you’ll find few places offering it now. Not worth the money!

Surgery and liposuction: Believe it or not, surgery doesn’t work any better than Cellfina for the same reasons. If you take a scalpel and slice through one of those cellulite bands– it just re-tethers! As a matter of fact, those fibrous bands are really difficult to deal with during liposuction as well. Let’s go back to that tub of butter. With liposuction, you are using a vacuum to suck out the fat. The belly (and some other areas) are ideal for this, and results can be beautiful. But the thighs– they bump into those bands and can’t get through them– or lyse through some but not others. The results of liposuction on the thighs are often weirdly lumpy and wavy. The bands make it so that you have to cut into each tiny pocket of fat to vacuum it out– and this is really challenging.

Injectables: There is a new injectable medication called Qwo that is being sold for cellulite. There have only been 2 studies of Qwo with only a few patients in each. They showed a 6% and 9% significant improvement that both patient and doctor could agree upon. They showed a 50% minimal improvement that either the doctor or patient felt was present, but the other disagreed. The 1 year follow-up showed a 34% persistence of correction. Meanwhile the treatment causes massive bruising. By massive, these are the worst images of bruising I have ever seen. Long term with that much bruising, the body is often left with hemosiderin deposits that can permanently stain the skin.

Qwo is new, but my prediction– it will come and go. 

Body Sculpting– what can we really do for Cellulite? 

We have 3 big things we CAN do with our machines. We can kill fat, we can build muscle and we can tighten skin. We cannot lyse those bands! At least not very effectively with long-lasting results, and that is what I’m looking for. Our treatment for thighs can result in a significant improvement in the appearance of fat and cellulite. If you reduce the fat and build muscle, the cellulite will look better since there is less fat bulging out, thus less tugging in of the skin. We do have a protocol for thighs using primarily Emsculpt Neo, but occasionally adding other fat dissolving and skin-tightening treatments. The thighs are large areas, and have 4 muscle groups (the Quads in front, buttocks and hamstrings in back, and the adductors on the inner thigh and abductors on the outer thighs). That’s a lot of treatments. It is definitely not a one-and-done magical cellulite vanishing cream. I wish I could invent that! Here is an example where we really felt our thigh treatments made a big difference:

In summary, Cellulite is one of the most challenging issues we try to address in aesthetic medicine. The fibrous bands that cause the dimpling appearance are really strong, resistant to any kind of treatment and have a very strong tendency to recur. The best treatments focus on the realistic goals of reducing fat, toning muscle and improving skin.

What Is Voluma Used for? 

The Juvederm collection comprises five unique dermal fillers. One of the most popular Juvederm fillers is Voluma, designed to restore volume to the cheeks. When injected into strategic points in the midface, hollowness is eliminated. You will look years younger and much healthier.

Augmenting hollow cheeks provides the added benefit of recontouring the midface. Your cheekbones will look more pronounced, and your self-confidence will increase. Furthermore, this injectable supports adequate skin hydration and collagen production. This results in the tightening of loose skin. Additionally, you can expect to look younger around the lower eyes. Furthermore, this injectable can be administered into the chin, enhancing your profile drastically.

Enhancing the Cheeks

With age comes a significant decrease in your skin’s ability to produce hyaluronic acid, an essential polysaccharide. This polysaccharide is responsible for keeping your skin hydrated, youthful, and volumized.

Voluma is an injectable dermal filler featuring the active ingredient hyaluronic acid. In other words, this filler delivers exactly what your skin needs to retain moisture and stay healthy and volumized. After just a few strategically placed injections, youthful, healthy plumpness will be restored in your midface. Additionally, your skin will be tighter and smoother than it has been in years.

How Does This Dermal Filler Work?

As noted above, the primary ingredient in this dermal filler is hyaluronic acid. Even though the hyaluronic acid in the filler is a synthetic version of the polysaccharide produced by your body, it is bioidentical. In other words, your body can’t tell the difference between the synthetic chemical compound and the natural version of the chemical compound.

Remember, hyaluronic acid is responsible for keeping your skin hydrated, tight, smooth, volumized, and youthful. This is accomplished because the polysaccharide attracts up to 1,000 times its molecular weight in water weight. This is an astonishing amount of water. Once the water in the treatment area has been attracted, it binds to the hyaluronic acid. It will remain in the treatment area for years.  

How Quickly Do the Results Become Apparent? 

The results of this treatment are immediately apparent. The volume in the treatment area is increased as soon as the dermal filler is administered. You can walk out of our office with confidence knowing that your cheeks are more rounded, your skin is tighter and you look young and healthy.

How Long Do the Results of This Filler Last? 

As noted above, your results will last for years. The longevity of the results varies from person to person, but most people can expect to enjoy ideal results for 24 months. After two years, very fine wrinkles may start to appear above the cheekbones.

You may notice very slight sagging, or you may notice a bit of hollowness. That said, it may be several months after you notice your results starting to fade before you feel the need for a maintenance session. Notably, for the longest-lasting results, you must remain hydrated and eat collagen-rich foods. Collagen loss is another common cause of skin texture and volume concerns.

How Long Will My Profile Be Improved? 

If you receive Juvederm injections to improve the contours of your chin, you can expect ideal results to remain for approximately one year. Note, you can extend the longevity of your results by remaining hydrated and eating collagen-rich foods. Other great things you can do to extend the longevity of your results include wearing sunscreen regularly and not smoking. Both UV rays and nicotine weaken collagen, an essential volumizing protein.

Do I Qualify for This Treatment? 

You will most likely qualify for this non-invasive anti-aging treatment if you are concerned about volume loss in your midface. That said, it is important to come in for an initial consultation so we can evaluate your problem areas and create a treatment plan that will address all of your concerns. Additionally, we need to ensure you are not on any medications that may preclude you from this treatment.  

Note, it is important to be completely honest with us about your medical history and all of the drugs and supplements you are taking. Certain medications are contraindications for treatment. For example, you shouldn’t receive this treatment if you have taken a blood thinner in the three days leading up to your scheduled appointment. If your doctor says you can stop taking NSAIDs or other blood thinners for a few days, you can still receive this treatment safely.

Discover How To Volumize Your Cheeks Today

Juvederm Voluma will help you reverse the signs of aging temporarily by augmenting the cheeks, recontouring the midface, and lifting sagging skin. It can also be used to erase wrinkles around the lower eyes and improve the contours of the r more information on this incredible injectable, contact our experts today at Glow Medispa in Seattle, WA to book an appointment. 

If they are all getting Emsculpt on Bling Empire, it must be great, right? Body Sculpting has become very popular, and what’s a better indication of trendiness than appearing on reality TV? But what about the science? Should you believe the hype? [Aside: If you haven’t seen it, Bling Empire is a reality TV version of Crazy Rich Asians. Totally ridiculous but quite entertaining.]

Now that we have some experience with the Emsculpt Neo, we can talk about how it is different from other devices and from the original Emsculpt, and how results differ too. We’ve had to field lots of questions and can tell you definitively that the Neo, with its combination of HIFEM muscle stimulation and RF heating is a huge advance, placing it far ahead of any other device in the body sculpting world.

The original Emsculpt uses High Frequency Electro-Magnetic (HIFEM) muscular stimulation to cause massively strong contractions – called supramaximal because they are stronger than the muscle contracts in any normal physiologic condition. Emsculpt delivers over 20,000 of these supramaximal contractions in 30 minutes. No amount of cross-fit can equal that. The Emsculpt studies showed that HIFEM alone can produce on average a 16% increase in muscle and a 19% decrease in fat with 4 sessions.

Radiofrequency (RF) is a great tool to heat and melt fat. At Glow, we have many years experience with Vanquish ME and Exilis Ultra, both of which use RF. We have used these devices in combination with Emsculpt to get the best results. RF works by heating the fat cells causing damage and ultimately cell death. Emsculpt Neo has RF built in to the paddles, deploying both HIFEM and RF simultaneously. The question I had when first looking at the Neo is how does it improve results over using these technologies separately? Is there a benefit from simultaneous treatment? Will we still need those RF devices? The answer is yes and yes, as it turns out. Here’s what we have found.

The addition of RF heating improves the yield for both muscle and fat. It was not surprising that RF improves the fat loss— RF has a strong record killing fat. It turns out that warmer muscles are stronger and provide more effective contractions. This increases the yield on muscle as well. The official studies of the Emsculpt Neo show a 25% increase in muscle and a 30% decrease in fat, a marked improvement over HIFEM alone. We have seen this borne out in real life experience.

How do the other machines fit in? As always every body is different, and treatments have to be designed around each individual. Emsculpt Neo has paddles that are focused in one area about the size of the center belly fat. We use Vanquish ME because it can reach all the way from one love handle to the other, and it can also treat both the inner and outer thigh at the same time. We have found that for those areas, combining Emsculpt Neo with Vanquish ME gives us the absolute best results. Exilis Ultra can be used in many different areas that the other devices can’t reach, and it also tightens skin. So for some bodies, these devices are very helpful in achieving the desired results.

We are adding the latest before and after images to our gallery on the website here. We have found a very high patient satisfaction with our suite of body sculpting treatments, in which the Emsculpt Neo has now taken center stage. Feel free to contact us with any questions.

How Long Does Hair Removal Take?

Professional hair removal treatments are very effective, and this process will take a short amount of time to finish. You will usually be able to see positive changes in the growth of your unwanted hair after you receive a single hair removal session. However, you will be able to enjoy much more significant results if you get a series of professional treatments. In general, we will advise you to attend six to eight appointments at our office in Seattle.

During each of your sessions, we will use our laser to send energy into hairs that are actively growing on your face, legs, or other treatment areas. Your individual hairs will grow at different times. As a result, we will be able to treat more of your hair follicles if we wait seven to eight weeks between each of your sessions. In general, it will take several months to complete your appointments.

How Will This Laser Treatment Improve My Unwanted Hair?

Each of your hairs goes through a growth cycle that takes several weeks to complete. When a hair enters the anagen part of this cycle, it will be actively growing. During your first professional treatment, we will use a special type of light energy to target the dark pigmentation in the hair follicles that are in this phase. This energy will improve your appearance by destroying these hair follicles.

After your initial appointment is complete, these hairs will leave the anagen phase, and new hairs will enter this part of your growth cycle. During your next appointment, we will achieve more significant improvements by targeting new hairs in your target area. Over the next several months, we will continue to use our laser energy to destroy more of your hair follicles, and your unwanted hair will decrease.

What Rules Will I Need To Follow While I Am Receiving Laser Treatments?

You won’t need to change your work schedule or make other significant adjustments to your life while you are using laser treatments to address your unwanted hair. However, you will be required to temporarily avoid waxing and tweezing your target area. We will give you more details about this requirement after you schedule your first treatment.

Why Should I Use This Laser Treatment To Address My Unwanted Hair?

When you shave, wax, or tweeze, you will eliminate your individual hair shafts without achieving permanent changes in the growth of your unwanted hair. As a result, the benefits of your at-home removal methods won’t last for very long. For example, you will probably need to maintain hair-free skin by shaving several times a week. This activity can irritate your skin and cause you to develop uncomfortable rashes or cuts.

Shaving and other at-home treatments can also cause you to develop ingrown hairs and other skin problems. In contrast, we will use specialized techniques to protect your safety during your laser treatments. During each session, we will use precise amounts of gentle energy to reduce the growth of your hair. This technique will create more significant and lasting changes in the appearance of your target area.

Can I Use This Method To Remove Hair From Multiple Locations?

We can use this technique to decrease the amount of hair on your face, arms, neck, underarms, and chest. In addition, you can use laser energy to remove unwanted hair from your legs, back, and bikini area. Under some circumstances, we may be able to address different areas of hair during one treatment session. For example, we may be able to reduce the amount of hair on your face and legs.  

What Will Happen After My Initial Treatment Plan Is Complete?

These laser treatments provide long-lasting benefits, and you won’t be required to spend a large amount of time getting maintenance treatments. After you have completed your full series of laser treatments, you should experience a permanent change in the growth of your unwanted hair. At this point, the hair in your target area will look much thinner and lighter.

Sometimes, we will advise you to get a couple of touch-up sessions after several years have passed. These follow-up treatments will be very quick, and these additional sessions will allow you to maintain your hair-free, beautiful skin for many more years.

Treat Your Unwanted Hair

Receiving a series of hair removal sessions will reduce the amount of unwanted hair on your back, legs, arms, and many other locations. When the hair in these areas becomes finer and less visible, you will be able to spend less time waxing, shaving, or using other at-home methods to address this cosmetic challenge. To schedule your initial treatment, you should contact us at Glow Medispa in Seattle, WA.

Can You Combine Dermaplaning and Facials?

The answer is: absolutely. These two treatments work dynamically together to address a wide range of skin concerns, and combining them can save you an extra trip to our office.

The goal of dermaplaning, also known as epiblading, is to give your skin a smooth and radiant finish. It’s an extremely gentle and relaxing experience; we use a medical-grade blade to remove vellus hairs – more commonly known as peach fuzz – and dead cell buildup. Heralded for instantly refining skin texture, this treatment can also reduce the appearance of:

• Dull or uneven skin tone
• Sun damage
• Hyperpigmentation
• Fine lines
• Acne scars

The Way It Works

Your skin is designed to naturally exfoliate, and in line with this, the body creates a new top layer every 30 days or so. Old, dead skin cells are completely shed to keep the surface of your skin fresh and healthy.

The dead cells, however, sometimes remain on your facial surface longer than they should. This obscures new skin growth and gives your face a lackluster or textured appearance. Peach fuzz is particularly concerning; it creates patches or shadows on your face, interferes with the lay of your makeup, and prevents skincare products from working effectively.

A Helping Hand

Epiblading targets these issues by removing the barrier created by peach fuzz and dead skin cells. Skin not only looks and feels smoother, but it’s healthier as well. With a clean surface, tissues can breathe again and receive nourishment from the serums and moisturizers you apply.

Complementing Therapies

Epiblading can be a great precursor to other treatments, especially those that infuse the skin with hydration. A facial provides this level of attention in a very personalized and non-invasive way. In fact, incorporating a facial into your routine skincare can provide ongoing benefits like:

• Skin detoxification
• Improved blood circulation
• Deep cleansing to open pores
• Blackhead and whitehead removal
• Intense hydration

The Many Benefits

A facial improves your general appearance and provides reliably supple skin. It also reduces stress, which manifests first in the face. It’s commonly responsible for producing skin sagging, inflammation, and acne.

But the massage that comes with a facial can activate your sympathetic nervous system, uplift your mood, and reduce anxiety. Likewise, the natural aromas of the cleansers, towels, and exfoliants can relieve tension in your face and body to deliver the ultimate self-care experience.

Anti-Aging Properties

Because many components of a facial can be customized, they tend to deliver anti-aging benefits. Deep moisturizing, for instance, reduces inflammation and improves skin texture and luminosity. And by stimulating facial muscles, we also increase blood flow to regenerate new skin cells. These effects reveal themselves in pink, dewy cheeks and improved vibrancy throughout your face.

Correct Acne

Acne breakouts can occur at any age, as many adults often realize. From teen years to age 50 and over, clear skin can be difficult to attain and maintain. The key in treating acne is tackling its cause(s), which can usually be traced to clogged pores and hair follicles.

A facial is designed to remove impurities from pores. The extraction component, performed once your pores have been properly opened, allows us to manually remove the debris that accumulates. Even when you wash your face faithfully twice a day, pores can get clogged. A deep cleansing treatment that soothes and rebalances skin will clarify your complexion and restore your glow.

Send Under-Eye Bags Packing

The area under your eyes is notoriously difficult to treat. Tissues there are thin, fragile, and susceptible to damage. But a facial can target this difficult area to reduce inflammation and feed depleted skin with critical nutrients. In short, you can bid under-eye bags packing.

Multi-Faceted Results

We’ve discussed the benefits of these individual treatments, but we haven’t yet covered how they work together. Epiblading prepares your skin to better absorb the quenching, vitamin-rich cleansers, and moisturizers delivered during a facial. Essentially, pairing these treatments amplifies your results for longer-lasting benefits. You’ll look younger, fresher, and more rejuvenated.

The Treatments We Provide

Our office specializes in three facial treatments. Each employs slightly different techniques to target different concerns. For instance, our Glow Signature Medical Facial is customizable and includes extractions, a hydrating mask, and LED red light therapy so skin looks lit from within.

Our Customized Facial is tailored to meet your skin’s unique needs and includes a skin analysis to create the perfect treatment. And our Acne Skin Treatment reaches deep into pores to impart the flawless look you crave.

A Dynamic Duo

Choosing to pair epiblading with a facial can wipe the slate clean, so to speak, and improve your skin in a variety of ways. Benefits include reduced fine lines, a softer and smoother surface, and increased hydration. Try this dynamic duo for yourself; schedule your consultation today by calling Glow Medispa in Kirkland and Seattle, WA.

What can you do to Improve the Under Eye Area (Tear Troughs)?

The area under the eyes suffers a double-whammy when it comes to aging. This skin is the thinnest in the body, so as the dermis thins out, the first place you notice it is under the eyes. Often we notice in our 30’s and think “wow I look like I’m really tired.” On top of that, as we age we lose the little fat pads in our face that make us look so round and youthful as kids– and the first one to go is that fat pad under the eyes. The result can be an angled divot under the eye covered with wrinkly skin, long before the rest of the face shows signs of aging.

So what can you do about it? That’s the number one question that brings people into our office. After years of experience, we have put together the treatments that work best. Here I’m giving you the low-down on these common treatments:

Filler

For volume lost in this area, filling it back up with hyaluronic filler can be a dramatic improvement. When you see that depression or divot, not only do you see a hollow with a shadow across it, but the overlying skin has less volume to cover and thus looks more wrinkly. We use a cannula technique to gently fill the volume lost. The effect is immediate. There is always some swelling with fillers that lasts a few days, but less with this area than others.

PRFM (Platelet-Rich Fibrin Matrix)

Many people have heard of PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma). This is serum derived from your own blood, rich in growth factors. It has been used in orthopedics for decades, and we have been using it for facial rejuvenation and hair growth for about 6 years at Glow. PRFM is activated PRP, same growth factors but the platelets are activated with calcium. When injected, it forms a gel that concentrates the factors in one place. PRFM has been used to build up the natural tissues in the under eye area as well as elsewhere in the face. We use a similar cannula technique to place the PRFM in this area. Several treatments are needed, and the results happen over several months.

Laser Resurfacing

Fractional non-ablative lasers can resurface the skin to make it smoother. In addition, the laser heats up the skin, triggering it to make its own collagen. The laser also lifts pigment in the skin to help get rid of dark circles. Laser resurfacing can be a key part of treating the under-eye area because it is important to build collagen in the skin and smooth out the fine lines and wrinkles. Treating the volume loss alone is just half the battle. The laser treatments help address the skin itself.

Eye creams and serums

The skin under the eyes is special because it is so thin to start with and is in a very sensitive area. The skin here often needs more moisture than other skin in your body, and sometimes even develops pigment that isn’t present elsewhere. We offer several eye topicals that have different anti-aging ingredients. Adding eye creams to your regimen will provide antioxidants and ceramides to protect the skin and ingredients to plump the skin, trigger collagen and decrease dark circles.

What does Off-Label mean?

As with many aesthetic procedures, the use of filler and PRFM for the tear trough area is off-label. What does off-label mean? It means that the FDA has approved the product or treatment for some other indication. Then doctors develop new treatments with an FDA-approved product. For example– a certain filler is FDA-approved for placement in the cheeks and it is then used to fill hollows elsewhere in the face. Once these new treatments are developed and in use, rarely does the company that makes the product pay for studies to get official approval for an already FDA-approved product. Thus there are many products and procedures in use by doctors that are “Off-label.”

What is the best sequence of treatments for the under-eye area?

At Glow Medispa, we have been working on developing an under-eye package that includes all of these treatments. This new package includes a filler treatment, two PRFM and LaseMD Ultra treatments and our favorite eye serum from Sente. As with everything that we do, we customize treatments to meet the specific needs of each patient.

Think you might be a great candidate? Call us or come in for a consultation if you think you might be interested.

What Is Non-Surgical Body Contouring?

Non-surgical body contouring is a way to contour your body, shrink your measurements, and lose your stubborn fat all without undergoing the knife. These treatments provide a non-invasive solution for those who want to get rid of their stubborn fat but can’t reach their goals through diet and fitness efforts alone. At Glow Medispa, we offer three different effective treatments that will contour your body and help you reach all of your goals.

Vanquish ME

Vanquish ME is an FDA-approved, clinically proven treatment that utilizes touch-less radiofrequency technology to destroy fat cells.

How Does It Work?

Most noninvasive fat burning treatments require that the treatment device touch the patient’s body, however, Vanquish ME is the first treatment that uses touch-less technology to destroy fat. During the treatment, patients lie down and relax as radiofrequency waves target the treatment area, heat the fat cells, and destroy them.

When Will I See Results?

You will notice a change in the area treated within four to six weeks of treatment. Once the fat cells are destroyed through the radiofrequency waves, the body gradually removes them in the weeks following treatment.

Is Fat Loss Permanent?

Once targeted and destroyed, the fat cells in the treatment area die and will be permanently removed from the body. This treatment does not prevent the future development of fat cells caused by weight gain, but it will target and destroy the preexisting fat cells. Patients are responsible for maintaining their Vanquish ME results by following a healthy lifestyle that incorporates regular exercise and a healthy diet.

What Areas Does It Treat?

Vanquish ME can target, spot-treat, and remove fat cells from many areas of the body. These areas include but are not limited to the:

• Abdomen
• Belly fat
• Inner and outer thighs
• Flanks
• Love handles

EMSCULPT NEO

EMSCULPT NEO is another non-invasive body-contouring treatment that helps patients reach their body goals. EMSCULPT NEO does what other fat-burning treatments cannot. Not only can it destroy fat cells, but it can tone and build muscle simultaneously. This treatment utilizes radiofrequency waves to target and destroys fat cells, and it also uses a high-intensity electromagnetic field to eliminate fat.

How Does It Work?

The device uses radiofrequency waves to target the fat cells and heat them to a temperature that results in their ultimate destruction. Once the fat cells are heated, they die and the body removes them gradually over time. The device also uses HIFEM (high-intensity electromagnetic field) to stimulate the muscles and cause them to contract.

When you work out, your brain is responsible for your muscle contractions. This treatment creates a degree and strength of muscle contraction that the brain is not capable of doing itself. The result is a muscle-building phenomenon that comes without requiring that you lift a single dumbbell. A thirty-minute session will work your muscles in a way that an average workout is simply unable to.

What Areas Does It Treat?

This treatment is FDA-approved to treat stubborn fat in the abdomen, arms, calves, thighs, and buttocks.

What Kind of Results Can I Expect?

Most fat reduction treatments result in a 20% reduction of fat in the area treated, yet EMSCULPT NEO surpasses those results and provide patients with a 30% reduction of fat in the treatment area. Results begin to appear four weeks post-treatment. In regards to muscle building, this treatment can result in a 25% increase in muscle mass, which no other treatment has yet been able to accomplish.

How Many Treatments Will I Need?

The best results tend to appear on those who undergo four treatment sessions. However, during your initial consultation, we will discuss your concerns and help develop a treatment plan that is customized to your needs.

EMSCULPT

EMSCULPT is a similar body contouring treatment that targets stubborn fat through the use of high-intensity, electromagnetic technology. This treatment specifically targets and destroys fat cells while simultaneously toning and contouring the buttocks and abdomen. Not only does it destroy fat, but it increases muscle mass by forcing superficial muscle contractions and creating toned muscles.

Am I a Candidate for Non-Surgical Body Contouring?

If you are a healthy adult at or near your goal weight but struggle with areas of stubborn fat that are resistant to your diet and fitness efforts, you are most likely a candidate for one of these effective treatments. During an initial consultation, our experts will help determine which of these treatments is right for you.

Schedule Your Initial Consultation

Don’t let stubborn fat stand in the way of you and your goals. If your gym appointments aren’t getting you the results you’re looking for, make the appointment that will. Contact us today at Glow Medispa in Seattle, WA and schedule your initial body contouring consultation.

Can You Get Skin Tightening Without Surgery?

When you started researching ways to firm your sagging skin, you probably read about invasive techniques like brow lifts, facelifts, and eyelid procedures. If you have a demanding job and a busy social life, you might not be able to adjust your schedule and spend weeks recovering from these invasive tightening methods. In addition, you might be worried about getting general anesthesia or dealing with scars or infections.

A Non-Invasive Option

Fortunately, there’s no need to use these invasive techniques to firm your skin. Instead, you can use our specialized Exilis Ultra treatment to tighten your skin in a completely non-invasive way. This treatment uses a unique combination of ultrasound and radiofrequency energy to achieve this cosmetic goal.

Firming Your Skin

During this treatment, we will use an advanced device to carefully transmit radiofrequency and ultrasound energy into your dermal tissues. As the deeper layers of your skin absorb this energy, your tissues will gradually heat up. This heat will destroy some of the fat cells in your target area, and give you a slimmer appearance.

In addition, this heat will contract the collagen fibers in your skin and improve your body’s ability to form new collagen. Collagen is a type of protein that makes your skin strong and tight. Increasing the quality and quantity of your collagen fibers will cause your skin to become smoother and firmer.

Will I Have a Long Recovery Period After I Get This Tightening Treatment?

If you receive an invasive tightening procedure, you will need to spend a long time recovering from your incisions and anesthesia. In contrast, our Exilis Ultra treatment uses gentle, non-invasive energy to destroy unwanted fat cells and lift your skin. Since this energy can move through the surface of your skin without incisions, you don’t need to schedule any downtime after you get your tightening treatments.

How Many Tightening Treatments Will I Receive?

We will discuss your tightening plan when you have your first meeting at our office in Seattle. Typically, you will notice dramatic improvements in your skin’s texture and firmness after you get three tightening sessions. We will wait seven to 10 days between each of your skin tightening appointments.

The length of your Exilis Ultra sessions will depend on the size and condition of your target area. As you might expect, your treatment will take more time to complete if you are treating larger areas of skin. In general, we will likely need four to 30 minutes to improve each area on your skin.

What Will This Firming Treatment Feel Like?

Some minimally-invasive skin tightening methods use aggressive, harsh techniques to firm your skin. These treatments can be very uncomfortable, and you might have to use local anesthesia during your appointments.

Fortunately, receiving an Exilis Ultra treatment will be a very easy and comfortable process. In fact, this treatment feels very similar to a hot stone massage. Since this technique is so gentle, you won’t need to use lidocaine or other types of local anesthesia during your firming sessions.

Can I Combine This Technique With Other Non-Invasive Treatments?

If you would like to remove a large amount of fat during your treatments, you could combine Exilis Ultra with Vanquish ME treatments. Vanquish ME is a non-invasive body contouring technique that also uses radiofrequency energy to enhance your appearance. This treatment can be used on your flanks, stomach, thighs, and other places.

When you receive a Vanquish ME treatment, we will send radiofrequency waves into your unwanted fat cells. Unlike other body contouring treatments, this technique does not use uncomfortable pulses or suctioning energy to change your body. Instead, you can lie back and relax while we gently melt away some of your fat cells. After about four to six weeks, the circumference of your target area will be reduced and your body will look firmer and slimmer.

How Long Does This Tightening Treatment Take to Achieve Results?

If you use this technique to improve your sagging skin, you will notice improvements in your appearance within a short period of time. In general, your skin will begin to look tighter and firmer after you get your first treatment. As you receive more Exilis Ultra treatments, these changes will become more visible. You will probably see the final results of your tightening treatment after several months.

Achieve Beautiful Skin

If you have loose, sagging skin, you don’t have to receive an invasive procedure that requires general anesthesia and incisions. Instead of dealing with these inconveniences, you can quickly correct this issue by receiving Exilis Ultra treatments. If you are interested in learning more about this skin tightening treatment, contact us at Glow Medispa in Seattle, Washington to set up an initial meeting.

Who wants to do a Whole30 with me in January? Have you heard of Whole30? Would you like to start the new year with some great friends helping you to feel better both in your body and your mind? And maybe lose a few pounds along the way?

First– I’m doing this for myself and for anyone who joins me — no charges and this is not a gimmick. We are all coming out of one of the worst years in history and we could all use a huge boost to our mental and emotional health. I have been so grateful for my Glow family, and I am hoping to start anew with the people whom I care most about. If you’d like to join, there is no obligation, just a few like-minded people supporting each other.

 What is a Whole30?

It basically means 30 days of whole foods. This includes sources of protein (meat, fish, fowl, nuts) and lots of vegetables and some fruit. What’s off the list? The forbidden foods are grains (bread, cereal, and pasta), legumes (beans and peanuts), dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream) and… alcohol.

Why try a Whole30?

 Weight Loss

I first tried this a few years ago as a way of losing weight. If you read the Whole30 website, you’ll find that they stress that this is not a weight loss plan, and they encourage you not to step on the scale the whole time. However, after doing this 3 times in the past, I have always lost around 6-7 lbs each time. The HUGE reason I have gone back to it is because of the mental clarity that comes with it and the complete suppression of inflammation.

Mental Clarity

I could venture many ideas that might explain this. But I can attest– if you do this seriously, you will find within 2-3 weeks you have better mental clarity that you have had your entire adult life. At least, that’s what happened to me each time. The feeling is just amazing– better focus, creativity of ideas, clarity of thought– mental stamina. It is great to know that you can still have this in your 40’s, 50’s and beyond.

Suppress Inflammation

Most of what makes us ill– viruses like the common cold (or COVID-19), allergies, autoimmune diseases– you name it– the part that primarily makes you sick is inflammation. A lot of the typical American diet is filled with inflammatory foods. The biggest offender here is grains. If you have a common cold virus, your nose will be runnier if you eat cereal than if you have chicken soup. The amount of inflammation of any disease is promoted by some foods and thwarted by others. The Whole30 diet is designed to minimize inflammation of all kinds. If you have a chronic cough or congestion, pain or autoimmune disease, a Whole30 can be truly eye-opening.

Better sleep

There are some side effects. The best one is better sleep! I’ve had sleep issues my entire adult life (it first started in medical school and residency– where you are expected to function at all hours with no sleep). I’ve come to terms with it, and my sleep hygiene is great these days, but nothing compares to a good night of uninterrupted sleep on a Whole30.

Tools for the future

Once you do it and reap the benefits, it becomes a lot easier to adjust your habits to live a healthier life in the future. After your first Whole30, you’ll know so much more about what foods truly make you feel better. It doesn’t mean you have to change your whole lifestyle. It is just great information to help guide your choice in the right direction.

If you’re interested, please email me directly at kate@glowspaseattle.com. Let’s do something amazing in 2021!

-Kate Dee, MD