Cellfina is a new machine on the market. It is here to help with cellulite.
I saw the prototype of Cellfina over 2 years ago at the Aesthetic Surgery Meeting, and I was anxiously waiting for it to be released. At the beginning, in its prototype phase, it was a simple disk with suction, small blades, and a little procedure under local anesthesia. And it fixed cellulite dimples. Amazing! Awesome! It was my kind of advancement- simple, cheap, easy, low technology, and makes sense scientifically. I COULD NOT WAIT.
Then the Ulthera company bought it, hooked it up to a fancy machine delivery system, and made the disposables costly. Something so simple and easy is now not so cheap.
But is it worth it?
Overall my reaction is mixed. I did not buy the machine. I thought about it seriously. It works. I like that it doesn’t destroy the fat under the skin like many of the lasers, ultrasounds, and heat devices do (read all of my blogs about fat and stem cells, and you will see why I think frying the fat under the skin is not a good idea for future skin quality and tone). But it doesn’t work for all types of cellulite.
What cellulite is it good for? It works great for those isolated deep dimples, particularly on the buttock. You will see those most often in their photos.
How does it work? It releases the tethers which lead to the cellulite dimples.
Procedure? It is an outpatient procedure, local anesthesia, minimally painful.
Downtime? Yes but mild. You ooze out of the incision sites. You are a little sore. There is some swelling.
So why didn’t I buy it? I really wanted to for a while. If the price was better I would have bought it. It does work great for those deep cellulite dimples. But it is expensive, and not just the cost to me for the machine. They disposables are expensive, and they can raise the price on them at any time, which means treatment cost to patients is expensive- ranging from $3-6000. They are big on the photography before and after. The lighting must be “just so,” otherwise you can’t see some of the improvement. In my experience, anytime photos and lighting are that critical, it means the changes are subtle. In the end, my biggest issue is it doesn’t work for all cellulite, particularly the stuff that tends to be the visible part on your thighs. If it worked great on those fine wrinkles on the thighs, it may be worth it. But most of those are due to poor skin tone, not a tethering dimple. Where it is awesome is the buttock, but I don’t know many people focused on their buttock dimples, again particularly at that price point.