Treatment library
Independent, plain-English guides to what the evidence says, what marketing leaves out, and the questions worth asking before you book.
Explore all guides
What a treatment may do depends on the exact device or product, the treatment area, the outcome being measured and the person considering it. Each guide opens with that context, then lets you inspect the research, risks and alternatives.
Cryolipolysis
Controlled studies generally find a modest reduction in a treated fat pocket, but results vary and this is contouring rather than weight loss. The uncommon risk of paradoxical fat growth also deserves more attention than marketing usually gives it.
Local injection lipolysis — and how it differs from GLP-1 medicines
These injections should not share one verdict: prescription deoxycholic acid has trials for fat beneath the chin, Aqualyx has smaller product-specific studies, comparable Lemon Bottle trials are lacking, and GLP-1 medicines treat weight systemically rather than dissolving one chosen fat pocket.
Focused ultrasound across medicine and aesthetics
Focused ultrasound can destroy mapped tissue in hospital medicine or create smaller thermal zones in aesthetics, but those uses share physics rather than one evidence base. Evidence is indication- and device-specific, with selected facial uses better studied than intimate cosmetic HIFU.
Non-invasive therapeutic ultrasound body contouring
Some small studies report local circumference or skinfold changes after ultrasound body contouring, but “cavitation” covers unlike devices and protocols. Modern independent evidence for the varied salon-style treatments remains sparse, so a marketed centimetre loss should not be treated as a predictable result.
Vaginal laser, radiofrequency and focused ultrasound
“Vaginal tightening” groups together different symptoms and devices that should not share one promise. Controlled findings for laser and radiofrequency are inconsistent, direct intimate-HIFU evidence is sparse, and dryness, pain, continence or prolapse concerns may need diagnosis-led care instead.