IMAGE staffer Jennifer Sheerin’s wellness routine balances busy days with carving out space for herself
IMAGE staffer Jennifer Sheerin’s wellness routine balances busy days with carving out space for herself

Jennifer Sheerin

This three-storey Dalkey home has the most beautiful sloping gardens
This three-storey Dalkey home has the most beautiful sloping gardens

IMAGE

Real Weddings: Kelly and Sean’s show-stopping wedding in Co Kerry
Real Weddings: Kelly and Sean’s show-stopping wedding in Co Kerry

Shayna Healy

WIN a bundle of Max Benjamin wall fragrance diffusers worth €165
WIN a bundle of Max Benjamin wall fragrance diffusers worth €165

Megan Burns

If networking is a super power then Mary McKenna deserves a cape
If networking is a super power then Mary McKenna deserves a cape

Fiona Alston

The sunglasses team IMAGE are reaching for this summer
The sunglasses team IMAGE are reaching for this summer

Sarah Gill

Page Turners: ‘Assembling Ailish’ author Sharon Guard
Page Turners: ‘Assembling Ailish’ author Sharon Guard

Sarah Gill

A seafront Skerries home has been given a luxe update with rich colours and hotel-inspired details
A seafront Skerries home has been given a luxe update with rich colours and hotel-inspired...

Megan Burns

Calling all Irish entrepreneurs: The Pitch 2025 is open for applications
Calling all Irish entrepreneurs: The Pitch 2025 is open for applications

IMAGE

Money moves: Smart financial strategies for every chapter of your life
Money moves: Smart financial strategies for every chapter of your life

IMAGE

Image / Beauty

Treatment On Trial – Mini Tummy Tuck


By IMAGE
16th Mar 2015
Treatment On Trial – Mini Tummy Tuck

Targeted at mums just like me, who’ve had no joy whittling down withered midriffs, the mini tummy tuck fuses two types of non-invasive body sculpting technology – the melting down and freezing of fat cells – which are normally used independently, with varying degrees of success. Both processes – in theory – melt and manipulate fat cells and then shrink them down to such a small size, they’re effectively destroyed and flushed away by the body.

It’s claimed to have no negative impact on body tissues or muscle, with little or no downtime, and is? a much less extreme option than facing a scalpel.

THE PROCESS

In the interest of research, I offered up one side of my? torso in order to better gauge results. The first treatment involved a consult with a well-versed therapist, who recommended a combination of two treatments of the freezing, which is effectively the same as Cool Sculpting or Cooltec, and six of the heated one, aka VelaShape (a contouring system reportedly loved by mum of? three Kourtney Kardashian). The cooling treatment involves a Hoover-like device being passed up and down the problem zone for 90 minutes. The sensation was shocking and stingy, but that was nothing compared to the ghastly sight of my fat being sucked up into a tube, which once released remained protruding upright like little pillars of lipids growing out of my stomach. Fortunately, these withdrew back into my waistline post-treatment. I returned a few?weeks later for my contouring session, which involved a radio frequency probe to deliver deep heat over my side for 30 minutes, interspersed with suction and mechanical massage techniques.

The treatment was very unpleasant and not for the faint-hearted. After 15 minutes, it became marginally more bearable, and afterwards my skin looked red, rather bruised, and my whole midsection felt tender for two days. I vow never to submit myself to such torture ever again.

RESULTS

It takes, on average, eight sessions spread out over two months to reach the desired effect, but a week after my two sessions, the difference was clear. Most notable was the skin texture, which was lumpy and withered on the untreated side, and smoother and springier on the other; my waistline was higher and slimmer on the treated half; and that resilient pouch of saggy skin that’s hovered above my bikini line since giving birth looked much less prominent. So, despite the discomfort, I’m signing up for another six sessions.

BOTTOM LINE

Eight sessions of a combination of cooling and contouring treatments costs €995 therapieclinic.com

Follow Liz Dwyer on Twitter @IMAGEBeautyEd

This article originally appeared in the February issue of IMAGE. The March issue is on shelves now.

LOVE this? Why not have IMAGE delivered directly to your door each month? Check out this month’s offer here.