Episode 5 - Cellulite Treatment and Body Contouring Options with Leo Dagovich

Cellulite Treatment and Body Contouring Options

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Teri Struck: Hi, I'm Teri Struck, host of Beauty Now, a beauty junkie on the quest to remain ageless. Today I'm lucky to interview Leo Dagovich, RN. He hails from Russia.

Leo Dagovich: "It's very important for the person to keep up with their normal diet, exercise."

 "I have a patient right now of 82 years old who is doing this so well and just a couple days ago she mentioned that she is wearing two sizes less pants"

Teri Struck: He's going to tell us all about how to get rid of that pesky cellulite that most of us are affected by. Welcome, Leo.

Leo Dagovich: Thank you so much for having me here. Hi Teri,

Teri Struck: Hi Leo, can you tell our listeners today about VelaSmooth. I understand that that is the machine that you have purchased, a laser cellulite machine. It's the only FDA approved cellulite treatment.

Leo Dagovich: That's absolutely correct, except that there is no laser involved in this particular machine.

Teri Struck: Oh really, I'm so surprised. I thought it was a laser cellulite . . .

Leo Dagovich: Yeah, probably because of the effect this machine does, it has to be powered by something more powerful, but it does pretty well just using practically three energies, the first one is the infrared light  . . .

Teri Struck: So it's an infrared heat, then?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely correct.

Teri Struck: And so how does it work?

Leo Dagovich: It works by heating the area which needs to be corrected. And using two energies. The first one is the infrared light which we were talking about which creates the bulk of the heating, and it brings a lot of oxygen and increased metabolism of the tissues. And radio frequency waves, the second energy in this product, kind of liquidize some fat tissue, and because of increased metabolism and much de-articulation in this particular area, the liquidized fat tissue is going outside of the cells, goes into the lymph flow, and then is excreted by the kidneys, and hopefully gives patients very beautiful, very smooth looking skin.

Teri Struck: Well, for the few lucky women that have no idea what cellulite is, or for all of us that are discovering what cellulite is, let me explain that its fat cells that protrude out through the connective tissue causing dimpling or a like a cottage cheese appearance. If you squeeze the sides of your thighs you might see some dimpling, which is actually water, fluid, and fat? Is that correct?

Leo Dagovich: It's absolutely correct, Teri.

Teri Struck: So tell me about consultation. What would happen for our listeners if they could find a VelaSmooth specialist in their area and they would go in, and what would happen?

Leo Dagovich: Well we usually start out our consultation with asking patients which area they are most concerned. And if patients are okay with it, we make pictures, because for the patients it's very interesting to see the difference - what it was, what its going to look like - after we complete the treatment.  The session usually takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour length and usually feels like very warm, very pleasant massage. Sometimes it can be slightly uncomfortable, but we are able to change levels of suction in VelaSmooth and that's the way to control any kind of discomfort.

Teri Struck: And do you have to have your legs shaved for this, is that preferable, no hair on your legs?

Leo Dagovich: If it's just a fine hair or very small hair you don't have to do it. The best for the procedure is actually the area so it increases the blood flow and the contact between the skin and applicator of the machine.

Teri Struck: Now I'm still confused how VelaSmooth really works. Can you explain more about the technology, how it contours the cellulite?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely, it's . . .

Teri Struck: I know it makes you feel better about the way you look; but, I mean, how many treatments does it take to see results?

Leo Dagovich: For the treatments, technology was recently changed within the machine itself, and with the new technology it's possible to use from 8 to 16 treatments. It depends on how satisfied the patient is and how well the process goes. And frequency of the treatments can be once or two times a week. It's very important for the person to keep up with their normal diet, exercise, and . . .

Teri Struck: I agree with that. I mean, I really want all of our listeners to know, because I've actually done the treatments, that if you do not follow a healthy diet - hydration is so important, and also eating healthy, and walking, at least - it's not going to work. If you go home and eat the Doritos and all that kind of stuff, you're going to retain water and its going to come right back. But if you do the treatments in conjunction with your exercise, it is amazing. It's absolutely amazing.

Leo Dagovich: Well, thank you so much.

 Teri Struck: It's true, I love it. And I do think you should have it at least once a month afterwards.

Leo Dagovich: That's absolutely correct, its once or once every two months it would be very good to continue to do treatments just to keep that beautiful, smooth, healthy looking skin.

Teri Struck: What are basically the treatment areas for people?

Leo Dagovich: It's legs; the most popular is legs, on both sides, of course.  It's buttocks. It's upper and lower back. Abdomen is very popular as well. Incredibly fast and visual results on arms as well. And also with a new applicator for VelaSmooth it's possible to do a neck. So it's .  . .

Teri Struck: Right. And also for liposuction patients it's really a must for after surgery because it really helps to smooth out everything and help with healing

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely right. And it's not only after treatment. The doctor who practices in our office, for example, uses sometimes for the patient before surgery so it improves circulation and skin condition so after surgery wounds are healing much better and recovery time much faster compared to the average time. And . . .

Teri Struck: Now can all skin types, African-American women, Hispanic, darker skinned women, can they use this treatment as well?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely. Absolutely no restrictions for the skin color in this machine.

Teri Struck: That's great. And then, what do you recommend when a woman comes in? How much would it cost? Do you have a cost plan? Or, how do they people pay for this?

Leo Dagovich: Yes, absolutely, Usually we have the first session if they'd like just to try it, because people don't know how it feels, how they're going to like the procedure.  Usually we go with the price of $175 just for this session to show them. It's a quite slow session because we go very slow and show and explain what we're doing.  It takes sometimes an hour and a half and they pay $175 just for one session. And after this session, if they like the idea, and they go with it, and they are able to commit for quite a long time - it can take sometimes take up to one month and a half to complete the treatment - the median price for this package, is about $200 a treatment.

Teri Struck: Which is good, when you consider the price of a regular massage. It's really worth it, when you think of the benefits you're going to get.

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely correct and of course you can look forward to decreased muscle aches and pains after this procedure because of the way it's done.

Teri Struck: And the heat.

Leo Dagovich: Yes.

Teri Struck: And the heat, right.

Leo Dagovich: And you definitely increase circulation of the areas and no doubt about increased self confidence, better body image, and a lot of patients saying about tighter and firmer skin over the areas of treatment, as well.

Teri Struck: I've also heard that from my girlfriends that have tried it. So what would be the ideal age? Is there no age limit?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely no age restrictions. I have a patient right now of 82 years old who is doing this so well and just a couple days ago she mentioned that she is wearing 2 sizes less pants.

Teri Struck: So that's great, So she's obviously taking really good care of herself. Which I intend to do. Until I'm 90. I might have to quit at 90, we'll see.

Leo Dagovich: Oh, why? I hope you're not.

Teri Struc : And also, last, before we take a break, I wanted to ask you if a person is significantly overweight are they still a candidate to do this treatment?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely. Sometimes it can be kind of an interesting effect of those, and that's what people have to be concerned about, they look like losing weight even though the weight itself doesn't go down, but the sizes they can wear definitely less. And they say "Oh I'm doing so well. Let me go and have several weeks of dinners." And after this they're coming back and unfortunately getting it back.

Teri Struck: Right, because you do have to stay on a healthy program. But I think it would inspire you to have more confidence and help you during your weight loss program.

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely

Teri Struck: It can help to lose weight, do you think?

Leo Dagovich: If your self esteem is better I'm sure, yes.

Teri Struck: Definitely, I mean, also to see that your skin is tightening and actually the circulation is going.

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely.

Teri Struck: Well Leo, we need to take a break and I want to come back and talk to you more. And it will be a few minutes so we can thank our sponsors.

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely.

Teri Struck: Hi it's Teri Struck, Beauty Now, and we're here talking with Leo Dagovich about cellulite, how do we get rid of it? Let's get rid of that nasty cellulite. Leo is a registered nurse working with a plastic surgeon. He has the VelaSmooth laser. Welcome Leo and thank you for talking with us; and when we last left you were talking about all body sizes can do this treatment?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely. And again it can be legs, abdomen, arms, and with the new applicator, necks, as well. And the results are amazing, no doubt.

Teri Struck: Do you weigh your patients? Or will they even allow it? Because I don't think I'd allow it.

Leo Dagovich: Practically, it's a good idea to weigh the patient and measure the size of areas we are going to be working on because . . .

Teri Struck: And they can see results.

Leo Dagovich: They can see, definitely.

Teri Struck: And also, you know, I think that its good, I know with the Endermologie they used to weigh you if you allowed it, but then you could also see, when you came back, if you were following your diet, which we all know its only good to only lose about two to four pounds a month, because then it will stay off for life.

Leo Dagovich: That's absolutely correct.

Teri Struck: But if you did it in conjunction with this treatment  - I keep calling it a laser treatment, but you're correcting me in saying its not a laser.  It's an infrared treatment?

Leo Dagovich: It's a combination of three energies. Its infrared light which creates the bulk of heating; it's radio frequency, bipolar waves, which creates an additional heat to the area and also liquidizes the fat tissue; and its negative pressure which is like a vacuum suction to the skin and stretches it and exposes it more to the energies which we mentioned about.

Teri Struck: What happens during the treatment? So a woman will come in and you'll do the evaluation and she goes to lay down, and so tell us, walk us through the treatment.

Leo Dagovich: We probably start on pretty low settings of the treatment and ask the patient how that feels and explain what we're doing. We're going to spray the surface of the body with a special spray, which makes suction of the skin absolutely painless. And we go through the areas and try to reach redness and heat coming out of the skin, so to reach points when we create a nice circulation in the areas of treatment.

Teri Struck: And you think this is completely safe. Can you tell our listeners why you believe this is a really safe treatment?

Leo Dagovich: Well it's absolutely safe. There is no pain involved and there is no damage to the skin. It is FDA, of course, cleared.  And it uses no drugs. There is no side effect after this procedure, as well. There is no down time; you can return to your daily activities right away after the treatment. And I cannot even bring in my memory any negative thing about VelaSmooth, except sometimes when we go a little bit too aggressive patients saying "Well, it feels kind of sore." So we decrease the negative pressure and it feels absolutely fine after that.

Teri Struck: I can attest to that, it didn't hurt at all. It's a little warm so you feel sometime maybe - I thought it was a laser, but its infrared heat. And it did feel soothing; and it makes you feel better; it makes you feel like you exercised. That's the great thing about it. It makes you feel like you had an exercise session when you didn't do anything but lay there.

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely right. A lot of people are saying this and a lot of people saying that they are getting rested and some of them even trying to fall asleep.

Teri Struck: Right, exactly. It is very soothing and also there's no drugs and no side effects, that's the good thing.

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely right.

Teri Struck: What does the light spray applied to the treatment area, what is that spray that your spraying on people?

Leo Dagovich: The name of the spray is VelaSpray. It's designed by the same company which produces the VelaSmooth. And it's hypo-allergenic, there is no possible allergic reaction. That's only the spray that makes the suction, or negative pressure of the machine, very safe and painless, Otherwise you would feel like somebody's pinching you all the time. So for this reason we apply spray and the procedure goes very smooth and painless.

Teri Struck: How long do the treatments last? Or the improvements? How long do the improvements last? Let's say you went through your whole six to twelve or eighteen or however much the person needs. How long would that last?

Leo Dagovich: The effects can last for a very long time. Of course we're talking about maintaining the weight and healthy lifestyle. It can last up to two or three months. And it's recommended to have maintenance to be done once a month or once every two months, and in this way it can last for years.

Teri Struck: Well let's recap everything. First of all we want to say that VelaSmooth is FDA cleared, non-surgical and noninvasive. Its effective on all skin types and all skin colors, is that correct?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely right

Teri Struck: And its smooth and it feels good. It feels like a massage. It's heat in the targeted areas.

Leo Dagovich: Right.

Teri Struck: And it does feel like an intense workout afterwards. That's the part I love. I feel like I did something good for myself. And the cost varies, right, on how many treatments that you need and on how many targeted areas that you need? But I think it's manageable, the cost. It's surprisingly manageable. And do you accept payment plans?

Leo Dagovich: Practically any available, yes.

Teri Struck: Right, okay. And then the improvements last anywhere, when you choose to keep it up, 6 to 8 weeks.

Leo Dagovich: Well it would be nice to keep at least once every two months after a series of treatments.

Teri Struck: Its also safe.

Leo Dagovich: It can last for a very long time.

Teri Struck: And really the best candidates are just the people who are concerned about their bodies and who really want to do it. Do you agree with that?

Leo Dagovich: Absolutely, very much so.

Teri Struck: Well Leo, thank you so much for being with us today; and I want to have you back to talk about your laser hair removal system. And also, people, please, if you are a VelaSmooth rep or have cellulite treatments, please email to [email protected]  if you'd like to advertise on this site, or if you'd like us to set up a link for your VelaSmooth system. You can also find Leo at personallifemedia.com.  And we'll link you up with his African laser clinic. We'll give you his website and contact information. anybody across the nation that is a cellulite specialist that would like us to link them, please contact personallifemedia .com.  Leo, thank you so much for being with us today. You gave us some really good information about cellulite. Let's banish cellulite from the planet.

Leo Dagovich: Oh thank you so much for having me here.

Teri Struck: Don't want to see any cellulite.

Leo Dagovich: Thank you so much for having me here and thank you so much, Teri,

Teri Struck: Thank you, Leo.