Laser Lipo Vs LED, aka Laser LIKE Lipo
So here is the scenario, the holidays have come and gone, plus let's not even mention the Quarantine 15, aka15 extra pounds that has crept up out of nowhere, yikes, and now we want to change things for 2021. Where do we start? Do we just go to Groupon? Do we research first on Google? Your friend Ashley had a great experience and lost a few inches her first treatment while Jessica went to a different company and didn’t have the same results…..why you ask? Your friends don’t have the answer. Ok, so we’ve decided to look into and see what it’s all about. Let’s check out what we’ve heard and so we search online, after all, Google never lies ;-). We type in the search bar…..Best Laser Lipo Treatments and boom you’re overwhelmed with ads, clever marketing, and a special deal on Diapers…..Diapers? Hmmm weird. Now your alarm clock goes off, time to pick up the kids from school and start making dinner, 4 hours in front of the computer ‘researching’ has come and gone so fast, thanks Facebook :-D. I give up, I’ll come back to it when I have time and the cycle repeats itself.
Sound familiar……..OK, Let’s peel back that Onion and get to the core. We’ve made sure to wash the onion first after cutting it to avoid the tears.
So here is the Nuts and Bolts, The Brass Tax, The Real Deal…. The Science.
With marketing these days being so clever, agenda driven, and many times downright deceptive its hard to know what to believe. We have been in the Laser Lipo industry for almost a decade and have come across and used many such lasers and LED’s we will be discussing here.
Let’s define what a Laser is. Laser is short for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines a Laser as a device that generates an intense beam of coherent monochromatic (what? This means “containing or using only one color”….of light or radiation..of a single wavelength or frequency, Oxford Languages) light…by stimulate emission of photons from excited atoms or molecules. Lasers are used in drilling and cutting, alignment and guidance, and in surgery..”. By very definition it means an instrument which projects a beam of radiation or light which can be used for many different applications depending on the frequency that can be used from anything simple as scanning a bar code to complex use in surgery.
Let’s now define an LED. LED is short for Light-Emitting Diode. The Oxford Languages Dictionary defines it as “a light-emitting diode (a semiconductor diode which glows when a voltage is applied).” It goes on to say “light sources can be fluorescent tubes, optical fibers, or LED’s”. Again, by very definition it means something that provides light. We know that our favorite flashlights these days use LED’s and are very bright and you don’t want to look at it or you get that “white spot” in your eyes that slowly goes away but luckily always does, makes you think twice about looking into that flashlight though. Another source of LED’s are now Christmas Lights. LED’s don’t get hot either, unlike the traditional Incandescent light bulbs which burn your fingers when changing them out, which is another bonus for those under watered dried up Christmas trees which are like a tinder box inside your home….scary.
Laser and LED machines researched let’s look at the anatomy of your skin and body. TheUniversity of Texas Medical Branch states in their anatomy text book that “The epidermis is the most superficial layer of the skin and provides the first barrier of protection from the invasion of substances into the body”. This is just your skin as you know it, dry and flaky if you live in the Midwest like us. Your skin is typically “about as thin as (a) piece of paper.” Let's look deeper, “the dermis is a tough but elastic support structure that houses nerves, blood vessels, lymphatics…..and is thicker than the epidermis. The dermis varies in thickness. It is very thick on the back (almost 1cm).”
So the outer layer of skin, the epidermis is anywhere from 1-4mm in depth and the dermis layer can be anywhere from 1-10mm in depth. This means the magic word of ‘Subcutaneous Fat’, aka the layer of fat these machines are trying to target and eliminate aren’t found until, on average, about 4mm beneath the skin.
What is in a fat cell? Short answer, Triglycerides. TrigliserWHAT? Basically what is in a Fat Cell is Water, Glycerol, and Free Fatty Acids. Triglycerides are also stored energy. When your body demands more energy these ‘cells secrete fatty acids, can be used by muscles and other tissues as a source of energy’ saysBritannica.com. This is why exercise is also key to losing weight. The more your body needs energy the more of this ‘Fat’ is burned up.
So we’ve figured out what the difference is between the Lasers and LED’s, and have also discussed the layers of skin and where your ‘fat’ typically starts within the body. Now let’s figure out the ‘Depth ofPenetration’ within the body these devices reach because nothing is more frustrating than trying to reach for your favorite grocery item located on the top shelf only to find we’re vertically challenged and that item is just out of reach…thank you for considering me when designing your store made for giants said no one ;-D.
Pubmed.gov states that lasers have a depth of ‘penetration of laser radiation using (various) wavelengths…may be up to 50mm’ or nearly2 inches deep, plenty deep enough to hit the ‘fat’ layers. Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov says ‘infrared LED treatment can penetrate the skin between 5 and 10mm…’.
Here is the bottom line. Unbiased, just facts. Lasers are energy beams of radiation that can and do blind people when stared at….ever tried staring at the Sun….take my word on it…DON’T. Staring at the Sun is very bad for the eyes and that ‘white spot’ this time doesn’t go away. They also have a deeper level of penetration and have been proven affective in causing a natural reaction within the Fat cell which causes that cell to excrete ALL of its contents as it would when exercising. Ever seen a grape turned into a raisin. LED’s on the other hand are very bright lights. They have been used to treatCellulite under the skin but are not very effective at liquefying the fat cells which is what we are targeting. Their depth of penetration just scratches the surface of the fat cell in most cases and does cause a reaction within said Fat cell that allows for the water to escape. The problem now is that water is quickly re-absorbed and we’re back to square one unless you can burn that water off with exercise.
The Laser units we have here at Laser Lipo of Utah are the best units in the industry to date. They are one of the ONLY laser lipo units to receive FDA clearance. Our laser is about 4 times more affective than the other two laser lipo units also backed by the FDA. The depth of penetration thru the skin to the fat layer is nearly half inch deep, between 9-13mm, and is very affective at releasing the contents within the fat cell. We also have you stand on a whole body vibration unit, for 10 minutes, which will be in another blog post on the benefits and instant exercise received. Each 10 minutes on these machines is like an hours workout in the gym.
If you have reached the bottom of this blog, thank you and I hope you learned something in your research this time ;-). LED’s can work and Lasers DO work, it's all science.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at 801-432-8519.
-Sincerely, your Laser Lipo of Utah crew
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