How Does Electromagnetic Energy Change Body Contours?

Dr. Marguerite Germain offers EMSCULPT ® at Charleston’s Germain Dermatology, and since the treatment is still relatively new, her team routinely encounters questions from interested patients who want to know what it is, what it does, and how it works.

Anyone not yet familiar with the EMSCULPT® device should know that it uses high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy to contour the body by building muscle and burning fat. Specifically, it is applied to the abdomen or buttocks.

The secret to the device’s effectiveness lies in what are known as supramaximal contractions.

When a muscle contracts, it tenses up. This can result in anything from a bulging bicep while flexing to a raised eyebrow when making an expression. Sit-ups and other exercises cause muscle contractions, which gradually build up the muscles at work and make them stronger.

Supramaximal contractions are intense, with numerous contractions packed into a short amount of time. Supramaximal exercise runs along the lines of sprints or doing reps with heavy weights. EMSCULPT® takes this idea even further, using electromagnetic energy to trigger around 20,000 muscle contractions in just 30 minutes.

These supramaximal contractions accomplish two primary changes in the body.

First, the muscles themselves grow in size and strength due to an increase in myofibers. These are long, thin muscle cells that facilitate contractions. When pushed to extreme levels, they can grow in both size and number.

Second, the rapid muscle activity burns energy, since every contraction requires a little bit of fuel. Squeezing so many contractions into such a brief window triggers a condition known as “apoptosis,” which marks freshly killed fat cells around the treated muscles for elimination. Natural processes clear these now-defunct cells away. This reaction does not apply to the buttocks, as it utilizes a different wavelength.

Put together, these two changes can result in an effect greater than either could accomplish on its own. Fewer fat cells means muscles may be more visible, and the increase in myofibers means the muscles themselves can reveal more definition.

Results of this high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy “workout” are not immediate, as the body requires some time to clear away the fat cells and build muscle tissue. Changes will most likely be visible in a matter of weeks, though patients discover that the most dramatic results show up after months have passed.

The treatment session itself is a bit unusual, in that men and women undergoing the process are encouraged to lie down and relax while their muscles independently work with incredible intensity. Many people later report feeling as if they had just participated in a high-powered workout despite lying essentially still and without the soreness you would experience regularly.

Note that a single session is not considered to be enough to generate desired results. Patients are recommended to schedule at least four half-hour sessions, each set two to three days apart from the others. A more specific schedule can be determined during an individualized consultation.

Multiple studies into the safety and effectiveness of EMSCULPT® treatments have shown that they can result in an average muscle mass increase of 16 percent and an average fat reduction of 19 percent.

These numbers show that high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy is ideal for patients who want to improve abdominal tone and strength or bring more firmness and definition to their buttocks, but not those looking to lose a significant amount of fat. For this reason, EMSCULPT® is recommended for men and women who are seeking to sculpt their body. It is not to be considered a weight-loss strategy or substitute for regular exercise, healthy eating, and other beneficial lifestyle choices.

Slimming down a targeted region by killing the fat cells is not a new concept, as the strategy is used by other nonsurgical fat-reduction treatments— including CoolSculpting® (which drops the temperature of fat cells) and Kybella® (which damages them with deoxycholic acid)—but EMSCULPT® is novel in its approach of simultaneous muscle stimulation.

Find out more about electromagnetic energy and EMSCULPT® from South Carolina’s Germain Dermatology. Call 843.881.4440, or send a message online at germaindermatology.com.