Emtone Explained

The practice does not offer Emtone. Emtone is a device that combines radiofrequency heating with rapid mechanical pressure applied through the skin, and patients ask about it for cellulite. This page explains what the device is, what its FDA clearance covers, and what Dr. Darren M. Smith uses instead. For radiofrequency skin tightening he uses BodyTite, and for cellulite specifically he uses Avéli.

Leah holding a syringe with a gloved hand

What Emtone is

Emtone is a non-invasive device that combines two things in one handpiece passed over the skin: radiofrequency, which heats tissue, and rapid mechanical pressure, which delivers pulses into it. It is applied to the surface of the skin, most often on the buttocks and thighs, and also on the abdomen and arms. Dr. Smith does not perform it.

Nothing is cut and nothing is placed under the skin. Where the device is offered, it is given as a course of short sessions rather than as a single treatment, and the effect is maintained with further sessions.

Cellulite and skin laxity at this practice are treated with Avéli, BodyTite and Morpheus8. Emtone is not one of them.

How Emtone works

Radiofrequency is delivered from a handpiece passed over the skin, so the energy enters from outside and travels inward. Everything it heats, it heats through the skin surface.

Heat in the dermis causes collagen to contract and prompts the tissue to lay down new collagen over the following weeks. The mechanical component adds rapid pressure pulses, which act on the tissue alongside the heat.

The structural point is that the energy is applied at the surface. Getting heat into the deeper layers means driving it through the skin, and the skin surface has to stay within a safe temperature range, so the deeper the target, the less energy reaches it.

What the FDA clearance covers

The radiofrequency applicator is cleared for tissue heating for the temporary relief of pain and muscle spasm and for increased local circulation. The mechanical component is cleared for a temporary reduction in the appearance of cellulite.

Skin tightening and body contouring are not in that clearance, and neither is fat reduction. It is worth separating three complaints that patients usually describe with the same words:

Dimpling is caused by fibrous septae tethering the skin down from beneath. Releasing those bands is what changes a dimple, which is what Avéli does.
Laxity is loose or crepey skin that has lost its recoil. Heat delivered into the right tissue plane is what tightens it.
Fullness is a fat problem, and liposuction addresses it.

Many patients have two of the three. Which treatment is chosen should follow from which of these is actually driving what you see, and that is a judgment made in person rather than from a device list.

What Dr. Smith uses instead

Dr. Smith uses BodyTite for radiofrequency skin tightening and Avéli for cellulite. The difference from a surface device is where the energy goes. Emtone applies its radiofrequency from outside the skin. BodyTite applies it from within.

BodyTite is a bipolar radiofrequency system. A thin probe is passed under the skin through a small entry point, and a return electrode sits on the skin surface directly above it. The current runs between the two, so the energy is concentrated in the layer of tissue held between them. That layer is the fibrous septal network in the subcutaneous plane, which is the structure that actually contracts and remodels when heated, and it is the structure that determines how tightly skin sits on the body underneath it.

Two consequences follow from that arrangement.

The energy reaches the target directly. It is not being driven down through the skin, so it does not have to overheat the surface on the way to the depth where it does its work. The tissue plane being treated is the tissue plane receiving the energy.
The temperature is measured where it matters. BodyTite monitors temperature at the internal probe as well as at the skin, so the treatment is run to a measured tissue temperature rather than to an estimate inferred from the surface. Collagen contraction depends on reaching a particular temperature in a particular layer, so being able to see that number is the difference between aiming at it and hitting it.

That is why, for a patient whose problem is skin laxity, Dr. Smith recommends BodyTite. It is a procedure rather than a surface treatment: it involves a small incision, local anesthetic or sedation, and a recovery, and it is done once rather than as a course. In exchange, the energy is delivered into the plane that has to change, and the treatment is controlled by measurement.

For cellulite the mechanism is different again. A dimple is produced by a fibrous band tethering the skin to the tissue beneath it, so a treatment that heats tissue from the surface does not release that band. Avéli is passed under the skin and releases those bands, which is why Dr. Smith uses it where dimpling is the complaint. The BodyTite page sets out the radiofrequency procedure in full, and the Avéli page covers cellulite treatment.

What an Emtone treatment involves

This is what the treatment involves where it is offered. Dr. Smith does not perform it.

A conductive gel is applied to the treatment area
The handpiece is passed over the area, delivering heat and mechanical pulses together
The length of a session follows the size of the area treated
Normal activity resumes immediately afterward

Patients generally describe warmth with a tapping sensation. Emtone is given as a course of sessions rather than as a single treatment, with maintenance sessions thereafter.

Safety and suitability

Non-invasive radiofrequency treatments are generally well tolerated, and the usual findings afterward are temporary warmth and redness in the treated area.

Radiofrequency treatment is not appropriate for everyone. Patients with an implanted electronic device such as a pacemaker, patients with a metal implant in the treatment area, patients who are pregnant, and patients with an active skin condition or infection at the site need to raise that before any radiofrequency treatment. Sensitive skin, rosacea and vascular conditions are worth discussing beforehand as well.

If cellulite or loose skin is the problem

Dr. Smith performs Avéli for cellulite dimpling and BodyTite for radiofrequency skin tightening. At consultation he examines the area and says which of them, if either, matches what you are describing.

Avéli, where fibrous bands are tethering the skin and producing dimples
BodyTite, where the skin itself has lost its recoil
Liposuction, where the complaint is fullness rather than skin

Dr. Smith is out of network with all insurance plans, and the practice helps patients use out-of-network benefits toward care; cosmetic treatment is not covered. Financing is available through CareCredit and Alphaeon Credit. The consultation fee is $500 and is applied toward any procedure.

Common questions about Emtone

Is Emtone offered at this practice?

No. Dr. Smith does not offer Emtone. For cellulite he performs Avéli, and for radiofrequency skin tightening he performs BodyTite.

Does Emtone tighten loose skin?

Skin tightening is not part of the device's FDA clearance. Where skin laxity is the complaint, Dr. Smith uses BodyTite, which runs current between an electrode on a cannula beneath the skin and a second electrode on the surface above it, so the energy concentrates in the plane between them.

Does Emtone remove fat?

Fat reduction is not among its cleared claims. Where fullness is the complaint, liposuction addresses it directly.

Will it get rid of cellulite dimples?

A dimple is produced by a fibrous band tethering the skin from underneath. Releasing that band is what changes the dimple, and that is what Avéli does. Surface energy treatments act on the skin and the tissue around the dimple rather than on the tether.

Why does it matter where the energy comes from?

Emtone applies radiofrequency from outside the skin, so the heat has to pass through the skin surface to reach anything deeper. BodyTite is bipolar: the current runs between an electrode on a cannula under the skin and a second electrode on the surface above it, so it concentrates in the plane between them, and the temperature is measured at the probe itself.

What does the FDA clearance for Emtone cover?

Why does the practice not offer Emtone?

Dr. Smith treats cellulite with Avéli and skin laxity with BodyTite. Both act beneath the skin: Avéli releases the fibrous bands that tether a dimple, and BodyTite delivers radiofrequency between an internal and an external electrode with the temperature read at the probe. Emtone applies its energy from outside the skin.

What does Avéli do that a surface device does not?

Avéli is passed under the skin through a small entry point and releases the fibrous bands that tether a dimple down. A device applied to the skin surface heats the tissue around the dimple but does not reach the band.

Can cellulite, laxity and fat be treated together?

Treatments for cellulite, laxity and fat are routinely combined or sequenced, because most patients have more than one of those problems. What matters is that each component of the complaint is matched to a treatment that acts on it.

Who should not have radiofrequency treatment?

Patients with an implanted electronic device such as a pacemaker, patients with metal implants in the treatment area, patients who are pregnant, and patients with an active skin infection at the site. Raise any of these before any radiofrequency treatment.