Battle of the Bulge:
Ellsworth Physician Offers Remedy for Ripples and Dimples

BY JENNIFER OSBORN
Courtesy The Ellsworth American
August 2008

You sweat and starve regularly yet your belly has pockets of fat that just won’t budge.

Or, your thighs, which run 30 miles a week, are still dimpled with cellulite.

Dr. Stephen Nightingale of Coastal Health Center in Ellsworth has non-surgical solutions for those ripples, dimples and bulges.

The physician has begun offering body-contouring procedures called Velashape and Lipodissolve through the Coastal Skin Center division of his medical practice.

Velashape is best for treating cellulite and for reducing size.

Nightingale explained that Velashape is a combination of four technologies: radiofrequency, infrared light energy as well as mechanical and vacuum massage.

“Cultivate your curves — they may be dangerous, but they won’t be avoided.”
        — Mae West


Medical aesthetician Liz Gordon performs a Velashape treatment to reduce belly bulge.—Photo by Jennifer Osborn

The vacuum part makes sense because the Velashape machine resembles a giant upright vacuum cleaner.

Velashape uses deep massage with rollers and suction as well as infrared light and bipolar radio frequency to reach deep skin tissue.

The manufacturer, Syneron, states that the device deploys heat to fat tissue and reduces or shrinks the size of the actual fat cells and chambers.

Liz Gordon, a medical aesthetician, performs the Velashape procedures at Coastal Health Center.

“It smoothes those little bumps right out,” said Gordon.

The procedure isn’t permanent.

“You need to maintain this,” Gordon said.

Depending on how sensitive a person’s skin is, there may be some light bruising.

“People say it actually feels good because of the deep massage,” said Gordon.

The cost is $1,500 for a package of six visits. Once the initial work is done, maintenance visits are $250 each.

The ideal candidate is someone healthy and “really active and has stubborn areas they can’t get rid of,” the doctor said. Technically, someone who has a body mass index under 30.

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“Patient selection is definitely the key,” said Nightingale. “You want people who are motivated.”

Coastal Skin Care Center began offering another body contouring treatment this summer, which can be used in conjunction with Velashape for even greater results.

Lipodissolve is an injection procedure for fat removal in the area of concern, Nightingale said. Chemicals comprised of naturally occurring elements in the body are injected to help dissolve the fat.

Patients have two to four sessions of Lipodissolve depending on site size and patient satisfaction, he said.

Nightingale said body contouring was a natural progression for his practice, which began with laser skin treatments and progressed to facial contouring, including Botox and Restylane treatments.

“We offer the most diverse non-surgical cosmetic procedures north of Portland,” said Nightingale.