CELLFINA
Cellfina is the only FDA-approved, minimally invasive procedure clinically proven to improve the appearance of cellulite for at least three years. Dr. Jason Emer, a board-certified dermatologist and world-renowned expert in non-surgical skin rejuvenation and body sculpting, enhances the effects of Cellfina through innovative treatment combinations. By meticulously selecting complementary treatments for each unique Cellfina patient he treats at his West Hollywood medical practice, Dr. Emer consistently delivers exceptional and unparalleled cellulite reduction results.
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WHAT IS CELLFINA?
Cellulite Treatment
Cellfina is a cellulite reduction treatment that works to eliminate the underlying condition that causes cellulite. Cellulite occurs when connective fibrous bands pull skin downward, into the superficial fatty tissue. The tension created by the bands results in the dimples and depressions we associate with cellulite.
Dr. Emer can precisely direct the Cellfina device’s small, motorized needle to severe the fibrous bands responsible for unwanted dimpling. Once the bands are cut, tension on the skin’s surface is released, restoring a smoother, more aesthetic appearance.
Cellfina is a quick, minimally invasive procedure performed in-office at Dr. Emer’s Beverly Hills medical practice. Total treatment time is typically one hour or less.
QUALIFICATIONS
INNOVATOR + SCIENTIST + ARTIST
Dr. Emer is known throughout the world as a leading medical artist and pioneer in cutting-edge, combination body contouring procedures that are both visually transformative and overall life-changing.
Dr. Jason Emer is a board-certified dermatologist specializing in cosmetic, laser and procedural dermatology, including facial sculpting with fillers and hi definition body contouring transformations in West Hollywood, California. He is behind some of Beverly Hills most defined bodies, impeccable skin, and chiseled facial features. He is an aesthetic visionary who dares to be different.
GO BEYOND
WITH DR. EMER
Cellfina is a minimally invasive device that uses a small motorized needle to lift the fibrous bands underneath the surface of the skin to improve cellulite.
INNOVATOR + SCIENTIST + ARTIST
Dr. Emer is known throughout the world as a leading medical artist and pioneer in cutting-edge, combination body contouring procedures that are both visually transformative and overall life-changing.
Dr. Jason Emer is a board-certified dermatologist specializing in cosmetic, laser and procedural dermatology, including facial sculpting with fillers and hi definition body contouring transformations in West Hollywood, California. He is behind some of Beverly Hills most defined bodies, impeccable skin, and chiseled facial features. He is an aesthetic visionary who dares to be different.
Right for you?
Am I a Good Candidate for Cellfina?
Dr. Emer will consider a range of technologies, devices, and methods when creating your cellulite reduction plan. Based on your anatomy, location of the treatment area(s), and whether skin laxity is present, he will determine the best protocol to achieve your desired results.
Cellfina is most effective on cellulite that appears as dimples, though Dr. Emer has developed treatments that combine Cellfina with fillers, fat grafting, and energy-based skin tightening treatments to help improve waves and ripples as well. For patients who have considerable loose skin and/or excess fat, surgical intervention such as a butt lift or HD lipo procedure may be recommended.
Dr. Jason Emer: Cellulite
Cellulite affects a vast majority of women (up to 80-90%) as well as a small number of men, and is a highly common condition that often occurs in the hips, buttocks, and thighs but can also appear on the breasts, upper arms, and lower abdomen. Even individuals who are physically fit, highly athletic, or toned can still be impacted by cellulite.
Typically accompanied by skin laxity and water retention, cellulite is inflammation and scarring of the superficial fat tissue. Collagen fibers anchor the skin down to the deeper tissues while fat tissue simultaneously pushes the loose skin upwards. This causes the all-too-familiar cellulite appearance, characterized by lumpy, dimpled, rippled, and wavy skin. There are varying grades of cellulite, ranging from a mild, orange-peel appearance to a moderate, “cottage cheese” appearance to a “quilted mattress” look with severe dimpling and indentation.
How Effective is Cellfina?
procedure details
While Cellfina can improve cellulite as a singular treatment, Dr. Emer capitalizes on Cellfina results by combining it with additional minimally invasive treatments. His innovative, patient-specific combination treatments deliver enhanced results and promote long-term improvements in skin tone and texture. He often combines Cellfina with:
Sculptra
Dr. Emer pairs Cellfina with Sculptra to improve cellulite, smooth the surface of the skin, and promote long-lasting skin tightening. Sculptra is an injectable collagen stimulator and dermal filler made from an absorbable, synthetic material called poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA). Following the Cellfina treatment, Dr. Emer can inject Sculptra underneath and around the treated areas to stimulate natural, long-term collagen production and restore volume to fill out indentations.
With a series of treatments, Sculptra can remodel collagen strands to increase volume and tighten the skin over the course of several months. Large volumes of Sculptra can be used alone or with fillers like Bellafill and/or Renuva synthetic donor fat to help give volume and contour to the buttock if desired.
Fat Injections
Dr. Emer can complement Cellfina with fat injections for long-term volume restoration that can plump depressions and ripples. For patients with unwanted excess fat, autologous fat grafting with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) can be a good option for fat injections. This treatment involves harvesting your own fat, purifying it, enriching it with PRP, and injecting it to sculpt and smooth the treatment area. Alternatively, Renuva synthetic fat injections can provide equally long-lasting improvements without the need for a fat extraction procedure.
Bellafill
Bellafill is an injectable filler that can fill indentations, dimples, and waves in the skin’s surface. For patients who want to improve the contours of the buttocks, in addition to reducing cellulite, Dr. Emer may recommend combining Cellfina with his “Bellalift” procedure, which combines Bellafill and Sculptra to enhance the shape of the buttocks.
External, non-invasive radiofrequency (RF) energy devices
Dr. Emer can pair Cellfina with RF devices like Thermage, BTL Vanquish Me, Venus Legacy, BTL Exilis Ultra, InMode Forma/Contoura, and InMode BodyFX to stimulate collagen production and promote skin tightening. External RF devices can also soften the thick connective tissue that pulls down on the skin and creates indentations.
Microneedling with radiofrequency devices
Devices that pair RF energy and microneedling can rejuvenate the skin and remodel tissue to smooth and tighten the treatment area. Dr. Emer will select from InMode Fractora, InMode Morpheus8, and EndyMed Intensif if microneedling RF is a good option for you.
Non-surgical thread lifting
Thread lifting with Silhouette InstaLift or NovaThreads can address individual dimples or waves. Thread lifting can also improve skin laxity to enhance the effects of Cellfina.
Non-surgical fat reduction
truSculpt iD, CoolSculpting, and BTL Vanquish Me are effective methods of permanently eliminating fat to improve contours.
For those who are prime surgical candidates, Dr. Emer recommends:
- VASER Hi-Definition Liposuction with InMode BodyTite and/or Renuvion (formerly J-Plasma) for optimal fat reduction, body contouring, sculpting, and definition
- butt lift and/or spiral thigh lift with surgical skin tightening and excess skin removal
How It Works
Cellfina: What to expect during treatment
Cellfina treatment begins by creating a roadmap of the procedure. Dr. Emer will view your body under a special overhead light to identify the ripples, dimples, bumps, and waves on the skin. Marking the area with small circles and crosses is an essential step as it allows Dr. Emer to identify which dimples and waves are optimal sites for the Cellfina treatment. Pre-marking the skin also ensures accuracy once the patient is in treatment.
The second phase involves numbing the identified treatment area. A numbing and anti-inflammatory solution is injected across all the pre-marked treatment sites to prevent discomfort during treatment. IV sedation, oral pain medications, or general anesthesia can also be performed if desired.
Once the area has been numbed, Dr. Emer positions the Cellfina applicator over the areas with cellulite and injects a motorized needle beneath the skin at the depth where cellulite bands live. Cellfina’s motorized needle cuts and releases the fibrous bands and disrupts any scars and tissue tugging on the skin. Once the bands are ruptured or released, the treated skin bounces back, the ripples gradually fade, and the skin retains a smoother texture.
What to Expect after Cellfina Treatment
Despite its dramatic improvements, Cellfina involves very minimal downtime. Typically, within 24 to 72 hours after the Cellfina treatment, Dr. Emer’s patients are back to work or back at the gym with only minor soreness and/or bruising. These symptoms may last up to four weeks after the procedure but will not restrict you from any of your daily activities.
HOW DOES DR. EMER DO IT DIFFERENTLY?
While many physicians rely on a single treatment or device to create improvements, Dr. Emer customizes a unique treatment plan for each patient to reduce cellulite long-term, to improve loose, crepey, or sagging skin, and to reduce the fat that accumulates with age in the buttock, posterior thigh, buttock roll, and thighs/legs.
Cellfina Results
HOW LONG DO IMPROVEMENTS LAST?
Dr. Emer’s patients love Cellfina because it can deliver results with just one treatment. Visible improvements can appear within three days and can last for at least three years: the longest FDA-cleared duration for any cellulite treatment.
The longevity of your Cellfina results will depend on how well your skin responds to the Cellfina treatment and the breaking of the connective tissue bands beneath the skin. Although there is no true cure for cellulite, Cellfina can provide significant improvements that can be maintained and enhanced with Dr. Emer’s unique combination approach. It is important to note that Cellfina cannot prevent new cellulite from developing as we age, so periodic cellulite reduction treatments may be necessary to keep your skin looking healthy and youthful.
FAT TRANSFER & FILLER INJECTIONS FOR CELLULITE REDUCTION
Used in combination with Cellfina and Sculptra, autologous fat (from your own body) and dermal fillers can assist in cellulite reduction by plumping and adding volume to the injected areas and filling out the indentations, dimples, ripples, and waves in the skin’s surface.
For those who are too lean or athletic (or for those who are apprehensive about a Hi-Definition Liposuction or fat harvesting procedure), Renuva Adipose Matrix is a safe and effective alternative. Renuva is synthetic donor fat specifically designed to treat small-volume aesthetic irregularities such as cellulite and dimples in the skin. The product is derived from cadavers’ fat cells, which are meticulously tested, screened, purified, and hydrated in fluid to ensure smooth administration to the desired treatment areas.
SUBCISION & BELLAFILL FOR CELLULITE REDUCTION
For patients with mild cellulite or only a small number of dimples and indentations (which may not warrant a more invasive Cellfina treatment), Dr. Emer uses manual in-office subcision, a minimally invasive technique in which a small blade or the tip of a needle is inserted beneath the skin’s surface, breaking apart the tethered bands that create cellulite. Subcision is also used in Dr. Emer’s practice to treat depressed, tethered acne scars.
Following the subcision procedure, Dr. Emer injects Bellafill directly into the treatment area to build collagen and prevent the recurrence of cellulite or dimpling. Made from a safe, biocompatible material, Bellafill is comprised of tiny polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) microspheres suspended within a smooth collagen gel. Once injected, the collagen gel immediately plumps the depressed skin while the PMMA microspheres bind to the tissue and create a scaffold beneath the skin, thereby promoting natural collagen production. The new collagen creates additional volume and reduces the appearance of cellulite as well as scars, fine lines, wrinkles, folds, furrows, and indentations, resulting in a smooth, subtle, and long-term outcome.
For those seeking cellulite reduction as well as improvement in size and contour, Dr. Emer uses his innovative “BellaLift” technique (a combination of Bellafill and Sculptra) to achieve an enhanced, “perkier” buttock and shape that builds over time. BellaLift requires several initial treatments in a single year followed by maintenance treatments 1 to 2 times per year.
EXTERNAL ENERGY-BASED DEVICES FOR CELLULITE REDUCTION
As early as a week after a Cellfina treatment, non-invasive energy-based devices (including Thermage, Vanquish, Venus Legacy, BTL Exilis Ultra, InMode Forma/Contoura, and Body FX) can be used to enhance cellulite reduction and improve skin texture. When delivered to the deeper layers of the skin, RF and ultrasound energy stimulates new collagen formation and fibroblast cell production, resulting in reduced sagging and crepey skin, improved skin texture and tone, and smoother, tighter skin over time. It also slows the aging process by slowing down the degeneration of collagen. With regular treatments, you can maintain a youthful lift and contour for an extended period of time, postponing the need for surgery.
EXTERNAL MICRONEEDLING RF FOR CELLULITE REDUCTION
Ideal for non-surgical, non-invasive skin rejuvenation, microneedling RF devices (such as InMode Fractora, InMode Morpheus8, and EndyMed Intensif) introduce heat into the skin without damaging the skin’s surface to help remodel loose and unhealthy collagen. Through microchannels of energy, microneedling RF stimulates the formation of new collagen, prompts subdermal skin tightening, and improves the skin’s elasticity for remarkable short-term and long-term results. Skin tightening occurs immediately upon treatment application but continues to improve with subsequent treatments at 4 to 12 week intervals. Fractora, Morpheus8, and Intensif are also effective preventive treatments that can delay the inevitable signs of aging and can be used on other areas such as the face, neck, arms, knees, and elbows.
VIBRATION & SHOCKWAVE THERAPY
FOR CELLULITE REDUCTION
Shockwave and massage therapy treatments (such as Cellutone, eVIVE, and ZWave) deliver high frequency vibrations to enhance micro-circulation and oxygen supply in the affected area, which helps to break up scar tissue, stimulate blood flow, tighten the skin, smooth the skin’s surface, and improve muscle definition. Dr. Emer recommends that his patients maintain the results with bi-monthly treatments and combine shockwave and massage therapy with external RF treatments.
NON-SURGICAL THREAD LIFTING FOR CELLULITE REDUCTION
Sagging skin or skin laxity occurs in many parts of the body with aging — the lower face, neck, chest/breasts, upper arms, abdomen, thighs, knees, elbows, and buttocks — but many of Dr. Emer’s patients prefer to avoid surgical lifting through non-surgical techniques like thread lifting. In the buttock area, where cellulite most commonly occurs, Silhouette InstaLift can corset and lift the skin of the buttocks and the buttock roll to create immediate lifting and tightening and prevent sagging over time.
Silhouette InstaLift sutures contain sugar-based cones that are activated once inserted beneath the skin and ultimately dissolve into the tissue. In the weeks to months following the treatment, new collagen forms in their place. This treatment involves minimal downtime, and improvements are significant in areas that are particularly difficult to lift, including the buttocks, knees, arms, and breasts.
COMPLEMENTARY FAT REDUCTION TREATMENTS
Sagging skin or skin laxity occurs in many parts of the body with aging — the lower face, neck, chest/breasts, upper arms, abdomen, thighs, knees, elbows, and buttocks — but many of Dr. Emer’s patients prefer to avoid surgical lifting through non-surgical techniques like thread lifting. In the buttock area, where cellulite most commonly occurs, Silhouette InstaLift can corset and lift the skin of the buttocks and the buttock roll to create immediate lifting and tightening and prevent sagging over time.
Silhouette InstaLift sutures contain sugar-based cones that are activated once inserted beneath the skin and ultimately dissolve into the tissue. In the weeks to months following the treatment, new collagen forms in their place. This treatment involves minimal downtime, and improvements are significant in areas that are particularly difficult to lift, including the buttocks, knees, arms, and breasts.
SURGICAL CELLULITE AND BUTTOCK SCULPTING AND CONTOURING
For patients who are looking not only for cellulite improvement but also for fat reduction, contouring, skin tightening, and definition, a VASER Hi-Definition Liposuction procedure (in combination with fat grafting and minimally invasive “shrink wrap” skin tightening devices like Renuvion and FaceTite/BodyTite) can give you the most toned, sculpted, tight, and smooth result. Dr. Emer’s procedure tightens the skin, improves cellulite, defines and contours the body, and helps to correct botched surgeries and irregularities.
There are plenty of cosmetic and plastic surgeons who can remove fat for mild improvement, but there are only a handful of meticulous, highly skilled Hi-Definition Liposculpture specialists who can remove fat, tighten skin, remove cellulite, correct botched procedures, improve indentations and irregularities, and purify and repurpose the removed fat to create a defined, sculpted figure, all in one procedure.
In the video above, Dr. Emer uses the Toledo Dissection cannula (a unique tool used in Hi-Definition Liposuction procedures or in fat harvesting) to break apart the soft tissue / connective tissue adhesions that cause cellulite and dimpling on the buttocks. The fork-shaped, rounded dissection tip allows for the clearing of soft tissue or fascia with minimal trauma. This technique is combined with internal heating, liposuction, fat grafting, and Cellfina + Sculptra to give much better improvement to the buttock and thighs.
FAQ
Is Cellfina painful?
Dr. Emer uses an injectable numbing medication to ensure that there is very little pain and discomfort during the Cellfina cellulite reduction treatment. IV sedation, oral pain medications, or general anesthesia can be performed if desired.
What is the downtime for Cellfina?
Despite its dramatic improvements, Cellfina involves very minimal downtime. 24 to 72 hours after the Cellfina treatment, Dr. Emer’s patients are typically back to work or back at the gym with only minor swelling and/or bruising. Swelling and bruising may last up to 2 to 4 weeks after the procedure but will not restrict you from any of your daily activities.
Patient Story
WATCH NOW
Buttock dimples
My patient had some stubborn dimpling on her buttock that she wanted to soften without having the downtime from a surgery. She has done other treatments in the past that did not work so well. By using Aveli, I can use a blade with a light to see that I am under the cellulite and confirm that I am cutting them by feeling the septa
We did this treatment in the office under local numbing and she was back at work the next day. This photos are taken 1 week apart in the same treatment room with the same lights. She had sensitivity at the treated areas for a couple days and then just light bruising. We can see now that her cellulite dimpling is dramatically improved with just one treatment
How Much Does Cellfina Cost?
The price of Cellfina is based on the extent of your treatment. The cost of Cellfina is affected by how many dimples need to be addressed and whether complementary skin tightening and/or fat reduction procedures are needed to achieve your desired results. At your consultation, you will receive complete pricing information for all recommended treatments.
Schedule a Consultation at our West Hollywood Office
Dr. Emer’s expertise and experience allow him to deliver remarkable improvements in the appearance of cellulite, so his patients can feel more comfortable and confident in their bodies. Contact us to schedule a consultation with Dr. Emer and experience the incredible results of personalized, cutting-edge cellulite reduction treatment.