Stubborn Fat

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Stubborn fat can be tough to shift. This type of fat often collects around the hips, thighs, buttocks, and stomach or the face and under the chin. While some people will maintain a healthy lifestyle and endure vigorous exercise regimes, sometimes this isn’t enough to eliminate the fat in these areas.

What Are The Symptoms?

As you fluctuate in weight, your fat cells expand and shrink accordingly. However, sometimes these fat cells accumulate in unwanted areas and don’t appear to diminish with weight loss.

Stubborn fat can accumulate in many areas like under the chin (double chin), around the back and bra line (bra rolls), on the chest (gynecomastia), around the navel and stomach, on the hips (muffin top), on the thighs and arms.

Who It Can Affect

Some people are predisposed to fat distribution in certain areas. For example, the unforgiving layer of extra fat around the chin is something that is often linked with genetics, and the aesthetic appearance can also worsen when you have skin laxity and a weak jawline.

Weight fluctuations happen to everyone and are affected by diet and exercise, though certain factors can play a part in how the fat settles on the body. Hormones like oestrogen and androgens can encourage the retention of fat, while hormones like leptin can affect your appetite.

Additionally, as you age, metabolism slows down, and you’re more likely to put on weight.

Causes

Diet and exercise can cause stubborn fat which is also known as subcutaneous fat. This type of fat can tend to deposit in unwanted areas and can be difficult to shift through diet and exercise alone. The amount of stubborn fat you have will be mostly dependent on a poor diet and lack of exercise, so to lose weight, you should introduce a calorie deficit and do any exercise that will increase your heart rate.

Certain types of hormones can encourage fat to accumulate and distribute in unwanted areas. Those who are obese or overweight will have higher concentrations of certain hormones present. They can also influence your appetite and metabolism. With a slower metabolism, you’re more likely to gain weight.

Diets that are high in sodium can cause water retention and bloating areas like under the chin, exaggerating the increase in size. The aesthetic appearance can also be affected by loose skin.

Treatment Options

Excess fat can lead to serious health complications, including obesity, cancer and atherosclerosis, and it is worth trying to eliminate this fat in a healthy or non-surgical way, before any plastic surgery. Surgery should be a last resort, and there are other fat removal and toning techniques that may be more suitable for your goals.

Accent Prime HD

A combination of ultrasound and radiofrequency energy stimulates lymphatic drainage to reduce fat while inducing a volumetric contraction effect that lifts and tightens the skin.

What Will The Accent Treatment Involve?

Your treatment programme will begin with a consultation where one of our highly experienced aestheticians will determine your suitability for treatment and discuss what the programme involves, as well as your treatment goals.

The handpiece used will depend on the size of the areas that require treatment. Larger areas such as the stomach, thighs and buttocks require a larger handpiece. The aesthetician will place lubrication on the treatment area and will perform several passes over the area with the smooth plate.

When Can Results of Accent Be Seen?

The results can be visible after just one treatment, but we recommend a course of 4-6 treatments for optimal results. Results vary from patient to patient, but we recommend a ‘booster session’ every six months to continually improve the results.

How Does The Accent Treatment Work?

Accent uses radiofrequency, delivering a thermal shock within the tissue – this causes the skin to contract, simultaneously promoting the growth of new collagen for firmer and tighter skin.

Additionally, ultrasound targets fat cells and disrupts them through shear wave vibrations. This process causes the fat cell membranes to break down, leaving the surrounding tissue unharmed, while the fat cells are removed through the lymphatic system. Metabolism increases following fat destruction.

How Many Accent Treatments Are Required?

We recommend 4-6 treatments to see optimal results. Every 1-2 weeks.

Aqualyx

The aqueous solution works to dissolve fat cells which are liquefied and transported out of the body through the lymphatic system. It’s a minimally invasive injectable solution that will eliminate small stubborn areas of fat. Treatable areas include double chin (fat under the chin), moobs (gynecomastia), bra rolls (fat rolls around bra line) armpits and knees.

We may recommend pairing the treatment with Accent Prime HD or Thermage FLX to tighten and define the area if you experience skin laxity.

When Can Results of Aqualyx Be Seen?

Results may be seen after just one treatment after around four to five weeks and will improve with a course of treatments. Results are variable and depend on a variety of factors such as: how much pre-existing fat you have, your age, lifestyle, the stability of membranes, and whether you gain weight after treatment. We encourage you to maintain a stable weight following your Aqualyx treatment to benefit from the results.

How Does The Aqualyx Work?

The aqueous solution works to dissolve fat cells that liquify and leave the body through the lymphatic system.

How Long Will The Results of Aqualyx Last?

Results vary from patient to patient. The permanency of the treatment is also variable depending on the patient’s aftercare efforts and limitations of treatment.

How Many Treatments Are Required?

For optimal results, a patient will require 3-8 sessions. These sessions should be every 6 weeks.