Zerona Laser Question: "Does The Fat Come Back?"

One of the most common questions that I’m asked during a Zerona laser consultation is whether the fat comes back. Let’s take a minute and review the biological purpose of fat and discuss how the laser works before answering the question. Read on for details...

Biologically speaking, fat is extra energy stored for use during lean times when food is not readily available. Generally speaking, when you eat more calories than you burn through metabolism your body converts the extra caloric energy into fat. The fat is stored in fat cells and released when fuel is necessary to run the body’s cellular machinery.

The Zerona laser emits a low-level, non-thermal light that penetrates the skin and superficial fat cells. The beam of light is stopped by the muscular layer below the superficial fat layer and will not affect the deeper, visceral fat. As you may know, the Zerona laser causes an enzymatic reaction that produces a temporary pore in superficial fat cells. The laser light liquefies the fat. The fat can then leak out into the spaces between the cells where it is carried off by the lymphatic system. The number of total inches lost varies because some people are more efficient at eliminating the liberated fat than others. We use the Body Lite Laser Protocol consisting of a number of treatment enhancing factors to produce optimal results.

As fat is removed from the superficial fat cells, the fat cells look as if they’ve been deflated. It’s kind of like a grape skin with the grape pulp removed. To the fat cell, it’s no different than if you exercised the fat away. When you exercise or use the laser you do not remove fat cells, only fat. To the extent that the fat cells have virtually collapsed, you’ll lose inches because the fat is gone. This is a particularly attractive notion when you’ve lost fat in hard to manage areas.

One might ask, “What would make the fat come back?” To prevent weight gain, we recommend that you follow-up with a healthy diet and an exercise program. The Body Lite Treatment using the Zerona laser is best used as a kick start to a healthy lifestyle. However, if you were maintaining your weight prior to the laser, there is no reason to think you’d gain weight after the laser.

Occassionally, a patient comes in with metabolic problems and they complain that they are gaining weight despite a healthy lifestyle. If a patient has been exercising and eating well and is still gaining weight, then there might be a larger issue at hand. In case of metabolic problems, we approach these by first consulting with the patient and oftentimes we run blood chemistries and hormonal panels to determine the cause of the weight gain.

So, to sum up, if your body is working normally and you haven’t been gaining fat recently (or know all to well why you have), the fat that you lose through the Body Lite Treatment is maintainable.