CellSonic Limited has invented a means of removing cellulite and fat with lithotripter shockwaves. Cellulite appears on women’s as an orange peel effect. It is also in the love handles on me’s hips. What distinguishes cellulite from other areas of fat in the body is that there is no blood so it cannot be accessed by the digestion system as a source of reserve energy; even starvation does not remove cellulite.

In order to remove cellulite and leave the skin smooth the collagen and fibres supporting the skin have to be strengthened and this is brought about by the same effect that shockwaves have when healing wounds and growing new body cells. Cellulite is a layer of fat trapped in tiny globules in a matrix of fibres. There is no blood in this layer so the shockwaves cause the capillary growth of veins into the layer providing an exit route for fat released from the globules by the rupturing effect of the acoustic shocks.

It is not an instant process. From an initial treatment to confirming that the skin is smooth can take three months depending on the severity of the cellulite. During that time, the capillary action of veins and the growth of new fibres in the collagen can only develop at the speed at which the body develops new cells. Therefore the action is in harmony with the body’s repair mechanism. There are and have been many treatments for cellulite including countless numbers of special creams to be applied to the skin but none of them work because they do not remove the fat trapped in the tiny globules and have no effect on the collagen. Nor does exercise remove cellulite and often it looks more unattractive on athletes who have no underlying body fat to swell out the skin; the orange peel effect from the globules is more obvious. Treatments that roll the cellulite flat are only temporary because the protuberances spring back up later; no structural change was made. Shockwaves are a sudden bang and the suddenness is the essential feature of a shockwave. The rise time from zero decibels to high decibels is only a few nanoseconds. Slower rise times have less effect because they do not travel faster than the body cell can stretch. It can be argued that the effect of a shockwave is controlled damage to rupture a fat cell and to trigger the immune system into repairing collagen fibres. This process is becoming well understood in wound healing where stem cells are caused to migrate to the treatment site and huge wounds are healing without scars because new body organs are grown.

It is reasonable to expect the same behaviour when the same protocols are applied to flesh where there is no open wound.
There are various ways to create a shockwave and CellSonic uses the fastest means of all by shorting a high voltage across electrodes in water causing a bang which is focussed by a reflector into the body which also acts as does water. To link the shock head of the CellSonic machine to the body, a gel like ultrasound gel is applied through which the sound waves can travel.