Beauty Intelligence - I tried the thin-thigh machine
Could the newest cellulite smoother also take off inches?
By Anne Breza
Self, June, 2000

This past April, the Food and Drug Administration gave the creators of Endermologie something to brag about: The company can now claim that its mechanical massage technique, already used to smooth out cellulite, goes even further - actually reducing the size of your thighs. A thin machine? Women everywhere were astounded. I wasn't. I've been an Endermologie junkie for more than a year. I've had close to 50 treatments with the device, which, like a vacuum hose sandwiched between two rolling pins, sucks and kneads your most sarong-dependent skin.

Let me explain: Two years ago, I realized that no matter how much black I swathe around my curves, I had to face the fact that I have a mama's body, not a model's. Even my greatest asset - a super-flat stomach - had developed a slight postpartum pouch. And the little valleys on my thighs - well, there was no hiding them after two kids. I've never been much of a gym girl. Even when I had the time, I was an outdoor exerciser - skating or biking when the weather cooperated and otherwise walking and romancing to stay fit. So in 1998, when I heard about Endermologie, I couldn't resist. This 35-minute rubdown fit right into my MO.

My first encounter was with Jeffrey Brande, MD, a plastic surgeon in New York City who analyzed my body and recommended twice-a-week sessions, 21 in all. Some people get away with fewer than 10 sessions; others need as many as 40. I soon found myself covered in a body stocking (it helps the machine glide over skin), reclining on a table. I bruised slightly the first few times. The procedure hurt a bit, but nothing like a bikini wax - and God knows I'm not giving them up. After a few visits, it felt more like massage than fat-burning torture. And then I saw the surprising results; After 21 treatments, I was 10 pounds lighter, my hips were two and three-quarters inches smaller and my thighs had lost one and a half inches each. Everyone asked me what I was doing. No one believed it could be Endermologie.

Eventually, I had to quit. I was always late and the technician was always annoyed. And besides, I was seeing results - those pants that hadn't fit since before my first daughter was born were zipping up again and the dimples were disappearing. I wasn't going for perfection. I quit while I was ahead.

Six months later, however, I realized Endermologie's downside; It just doesn't last that long. The standard advice is that, without monthly maintenance visits, the cellulite could return by up to 50 percent. But I had stopped completely and…yikes! So When I heard there was a new machine that was faster and better, I figured I'd try again.

This time, I would up in the office of Endermologie's pioneer practitioner in the United States, Denise Margulies. A certified personal trainer (you don't need a medical degree to practice cellulite sucking), Marguilies was the first to have the new Cellu-M6, which is to the old Endermologie machine what the iMac is to your standard desktop computer. Practitioners disagree as to how Endermologie works. The prevailing wisdom, as explained to me by Robert Ersek, MD, a plastic surgeon in Austin, Texas, is that the device damages cells just under the skin. When these cells heal, they are flatter, thus the treated area appears slimmer. And the Cellu-M6 seems to work faster than the old machines. Margulies says, because it boosts surface blood circulation by 200 percent - thereby increasing fat drainage. (A great masseuse elevates blood flow just 60 percent.)

After only 12 sessions with Margulies I had lost an inch and a half everywhere except my knees. This new Endermologie experience was even more therapeutic than the last one. What could feel better than 35 minutes of massaging away your fat? As I lay on the table, I felt pulsing in addition to the vacuuming sensation I was used to. Margulies started on the front of my thighs, then continued on to my rear and sides (where she lingered on the upper thigh area - I tried not to take it personally). Then she did my stomach. Initially, I asked her whether the machine could suck my organs right out of me. "No way," she said as she revved it up and attacked her own (washboard) stomach in a safety demonstration. I noticed that my skin looked better after only a few sessions - apparently the device exfoliates as it smoothens.

So now you know why I'm a convert. But you shouldn't just take my word for it. In a recent study, Dr. Ersek found that just seven 45-minute treatments produced an average reduction in circumference of about a half inch; 14 sessions equaled a reduction of three-quarters of an inch. It's this research that the device's manufacturer showed the FDA.

Of course, there are serious drawbacks. Once you stop going, the cellulite creeps back. And 14 sessions aren't cheap: Treatments run $65 to $125 per visit and practitioners recommend at least 21 sessions, se we're talking around $2,000. It's a lot, but for me the experiment was worth it-and it took me one step closer to fulfilling my teenage fantasy of walking down Main Street in hot pants.

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