Whenever my friends and I get together, one topic that comes up everytime (apart from food) would be fitness. Most of my girlfriends are very much into fitness and some of them are dedicated runners (I’m looking at you, Eve and Umei). While I’m not too bad at managing my diet (paleo at home, eating carefully during food reviews), I’m not that most hardworking person when I come to my fitness. Granted, my gigs are keeping me fairly active especially now we incorporate small dance routines into our songs, but during off days… well let’s just say I could do a lot better.

Which is why I still have a slight bulge on my upper and lower abdomen despite eating healthy, and this is when a little extra push could be helpful, and I was grateful to be introduced to Nadine from Solta Medical who suggested Liposonix treatment for me.

Yes, I know that I could just workout a little more without relying on technology, but my curiosity got the better of me. So I read up a bit more about this treatment and asked a few questions before I decided to go ahead with it.

What is Liposonix, you may ask. Well it’s a non-surgical treatment that is developed for people who lead a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising, but still have “an inch to pinch” around their waist. It’s non-invasive and scientifically proven to get rid of the stubborn fat. The treatment is only one hour long (plus or minus), one-off, and leaves no down time; and it’s only allowed to be administered by a Medical Practitioner, which is reassuring for me.

Liposonix penetrates and destroys the fat found beneath the skin, using advanced high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) technology to create a focal zone of heating, resulting in a dual tissue response: thermal destruction of targeted fat cells and contraction/thickening of subcutaneous collagen. A unique pattern delivery system within the treatment head delivers the energy in a controlled, consistent manner. Targeted fat cells are permanently destroyed without harming the skin, and the body naturally processes and removes the fat tissue over a period of 8 to 12 weeks.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, it’s certainly not a cheap treatment, and it’s not entirely pain free, depending on your tolerance. But let me share with you my experience during the treatment and you be the judge.

I went to Dr Alice Premitha Michael at Ageless Medispa, Bangsar for my appointment. Dr Alice wears many impressive hats with more than 10 years of experience devoted to aesthetics and cosmetic surgery on top of her training in Family Medicine, O& G and Dermatology. Apart from day to day consultations and procedures, she also has a healthy cooking show. When I grow up I want to be like her too. *wink*

Anyway, the day wasn’t very smooth sailing as Dr Alice was busy in the Operating Theatre when I arrived at the Clinic. So we diverted to Bangsar Shopping Centre for a meal while we waited. When we returned, I was instructed by the nurse to change into the gown and take a ‘before’ measuring and photo. I was also given a Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (pain medication). So…. ready to see my flab? This would be the most I’ve shown on this blog so far!

To be honest I was a little nervous as I was worried about the pain. But talking to Dr Alice relaxed me a little as she’s friendly and humourous, a important factor for good rapport. By looking, Dr Alice decided my muffin top does not have enough fat to be treated (silent Hooray in my heart) but she will go ahead treating my upper and lower abdomen. What’s left to do next is to mark my treatment areas and prep the machine for treatment.

To put it as simple as possible, each pass of the treatment deliver maximum heat intensity of 60 Joules/cm2 and usually the doctor will start from 45. A total of 140-180 pass (Joules/cm2) is administered to each marked section so that means at least 3-4 passes at the same spot. Some with lower tolerance may have to go down to 30, but I felt fine at 45 except for the spots closer to my ribs and pelvic bone.

Each time the heat is administered, the area has to be sprayed with water for better conduction and to distract the patient (me), an assistant nurse gathered the “flab” around with a bit of force. During the treatment of the milder area, I felt some ticklish session with a little of heat. And the areas near my bones were a little less bearable towards the end as I could really feel my fat ‘burning’. For the area with thicker fat, Dr Alice did the stacking technique where she did 2 passes at one go so that gets a little hot as well. But at Dr Alice said, it’s good to feel something so that we remember the treatment! After a little more than one hour, all my 18 squares were done and I was able to get up straightaway to change.

It’s now been 2 weeks after my treatment. Straight after the session I had some tenderness on my abdomen and over the next few days I developed quite impressive bruising at couple of spots. I was warned beforehand that if I generally bruise easily so I should be expecting bruising. So nothing alarming there.

There are a few more weeks to wait for the result. I haven’t changed my diet and still keep myself relatively active, though I’m still allergic to the gym. It might be psychological but I do feel that I’m starting to lose a bit of the fat and I’m looking forward to next month for the review check up!

For more information on Liposonix, check out their website http://www.liposonix.com/. You can also check out the list of medical centres that are licensed to perform this procedure. I will definitely recommend Dr Alice, and her details are as follow:

Dr Alice Prethima Michael
Ageless Medispa
257 Jalan Maarof, Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
https://www.facebook.com/Dr.AliceTotalWellnessCenter
http://www.aliceantiaging.com/