Ultrashape does work but...what you need to know:
At Laser Rejuvenation Clinics and Spa in Calgary Alberta, Canada I had Ultrashape performed. A series of 3 treatments on my thighs, buttocks and abdomen.
I only lost 1 cm per treatment which was quite perplexing for me as, other than these stubborn spots, I am quite fit. I am 5"7 and 140 lbs. I exercise avidly, weight training 2 days per week, elliptical trainer 3 times a week for an hour, and run 10 kms. twice a week. Everywhere but my trouble spots I am cut. After much research into Ultrashape I discerned that I am the perfect candidate so I forked over almost $10,000 to the Laser Rejuvenation Clinic which lauded the same results put forth in clinical trials by Ultrashape. The problem is that they don't observe the working protocol in order to achieve the results. Most pointedly as contained in an abstract from a clinical trial: Thirty six patients between 21 and 60 years old, 33 females and 3 males with diagnosis of lipodismorphism, were treated for localized adiposities in several parts of the body: abdomen, flanks or/and tights in three sequenced sessions of approximately 1000 ultrasonic pulses each one, made one month apart.
I received half that number of pulses in each treatment, hence my below average results. So I went looking for more information and discovered this: The patients position affects fat thickness and texture. Position 3 causes more thickness and the fat is softer. It can be improved with the help of elastic banding and specially designed cushions.
Utilisation of elastic banding and cushions: Cushions are used to position the area to be treated as parallel as possible to the surface of the treatment table and to improve patient comfort and stability. Banding is used to approximate the end of the ellipse in order to reduce tension and to increase fat thickness in the area to be treated with the Ultrashape.
The technicians who worked on me basically laid the tape on me , barely applying any pressure to the fat which did not isolate it for the machine to be able to pick up the number of pulses it would have required to give me the full treatment I had paid for!! Nor did they use any cushions to position me even though the special Ultrashape positioning pillows and cubes were on another table in the room. When I asked one of the technicians what they were for she was at least honest and told me they were for positioning patients but that I didn't need them! I just laid out flat on the table with a tiny little pillow under my head. I fully believe that they are aware of the proper working protocol because the last technician I had was a really kind woman and took pity on me because I'd just had my measurement a month after the second treatment and still only a centimeter of loss in all 3 areas. She did my last treatment and she cinched me up tight with the tape for the first time!! It's 8 days later and I've lost 4 cm already around my butt!! So it does work but you have to make sure the place you have it done is ethical and not trying to prey on people like me who just desperately want what they pay for to work. Thank god I had that one last treatment because I had actually started to buy in to the nasty consultant feeding me that there are some people it doesn't work for. They did allow as how they'd be so kind as to let me pay for as many more treatments as I need at the rate of $800 apiece. At the rate they do treatments that would have only cost me about another 10 grand or so. The transducer, which is the handheld piece of the Ultrashape machine, has to be replaced after so many pulses and it's expensive so between doling out the absolute minimum pulses they can in order to produce just the most minimal results and preying on the fact that they know even the littlest improvement could cause people to continue to throw good money after bad they have got quite a con job going on here.
I tried every day this week to get the consultant on the phone and left message after message. She knows I've figured out their scam and thinks that ignoring me will make me go away. She does not know me very well.
There are so many people on the web who have not had good results that I have to believe that there are other places out there conning people too.
In summation I am writing this blog as the start of my internet campaign to enlighten people like me as I wish someone had done for me before this company ripped me off...
One of the technicians who performed one of my procedures did tell me that Dr. Tom Woo had recently decided he couldnt do liposuction anymore and I know that is much more expensive so I theorize that hes looking to replace that revenue by reducing the efficacy of Ultrashape in order to prey on people who hope and pray that Ultrashape will work and suck them dry of all the money he can.
To tell how many pulses you are getting, the number appears at the bottom of the monitor right after they position the markers on you. There will be the number of pulses on one side at the bottom of the screen and another number next to it which reflects the pulses counting down as they've been administered. There's no reason that you shouldn't see that number and if you've been taped properly and aren't too skinny for the procedure it should be in the range of 1000 or more pulses per treatment area which is 36 cm x 36cm, the size of area used in the clinical studies for Ultrashape. The clinic I went to said it was the size of 2 of my hands, which incidentally are 18 cm long but only 13 cm wide. Another way of reducing the efficacy of the treatment...
I have corresponded with several people who have had good results with their treatments and they all said that they were taped up so tight they could not move in order to isolate the areas treated. The tape should be a Tensoplast type stretch adhesive bandage, not the stuff they basically just laid on me to no effect on me which was akin to packing tape and took 4 days of labor intensive scrubbing to get the adhesive off. All these factors designed to make what I paid for work as minimally as possible... If I learned just one thing from this experience it's pay attention and don't take anyone's word for anything!!
It has been brought to my attention by someone who read my posts about Ultrashape at The Laser Rejuvenation Clinics and Spa and my experience, and has recently gone for a consultation there, that they have changed their pricing in an attempt to discredit what I have been posting. Be very cautious if you go there for this procedure. The clinical studies that they tout regarding the efficacy of Ultrashape clearly state that the controlled variable of at least 1000 pulses MUST be performed for it to give you the average 2.5cm result and the time it takes to adminster that many pulses will be approaching 2 full hours. That number is clearly available on the bottom of the screen (I had the presence of mind to look at that and record it every time) before they start the procedure and throughout as the other number counts down next to the number of pulses. The second variable of taping your fat up to bring it all within the area should achieve the 1000 pulses unless your are a toothpick. You should be wrapped all the way around your body above and below the area to be treated and it should be hard to move. The tape should be stretchy like the Tensoplast adhesive bandage you can find in any drug store. If I had to do it over again I'd bring my own!! Also you should pay around $1 per pulse(and that is TOP dollar, worldwide where it's available it's more around 80 cents USD per pulse), which, if they had been ethical about it they should have given me, because I paid that and then some!! And they should NOT be making people pay for 3 treatments UP FRONT, regardless of whether or not a person will need them...