Worried about those hard-to-shift Christmas pounds? You could lose an inch or so with an unusual new treatment that literally melts off the fat, offered by Ten Years Younger at the Sandon Clinic in Plymouth
I don't know what Audrey Hepburn does for a woman, but for a man she could melt even the most macho resolve. Photographs of Audrey line the walls of the elegant Sandon Clinic in Plymouth's Millfields Centre where Ten Years Younger is based, and as an advertisement for the chic sophistication that the clinic exists to promote, there couldn't be a better one. Debbie Fuller, a trained nurse, fronts the clinic, which provides a whole range of cosmetic beauty treatments under one roof.
Indeed, you would have to go a long way to find such a concentration of beauty therapies so close at hand. "We are, I believe, the first clinic of its kind in Plymouth, if not the county," Debbie told me as we discussed the treatment I was about to undergo. Although beauty therapy might be thought to be an exclusively female province, Debbie told me that men, increasingly, are undertaking a variety of treatments (and men-only clinics will be available soon).
It would take an awful lot of treatment on me to achieve the male equivalent of the Hepburn persona but I was there specifically to try out a brand new regime that has Debbie and her colleagues very excited. Much of what the clinic does is nothing new: botox, dermal fillers, microdermabrasion, skin peel, and teeth whitening, are all treatments that are readily available elsewhere, but Accent radio frequency fat reduction and skin tightening is something new. In essence, this is a machine which uses radio frequencies to literally melt fat away, applying deep heating to the fat cells to encourage new collagen production and skin remodelling, to stimulate enhanced blood circulation to help drain toxins and trapped fatty deposits, and help shrink the fat cells. The 'melted' fat is then naturally removed from the body over the next week or so. "Results obviously vary from individual to individual," Debbie told me, "and male fat tissue is much harder to shift than female, but with the appropriate after-treatment regime of healthy eating and toxin flushing, we could be looking at a reduction in measurement of one inch per session." It isn't necessary to diet in conjunction, but healthy eating will obviously help, and the treatment should hold good for three years.
That sounds like quite an impressive claim but Debbie and her colleagues are convinced of the efficacy of the treatment, which they have all used themselves. On the single session that I received (to reduce fat on the sides of my abdomen) there was a measured difference of half-an-inch reduction. Some of that, as Debbie says, may have been natural contraction after the quite intensive - but not unpleasant - treatment, but it was much more than I had anticipated, and if that level was maintained over a course of treatment I could see just how impressive that might be, and with easy-payment facilities available for all the treatments, much more affordable than might be imagined. The clinic also runs a series of free open evenings to introduce the therapies available. Check out the website for details.
The RF treatment lasts up to two hours and consists of a number of passes over the targeted areas with the massage tool (once the tissue has been heated to the correct temperature to liquefy the fat layer). Constant movement ensures that the temperature does not become too hot but communication between client and operator during treatment is essential since comfort levels vary between individuals.
Although fat reduction is the end result, Access RF treatment doesn't actually replace weight loss as a healthy lifestyle. However, it does help towards it and provides an incentive to maintain the trimmed-down look that it can achieve. Frankly, I came away impressed - even if I was less of a man than when I went in.
MALCOLM TWIGG
For more information about the treatments that Ten Years Younger can offer 01752 222107 or visit the website at www.tenyearsyoungerltd.co.uk.
