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Carol Ko, Staff Writer | August 16, 2013
From the August 2013 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
“Some companies when they ship it to you, you have to set it up on your own like a new cell phone where you take it out of the box and it works,” Pannell says. “We want to have a really safe device and err on the side of more safety by doing our own installation calibration and setup. And we have our clinicians doing the training.”
Body Sculpting
Another hot topic in the cosmetic laser market has to do with a fast-growing subsegment called body sculpting. Driven by strong direct-to-consumer marketing efforts, there’s significant demand for fat reduction procedures that do not require incisions or general anesthesia and that do not result in significant downtime for the patient.
The procedure—billed as a noninvasive alternative to liposuction surgery—uses a laser to destroy fat cells subcutaneously without damage to the overlying skin. Currently Zerona is the only manufacturer of this technology in the United States.
“Modalities such as body sculpting are bringing out so much more shape in the abdomen, arms, in ways that historically up until the last couple of years have only been able to be achieved with surgical interventions and liposuction,” says Dupré.
Nonetheless, a number of physicians feel that the technology currently available does not provide the results that patients are looking for, causing some patients to opt for minimally invasive procedures like laser-assisted liposuction.
“Noninvasive fat reduction is still not quite there. The segment shows growth in the sense of selling machines but it hasn’t had results yet,” says Dr. George Hruza, former president of the American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery.
“I think the efficacy is coming up and you can get more results, but it’s nowhere near the point of saying body sculpting is the same as a tummy tuck,” says Pannell.
Part of the problem is that current methods of fat sculpting only work well for patients looking to destroy a limited pocket of fat. Because the destroyed fat is flushed through the lymphatic areas and liver, the treatment is not applicable for patients seeking to get rid of greater amounts of fat.
