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Recently seen on The Today Show with Kathy Lee Gifford undergoing treatment for her "meno-pot" and The View, the country is a buzz with whether or not the Exilis technology is panning out to be both a skin tightening and non-invasive body contouring device. American Health and Beauty spoke with 5 leading board certified plastic surgeons, dermatologists and physicians to get their experiences and opinions on the Exilis machine:
What does the Exilis treat?
Dr. Grant Stevens: We've had Exilis for just about a year and we've used it for 2 principal things: fat reduction and skin tightening. Skin tightening has primarily been in the face, jowls, and neck. On the body, we've used it a bit on the arms, bra fat area or back. For fat reduction, we've used it in the arms, neck, tummy or abdomen, legs, muffin top area and in the male chest.
Dr. Mitchel Goldman: Exilis is a very interesting treatment that does skin tightening as well as a bit of body contouring.
Dr. Robert Weiss: Exilis treats loose skin and also helps with small areas of fat. It heats up the fat which then slowly dissolves over several weeks to months.
Where have you used the Exilis on the body for treatment?
Dr. Goldman: We use Exilis on the face, neck and the body. We find that it works really well for helping to tighten the cheeks and the neck. We find it's greatest utility in tightening the upper and lower abdomen, as well as under the arms.
Dr. Weiss: We started off using it on the face because it's FDA clearance is for wrinkles around the eyes. Then we noticed that we there was really nice tightening on the face so we started using it on other areas of loose skin, such as the arms and the thighs. Because the Exilis has separate tips for the face and body, we started using the body tip almost a year ago, and we've noticed really nice contouring improvement with the both arms, the abdomen and the thighs.
Dr. Jeanine Downie: I've treated patients with the Exilis on the face, eyelids, around the mouth, chin and neck. On the body, I'm using it on the upper back, like bra fat, love handles, lower part of the buttocks, the area above the knee, ankles and upper arms.
Before and After Exilis Results of Dr. Jeanine Downie
What is the technology behind Exilis?
Dr. Stevens: Exilis uses radio frequency (RF), which is essentially sound waves to treat the skin. The unique thing about Exilis, unlike other radio wave technologies, uses mono-polar radio frequency and it allows the radio frequency waves to go deeper and exert more energy to dissolve the fat cells.
Dr. Weiss:The grounding pad on the patient allows for radio frequency to be applied deeply and then it does a return circuit back to the machine itself. The other nice thing about Exilis is there's monitoring of the temperature of the skin to make sure it never gets too hot and makes for a more pleasant experience for the patient.
Actual Exilis Before and After Photos of Dr. Robert Weiss
Post Treatment: 3 sessions over 3 months
Dr. Mary Lupo: Exilis has propriety technology that is called the Energy Flow Control (EFC), which is a safety mechanism whereby you can monitor the RF energy, minimizing burns and arching of the radio frequency energy if skin contact is not good.
How is the Exilis different from other devices?
Dr. Stevens:There are a number of non-invasive skin tightening and fat reduction technologies available. Exilis is nice in that it's inexpensive, it's effective, it doesn't hurt and patients appreciate the fact that it's nearly painless, it feels like a warm massage. I'm very impressed with Exilis with it's capability to treat a wide range of patients. Everybody is looking for safe, effective, inexpensive non-surgical skin treatments and body contouring so this is where Exilis excels.
Dr. Goldman: Body contouring is actually very difficult and very different - most of our true body contouring is still done with liposuction, which is incredibly safe and effective when done properly. But when you need to do a little fine tuning for further contouring, that's where I use a device like the Exilis. There's no way any of the non-invasive devices are going to make someone incredibly shapely and make perfect contours but for small irregularities, minor differences in asymmetry, that's where the devices such as the Exilis work.
Dr. Lupo: The main difference is other bi-polar and mono-polar RF devices aren't grounded the same way as the Exilis. I'm not familiar with any other device that has the Energy Flow Control system where the device will turn off if the flow isn't exact. As far as body contouring goes, I've evaluated many devices and the Exilis is the best so far because I feel that it?s safe and effective but also because it is cost effective. Also, it is the most cost effective there are no disposable costs that need to be charged to the patient so it's a good return on their investment as well.
