Cellulite reduction before and after photos: the LipoTherapeia effect, Part 1!

Cellulite treatment before and after pictures: not the best way to assess treatment effectiveness

Applying an anti-cellulite treatment on both sides of the body (e.g. both legs) and taking before and after photos may be misleading as one cannot know if the result is due to exercise and diet or due to the effectiveness of the treatment. In addition, "before" photographs are usually taken with nasty, harsh lighting whilst "after" photos are shot with nice, pleasing, soft lighting. After a few years of being exposed to this trick, cheated viewers,  became cynical about such "engineered" before and after photos.

Trying a treatment on one leg only, with the other leg acting as a control, is the most honest and accurate method of assessing a treatment’s effectiveness, since both legs are affected equally by exercise and diet, but only the treated leg benefits from the treatment. In this way we avoid the usual suspicion that exercise and diet are responsible for the improvement - instead of the treatment itself. In addition, by doing an one-leg test you cannot fool viewers with misleading lighting, as the same lighting is applied on both treated and untreated leg. The following three case studies are all based on one-leg only trials.

Nathalie's case study and photographic documentation

Nathalie is one of the patients that opted to treat one leg at a time in order to assess the effectiveness of the treatment. This is the best method to assess the effectiveness of any anti-cellulite treatment or cream since both legs receive the same calories from diet, exercise in exactly the same way, receive the same hormone etc. So this a controlled study in contrast to treating both legs and taking before and after photos, in which case the result could depend not just on a treatment but also on diet, exercise etc.

The picture you see is the one taken after eight weeks of treatment and shows the difference pretty clearly: the left leg received treatment to three times a week plus benefited from the application of the Lipo Actives once to twice a day. The right leg acted as control.

Nathalie exercised four times a week on average and was careful with her diet. She was pretty slim to begin with and her goal was not to lose weight but to reduce cellulite and lose inches locally. This actually makes it more difficult to produce results, as a little weight loss aids in local fat loss and cellulite reduction too.

Despite this limitation though, the results were pretty spectacular. Nathalie started her course of cellulite treatments with 26% body fat and after eight weeks of treatment she finished her course with 24% body fat. This means that she lost minimal weight, as she wished (she didn't want to lose weight, she just wanted to reshape). Her weight remained stable. This is because she gained some muscle mass due to gym work, which balanced the loss of fat mass on the scales.

In those eight weeks however, Nathalie lost an inch from the left leg and a similar amount from her hips. The fat was removed from exactly the right places lifting the buttock, as you can see in the photo, and reducing the slight saddle bags from the side of the thigh. This clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the treatment. This is a girth loss of 1inch on a slim individual who didn't diet. On a "bigger" woman the result would be amplified, especially if that woman dieted and wanted to lose weight.

By the end of her course the difference in texture and firmness was also very clear. After just eight weeks of treatment the left (treated) buttock and thigh felt much firmer, with less cellulite while the right (untreated) leg looked and felt more puffy, soft and unhealthy and retained the big double crease that you can see in the photo, which disappeared from the left side. Of course a photograph cannot convey the feeling of puffiness in contrast to the feeling of firmness, which however is certainly is experienced by the patient - and her partner.

All in all Nathalie was very satisfied with the results, as her testimony reveals.
(Please note that the difference in colour between the two sides is due to a natural self-tanning ingredient having being included in the Lipo Actives version that Nathalie was using at the time. The current version does not include self-tanning.)

Maria's case study and photographic documentation

When Maria showed up for her first LipoTherapeia consultation she had a tight deadline and a specific goal in her mind: she wanted to lose as much weight and cellulite as possible before a dream holiday in the sun. Ah, and of course tighten that post-pregnancy loose kin in the tummy.

I explained to her and she understood that skin firmness-wise I can guarantee the results while for cellulite and weight loss she also had to contribute by following a sensible diet and exercise regime.

Maria went on to receive treatment twice to three times a week, walked an hour a day and was relatively careful with her diet. Two months later we took this photo treatments for another to months and from then on she reverted to monthly maintenance sessions. Her testimony can be found here.

Maria's inch loss is clearly visible from these photos. However, one thing which is not visible is the impressive improvement in the firmness (tautness) and texture of the skin - which unfortunately can not be reproduced in a photo.

Jane's case study and photographic documentation

Jane was one my first LipoTherapeia clients - and an absolute success! When I started, eight years ago (2000), after one whole year of research, preparation and deliberation, I wanted a case study that would clearly prove that the treatment itself was effective or and not the diet and exercise. So, we decided with Jane, a sceptical yet motivated client to assess the effectiveness of the treatment by treating one leg only for twelve sessions and take pictures and measurements. Jane would get a 50% discount for the discomfort of having one thigh/buttock potentially firmer and slimmer than the other, while I would get the proof that I needed to boost the confidence in my treatment.

Naturally, the experiment paid off: the difference between the two buttocks was striking: a few weeks later the untreated hip was clearly a puffy and had a mattress-like texture in relation to the treated side, which was firm to touch, lifted and overall nicer to look at. The treated thigh lost more than an inch in relation to the untreated thigh and the difference was clearly visible to her husband and friends (usually husbands are blind to these changes unless clearly pointed to them)... And all this was achieved solely by the use of the Lipo Actives and by treatments twice a week. You can read Jane’s testimony on the "Testimonies" page.

Please note the difference in the crease on this close up on the treated buttock. This is due to the reduction of fat mass which decreases the force of gravity on the buttock and lifts it, thereby easing the crease.