Ultrasonic cavitation for cellulite reduction vs physiotherapy ultrasound: what are the differences?

Is there any difference between cavitation ultrasound used in beauty / aesthetics and physio ultrasound?
Does ultrasound have to be of low frequency to work for cellulite?
Does ultrasound have to be of high power to work for cellulite?
Beware of dangerous / cheap cavitation equipment
Proper training in ultrasound cavitation is essential
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment in London with the cellulite experts
Advanced, infrared / blue / red light therapy treatments in London at LipoTherapeia
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening

Is there any difference between cavitation ultrasound used in beauty / aesthetics and physio ultrasound?

Yes, there are usually considerable differences.

Physiotherapy ultrasound is usually of 1MHz (and sometimes 3MHz) frequency and of maximum power of around 10 Watts. Quite often it is used at a fraction of this maximum power, usually anything between 1 Watt and 5 Watts. This is because physiotherapy ultrasound is meant to gently stimulate and it is also used in a very small area, hence the low powers. Sometimes, low frequency ultrasound (300kHz) is used in physiotherapy but at very, very low powers (0.5-1 Watt).
Some machines used in beauty, for cellulite reduction or other purposes, can also be of high frequency (>3MHz) and low power (<25 Watts). This makes them totally inadequate for cellulite reduction but OK for other aesthetic purposes (perhaps active ingredient absorption on a small area or facials). 1MHz acts too deeply (>25mm deep) to be used for beauty purposes.
Proper ultrasonic cavitation for cellulite reduction is usually of low frequency (30-90kHz) and ideally of much higher maximum power (25-75 Watts). This is because large areas need to be treated with such treatment.

Does ultrasound have to be low frequency to work for cellulite?

There is nothing wrong with high frequencies, i.e. 3MHz, being used for cellulite reduction.

It’s just that high-frequency (>3MHz), high-power (>10 Watt) ultrasound transducers don’t seem to exist commercially for equipment manufacturers to use in their machines.

Does ultrasound have to be of high power to work for cellulite?

However, high maximum powers are essential, otherwise treatment of a large area, such as thighs and buttocks, may take hours with low power machines or treatment may be totally inadequate.

(Of course, this doesn’t stop many clinics and salons using low-power machines over large areas and pretending they offer a proper treatment).

Ideally you would like to use 50W or 75W if you treat large areas for cellulite reduction with ultrasound cavitation.

Small areas, like the stomach, can be effectively treated with lower maximum power cavitation machines (e.g. 25-35 Watts).

Beware of dangerous / cheap cavitation equipment

I do not know of any machines offering >75W. Once, someone from the US emailed me to tell me that she was using such a cavitation machine with 300 Watt maximum output power, bought for little money on Alibaba.

Needless to say, I informed her that the manufacturer was lying about the specifications and that is both illegal and dangerous.

Basically, she did not know what kind of machine she was holding in her hands and applying on people.

It was probably a 20 Watt machine, but still, I would not touch such a machine with a bargepole. Such “equipment” should be taken straight to the recycling depot, not applied on people.

Proper training in ultrasound cavitation is essential

Proper training should also be provided to avoid burns or other reactions.

A few weeks ago a client had a consultation with me and told me that she managed to get a quite large and bad burn after a cavitation treatment for her cellulite, bought at Groupon at 90% discount.

Salons that offer such low prices typically use low-end, low-power machines, which if applied by someone trained for more than a couple of hours should not cause burns to anyone, ever.

Yet, at that salon they managed to burn her with a (probably) 10-20 Watt machine, which takes a special type of badly trained therapist to achieve.

So, to have a safe and effective treatment:

A good, high-power machine, made by a reputable manufacturer, is essential (you don’t want to be treated by machines bought on Alibaba)
The machine has to be serviced regularly (you don’t want to be treated with an unserviced machine)
The person has to be trained (and supervised) properly (you don’t want to be treated by the above therapist, before she gets retrained)

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