Spa brings fat-freezing service to Meredith

MEREDITH — So you’ve worked hard to lose weight, and you’re liking the way you look now. That is, except for that one spot.

Staci McCarthy and Darlaine Laviolette, owners of LIFE Medi-Spa in Meredith call that “stubborn fat,” a pocket of fat cells that are hard to target through exercise. For some people, it’s under the chin, or around the armpits, or the “love handles.” When working out doesn’t do the trick, they have a solution, thanks to a new machine that promises to freeze the fat away.

Called CoolSculpting, LIFE Medi Spa began offering the treatment at the beginning of October, and it has already become tied with laser hair removal for the second most popular service offered at the spa, behind only Botox treatments.

LIFE Medi Spa is the only spa in the region offering CoolSculpting; the next nearest competition is in Concord.

CoolSculpting, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2010, applies freezing temperatures to a targeted part of the patient’s body. The treatment takes 35 minutes, after which about 20 to 25 percent of the fat cells in that targeted area will die. Over the next one to three months, those fat cells will be flushed out of the body, never to return.

“It freezes your fat cells,” said McCarthy. “It’s not any radiation, you’re not going under the knife. It’s amazing, we’ve had great results, we’re excited about it.” If further reduction in area is desired, the same part of the body and be treated multiple times.

Those treatments can become expensive, though. Each treatment area covers about six inches by three inches, and each treatment costs about $700. Some areas, such as under the chin, might require only one treatment, but larger areas – stomachs, thighs, arms – could require as many as eight treatments.

McCarthy and Laviolette opened LIFE Medi Spa, located at 3 Winona Road, on May 1 of this year. Their goal was to make the business a “one-stop shop” for esthetic services, McCarthy said, and their first summer was “excellent.”

Their clients have ranged in age from teenagers to septagenarians, and while the majority are female, about 15 percent are men. The industry has seen male interest in esthetic services rising, especially to reduce wrinkles with Botox or to remove body hair through laser treatments.

McCarthy said their clients are more PTA than Hollywood types.

“It’s your normal, average person that wants to age gracefully,” she said. “Most of the things that we do here, people wouldn’t notice, they just say, ‘Wow, you look great today.’”

Their services are about restoring confidence and self-esteem, said Laviolette.

“It’s definitely in the eye of the beholder, you have to have confidence and feel comfortable in your own skin,” Laviolette said. “For some of our clients, there’s something in their appearance that is holding them back from the life that they want to live.”