“In the past 14 years I have attended training from different RF/cavitation equipment manufacturers and one common thing I see is “trainers” teaching to press the RF/ultrasound applicator hard on the skin to “increase treatment effectiveness” and treatment depth. However, if the machine is not good enough, no amount of pressure can increase either its effectiveness or its depth of action. There is a better way to increase effectiveness - by picking the right equipment and by using it correctly. Now this knowledge can be yours in 2-3 days, as opposed to decades, by attending training at The Cellulite School. And, of course, as a client you can be assured of optimum treatment.”
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Will pressing the ultrasound / radiofrequency applicator against the client’s skin ensure that treatment is deep?
Pressing down hard with bipolar RF
Pressing the RF handpiece hard with monopolar RF
Pressing down with the ultrasound applicator
Deep massage does not help with cellulite or skin tightening
Learn how to provide deeper treatment, properly
Have a skin tightening/cellulite treatment with London’s cellulite experts
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Will pressing the ultrasound / radiofrequency applicator against the client’s skin ensure that treatment is deep?
Many therapists have the habit of pressing hard with the handpiece on the client’s skin in order to offer a deeper treatment. But does that make sense? Does treatment get deeper?
The answer is maybe, depending on the equipment used, but this is not a valid or even safe way to provide deep treatment.
First off, the constant pressure is not good for the therapist. It makes treatment straining and can lead to wrist, elbow and shoulder overuse injury.
Secondly, pressing with the applicator is not a valid massage method. It’s not relaxing and as applicators are made of hard material, it is quite harsh on the client.
And now let move into whether treatment is deeper is pressure on the RF/ultrasound applicator on the skin is high.
Pressing down hard with bipolar RF
If you use bipolar RF treatment will not be much deeper.
This is because a large percentage of the current passes from pole (+) to pole (-) on the surface of the skin and there is not much you can do about this - regardless of what manufacturers claim.
It’s simple physics: the current will always try to find the shortest easiest way from (+) to (-). Sure, the remaining current will go a bit deeper through the skin but the majority of the current will be superficial, no matter how much you torture your client with the pressure.
Plus you cannot control the exact depth just by pressing. You may even go too deep, i.e. work on the subcutaneous fat, which is inefficient and pointless.
Pressing the RF handpiece hard with monopolar RF
If you use monopolar RF then indeed treatment will be somewhat deeper but not that much deeper, as depth will mainly depend on RF frequency and whether your RF machine is resistive or capacitive.
Capacitive treatment means a lot of the current is consumed on the surface of the skin and it doesn’t matter how much you press.
On the other hand, lower frequency resistive treatment is usually too deep, so pressing more will make treatment even deeper - not very smart.
Finally, if you use higher frequency resistive RF, treatment is usually just about right, in terms of depth, so you don’t need to press hard, anyway.
Again, in all cases, pressing down means therapist exhaustion in the short term and therapist injury in the long run. Plus it may also mean that treatment is simply too deep.
Pressing down with the ultrasound applicator
Ultrasound is much more straightforward than RF and the more you press the deeper you go.
However, as mentioned above, this technique also has the problems of therapist exhaustion/injury plus you cannot control depth.
Furthermore, if you go too deep and reach the subcutaneous fat then treatment will simply be pointless.
Deep massage does not help with cellulite or skin tightening
Pressing down hard with the handpiece is akin to a very bad deep tissue massage that acts on the muscles. Indeed, deep tissue massage does not work AT ALL with either cellulite or skin tightening.
Sure, it boosts circulation in the muscles. But we do not aim to treat the muscles with RF/ultrasound, are we? Our clients come for skin tightening / cellulite reduction.
On the other hand, the skin itself gets more than enough circulation boost by the actual RF/ultrasound treatment without any pressure applied. So again, pressing down with the handpiece is pointless.
Learn how to provide deeper treatment, properly
Depending on equipment used, treatment can be controlled with the settings on the equipment.
But before we even look to make treatment deeper we should understand:
On which tissues treatment should be applied in the first place (you don’t want to go too superficial or too deep)
Why we should treat those specific tissues
Where those tissues are located inside the skin
Pressing randomly deep with the handpiece is like shooting in the dark. Plus it is an exhausting, uncomfortable waste of time and energy.
And no, as mentioned above, it is not good massage either.
At The Cellulite School™ you learn exactly that, among 100+ other points of accurate information relative to skin tightening, topical fat reduction and cellulite reduction: which tissues to work on, why and how.
The Cellulite School™: Get advanced training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening
Why train with The Cellulite School™?
We all know that training in cellulite reduction and skin tightening is as basic as it gets. It is typically a 4-6 hour training, involving only basic instruction from the manufacturer on how operators can use the machine; lots of myths, erroneous information and misconceptions; and some basic health and safety on how to use the machine.
There is no proper, real training in the science or cellulite, skin tightening, radiofrequency, ultrasound and all related technologies is non-existent - worldwide.
Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening?
Get proper training based on 25-year theory and practical application of cellulite reduction and valuable insights from 24,000+ sessions and 4,200+ clients.
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Understand deeply - and get properly trained in - the science of radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, LED phototherapy, cellulite and skin tightening and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible.
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At LipoTherapeia we have specialised 100% in skin tightening and cellulite reduction for more than two decades and 20,000+ sessions.
This is all we study and practise every day and have researched and tried hands-on all the important skin tightening equipment and their manufacturers.
As strong, deep acting radiofrequency and deep-acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation are the technologies of choice for skin tightening and cellulite reduction, we have invested in the best RF/ultrasound technologies in the world.
(Of course, we keep looking for new technologies every day and if/when a better technology materialises we will be the first to provide it. However, we will never follow the latest ineffective gimmick, just because it’s good marketing to offer the latest hyped up - yet ineffective and/or unsafe treatment.)
Furthermore, over the last two decades we have developed advanced RF and cavitation treatment protocols in order to make the most of our technologies, for maximum results, naturally and safely.
And for even better, faster results, we now combine our RF/ultrasound treatments with high-power red/infrared light LED treatment.
Our radiofrequency/ultrasound/LED treatments are comfortable, pain-free, downtime-free, injection-free, 99.5%+ safe and always non-invasive.
(No unsafe and ineffective RF microneedling or HIFU and no safe but ineffective acoustic wave therapy, superficial RF (bipolar/tripolar/multipolar etc), low power RF/cavitation, electrical muscle stimulation, lymphatic massage, cupping, dry brushing and no ridiculous bum bum creams.)
Our focus is on honest, realistic, science-based treatment, combined with caring, professional service, with a smile.
We will be pleased to see you, assess your cellulite, skin laxity or fibrosis, listen to your story, discuss your case and offer you the best possible treatment.