Press Room

Smoother looking skin, everywhere
LesNouvelles Esthétiques & Spa • February 2008

Having been plagued with cellulite since the teenage years, I was amazed by the results displayed in before/after photos from the Accent™ Dual Mode RF System when I saw them at A New You Skin and Body Clinic in Atlanta.
Wasn’t this too good to be true? Cellulite reduction without liposuction or other treatments involving medieval compression garments after surgery, painful injections of questionable substances or lengthy recovery times?
Chosen as one of only 80 principal investigational sites by Alma Lasers, Inc., during clinical trials before Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in May 2007, A New You Skin and Body Clinic’s Medical Director J. Barry McKernan, M.D., and the highly skilled clinicians who deliver the treatments, Deborah Moore, R.N., and Judithe McKernan, R.N., are sought out for their safety track record and extensive experience with Lasers. And for good reason.
    According to Alma Lasers spokesman Stephan May, the effectiveness of the Accent treatments is technique dependent. “Sometimes clinicians don’t operate the equipment well. The science is very sound, but it’s a matter of nailing the right technique.”
    Glad to sacrifice my dimples for the cause, I offered myself as a test subject.

Firms and proportions the body
Heredity is the culprit. I am slender, a lifelong exerciser and a yoga instructor. I walk frequently, run up and down the stairs of my home office at least thirty times a day and have worked out with weights twice a week religiously since 2002. And yet, I have cellulite.
    Even in my twenties when I worked in an athletic club and was an aerobics fanatic, I had cellulite. As those of us in this unhappy tribe know (approximately 90 percent of women have cellulite, according to May), few pain free processes get rid of it. Perhaps until now.
    During the first three treatments we determined the equipment was not working well, so Alma Lasers swapped it out. During the following six treatments Accent helped reduce my saddle-bags – what Moore jokingly refers to as pones as in corn pones. We’re in the South, after all.
    Over the months of treatments separated by three to four weeks I noticed the tissue becoming softer, but eventually it became more firm.
    Although my hips and thighs don’t look quite as sculpted as the promotional before/after examples from around the world where Accent has been used successfully to treat a variety of dermatological and aesthetic conditions, I’m quite pleased with the results.
    Accent definitely helped reduce that unsightly bulge – without incisions, discomfort or downtime. The appearance of the dimples is vastly less than when we began, and I’m actually looking forward to going to the beach.


Melts fat and inches
Mary Heath, a petite woman in her early 40’s and mother of two adult children, has struggled with the hip and thigh area of her body since her twenties.
    “I’ve tried every cream and massage, even underwent 20 cellulite treatments – within four to six months after going off maintenance, the results dissolved completely. It all came back and I was really disappointed,” she says.
    After four of the recommended six Accent treatments for cellulite reduction, she is pleased with the results and hopes they will hold, long term. And she experienced an additional surprise without altering her customary diet or exercise program.
    “I didn’t go into it for weight loss, but I’ve lost about five pounds after not changing anything in my routine. I’ve felt more comfortable wearing shorts, and I’d give it a B on the appearance of cellulite reduction.” She says.
    On a small frame of 5’3” the five pounds she lost translates into 3” around the iliac crest of the hips, down from 33” to 30”, and she dropped 2” from her buttocks. Each thigh shrank more than an inch.


How it works
Accent is a noninvasive, nonablative radiofrequency (RF) therapy involving dual radio frequency technology. It’s unique in providing controlled tissue heating to two separate depths of tissue, with a built-in chiller to keep surface skin cool and reduce the pinkness that occurs when the deeper tissue is heated.
    After the treatment patients feel a tightening of the skin for several days. Treatments are scheduled every two to four weeks for three to six sessions.
    “The Accent product was engineered for safety and ease of use with maximum efficacy. The continuous movement of either handpiece results in a gradual buildup of heat to achieve the optimal therapeutic effect, while providing greater patient comfort,” says Ziv Kami, Ph. D., president and founder of Alma Lasers, “With more than one thousand Accent systems installed worldwide, the product has enjoyed an unparalleled safety record.”
    With a generous application of baby oil to the skin, the Accent Unipolar Radiofrequency handpiece is rolled rapidly across each area until the subcutaneous tissues are heated to 40 degrees Celsius; with three more passes of thirty seconds each on that area. Each area takes approximately fifteen minutes to complete. Unipolar RF is used on hips and thighs for deeper penetration, whereas Bipolar RF is used in less fatty areas.
    The heat penetrates from 2 to 6mm into the skin, reaching both the adipose or fatty tissue and the cellulite – the enlarged fat cells and connective tissue. Heating to these tissue depths improves circulation, initiates a breakdown of fibrous tissue and promotes the re-absorption and drainage of retained fluids and toxins.

Tough customer
As light source and laser veteran Stephen May points out, cellulite is one of the most difficult conditions to treat.
    “It’s such a tough one. Results are sometimes slow to see. No products eradicate cellulite – the body does. The technology creates a low level injury to the tissue an the body sends in its forces to clear it out and carry it away,” he says.
    From his experience of 16 years representing light source and laser technology for everything from skin rejuvenation to port wine stains, hair removal to tattoo eradication, he explains, “We know how well a certain laser breaks up ink. What we don’t know is how well your body will eliminate it.”
    Regarding cellulite he says, “We know how to pound it and break up the fibrous tissue, but if the body doesn’t heal quickly it won’t go away that fast. The swing from phenomenal to poor results depends on the patient’s body and its ability to rejuvenate itself. Our challenge as manufacturers is to create technology for which most bodies will respond most effectively.”
    Beyond taking strict measurements at each treatment to determine results, McKeran at A New You Skin and Body Clinic says, “What I see consistently is that the crease between the buttocks and thighs begins to shorten because the skin on the buttocks is tightening and lifting.”

Greater efficacy on loose skin
The most outstanding Accent results have been on skin laxity, especially on the face.
    “I’ve never though my skin was very good. It’s thin and it sags with just a little droop under my chin,” says 49 year old Jan Barber who has undergone three Accent treatments.
    The mother of three explains that after pregnancy her skin didn’t bounce back at the curve in her neck. “Months after I had the treatments, the skin kept tightening and now there’s nothing there. I’m all about that!”
    Although the results may not be as effective on those who have severely loose skin on their necks, the treatment works great if the skin is just starting to sag, according to Moore, who conducts training for Alma Lasers around the U.S.

Blepharoplasty alternative
Another patient in her early sixties had scheduled blepharoplasty with a Florida plastic surgery center to get rid of the bags under her eyes. “When I got there I discovered I’d not been informed correctly about the procedure, so I cancelled the surgery,” she says.
    After six Accent sessions she is pleased with the tightening of her face, bags under her eyes, neck and thighs. “It helped with my neck folds and with my thighs tremendously,” she states. “My adult daughter can’t believe how much it has improved the cellulite. Although my eye bags aren’t completely gone, they have also reduced tremendously.”

Antigravity effects
“My patients are raving about the results. The skin tightening on the hips is so dramatic that it makes hips actually appear higher,” says Moore, who is excited about Accent’s body smoothing and shaping effects.
    “Using the Bipolar RF, the head passes closer to the surface and can give tone to the jaw line and neck. This technology also complements laser treatments that can get rid of sun damage and broken blood vessels, like the Harmony™ and the Pixel™,” she explains.
    Medical Director J. Berry McKernan, M.D., says, “Accent’s treatment head allows control over the depth of the treatment, which is important to obtain promising results.”
    Is Accent for everyone? No. Dr. McKernan says Accent is inappropriate for those with pacemakers, pins or plates, and connective tissue diseases.