14 DAY TRIAL // According to an announcement made by the US Food and Drug Administration, it would appear that the agency approved the use of a laser that is capable of removing excess fat from waists.
The decision comes amid controversies over how the laser works. More specifically, many are fearing that the new fat-removing technique would have only topical, short-term effects.
Nonetheless, procedures involving this device can now be legally performed in the United States, and start replacing liposuction, which is a surgical procedure.
Manufacturer Erchonia Medical Inc. makes the new laser, which is called Zerona. The company says that its product represents in important step for the cosmetics industry, and for people who want to conduct plastic surgery.
“This isn’t a procedure that treats obesity or is a miracle cure, it’s just is an alternative or an additional procedure to traditional liposuction,” explains Zerona researcher Dr. Gregory C. Roche, who is a plastic surgeon in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
The basic operating principle behind this device is rather simple – liquefy fat that resides in fat cells. Once this happens, the cells release their content, and the fat is eliminated naturally.
As the fat cells collapse on themselves, due to lack of content, the diameter of the waists and thighs is significantly reduced, say experts at Erchnonia.
The company ordered a clinical trial of Zerona, which took place in 2008 on about 67 volunteers. The conclusions were published in the journal Lasers in Surgery and Medicine, back in 2009.
All participants were treated for about two weeks, and half received the real therapy, whereas the others only got a sham. This means that they were treated with a red LED, rather than with the real laser.
The results showed that using Zerona on patients reduced their hip and waist sizes by an estimated one inch (2.5 centimeters). Additionally, the participants lost a little less than 2 centimeters of circumference on each thigh.
But Roche said that the technique is not bullet-proof, in the sense that the results do not hold to these levels. In most patients, a regrowing of the fat tissue was observed, the equivalent of about 1 centimeter, or 0.31 inches.
Swelling, or the production of new fat in the fat cells, is the main explanations the team are currently considering, Roche says.
“You have to be careful that people don't get overzealous and think that this is going to cause a weight loss or size change,” Roche explains for MyHealthNewsDaily.
“What you're going to get is change in your contours when you use this procedure, [changes in] your shape, and that can be very dramatic depending on your body style and type,” he concludes.