Smartlipo

By The Hurlingham Clinic

Price: £1500 - £2000

Stockist: The Hurlingham Clinic

Best for: Effective fat reduction at a price.

At its launch Cynosure Smartlipo MPX was touted in the beauty pages as a lunchtime treatment and the non-evasive alternative to Liposuction -  the jury is still out on this relatively new to the U.K procedure.

How it works:
Stubborn areas of fat and cellulite that don’t budge even after dieting and exercise plague most women, Cynosure Smartlipo MPX  which works with laser technology, is designed specifically for these areas of fat and is reported to work particularly well on love handles, thighs, stomachs and fat ankles.
The area to be treated is anaesthetised (by flooding the area with liquid anaesthetic which is inserted by a large cannula needle) and a laser is then used – again this involves a rather large needle – to poke around the area, ‘zapping’ fat cells and liquefying them. The laser is hot enough to break the cell walls and liquidise fat but not hot enough to be harmful in any other way and the procedure is painless.  The liquid fat is then processed by the body via the liver, exiting the body gradually over the following 3- 6 months. Because the fat is broken down in the liver, the procedure is best used to target small areas and would not be safe or suitable for anyone wanting to remove a larger amount of stored fat.
As the body cannot renew fat cells - after adolescence we stop acquiring them – the fat should not return to this area. However this is not a licence to go out and gorge yourself on junk food – you can still gain weight if you don’t stick to sensible eating, it will simply get stored somewhere else in the body.

The verdict:
Cynosure Smartlipo MPX does remove fat – we tested it on the inner and back of thighs. It also has less downtime than liposuction as it only requires a local anaesthetic and there is absolutely no bruising or scarring. But it’s still a fairly brutal procedure that leaves you groggy and wobbly for a few days, not to mention a little low from the drugs and anaesthetic (in addition to anaesthetic you’ll be given sedative tranquilisers like Temazepan/ Xanax). You need a couple off days of work and it can then take up to nine months to really see the effects, so if you’re looking for immediate results you may want to consider traditional liposuction. 
In addition the problem with targeting specific areas of fat with laser technology is that it’s quite difficult to see where the fat removal will start and end, and in some cases you could end up with a less natural look than you expected at first - although this should even out once the fat has been dispersed and processed through the liver over time. For example on inner thighs we saw almost a dented effect where the fat removal stopped and started - this later disappeared.
If you’re in it for the long term and are prepared to wait for results - it could be an effective and painful procedure worth considering.

Always go to a recommended surgeon.
Elle tested smart lipo with Dr Ayogubi at the Hurlingham Clinic, from £1000