My Personal Experience with SculpSure

I have been a practicing plastic surgery since I finished my residency and fellowship in 1990. I have only done one cosmetic procedure on myself, ever, and that was SculpSure.

It was mostly out of curiosity, but, I must confess, I have been exercising quite consistently since 2000. Though I’ve been working out my entire life, I’ve done so much more aggressively since 2000. I have had a very healthy diet (not perfect but very good) for the better part of my adult life. However, even after I  completed 2 full Ironmans (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, followed by a 26 mile run), I have had small love handles. While I don’t obsess over them, I was curious after buying the SculpSure laser what impact, if any, it would have on them. While I am not a total purist, I felt it would be much easier to recommend the procedure to a patient if I had done to myself and could see results. I had read it could be a bit uncomfortable so I wanted to see how it felt.

I followed the same advice I tell all of my patients – make sure you have eaten some solid food within a few hours (I am almost always snacking so that was not a problem) and stay well hydrated – again, no problem for me.  The laser paddles are attached and for the first five minutes, the paddles just get warmer. I found between 5-10 minutes definitely very warm. However, the analogy I was given was to think of it like a hot bath that you get into. At first, you think, “wow that is hot,” but rather quickly you get used to it. Also, the heat actually cycles. You experience 45 seconds of heating followed by 15 seconds of cooling. In addition, you can request a one-minute, “cool blast” at any time, which is exactly what it sounds like. You get an entire minute of cooling. I did that once during each of my two sessions. It breaks up the constant feeling of heat and was a big help. It does not reduce your results, so definitely ask for one if you need it!

What are you doing during the procedure? You can be on your phone, chat with our technician or watch TV. The last 15 minutes goes quickly (the entire treatment, start to finish, is only 25 minutes) and it was over before I knew it.

After each of my sessions, I went immediately to local LA Fitness and did a tough workout with no problems. I had no trouble sleeping and I was not sore at all the next day – though some people have reported being a bit sore the following day. I also had no internal lumpiness. About 7-10 days later,  I noticed that the area felt a bit different, but not really tender.

I try not to obsess over this and avoided studying myself in the mirror. About 2-3 months after my second treatment (which was done about 6 weeks after my first treatment), I had my staff take photos. It showed a definite improvement! I am still not material for a fitness magazine (not even close)  but I am happy with the results. As I tell all of my patients, if I really wanted to be fantastic, I would have to be much stricter with my diet to drop my total body fat closer to 12%. However, at this point in my life, I am quite content with the improvement and am very satisfied with my SculpSure experience.

If you’re thinking about SculpSure, give my office a call at 703-406-2444 to schedule a consultation with me!