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What is the Most Exciting New Development in Women's Intimate Wellness? Hello, Emsella!
What is Emsella, and what happens during treatment? Darren M. Smith, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, describes a chair-based treatment that uses electromagnetic stimulation of the pelvic floor. The patient remains clothed, without an internal applicator. The episode focuses on pelvic floor function and stress-related urinary leakage.
In this episode.
Episode summary
What is Emsella, and what happens during treatment? Darren M. Smith, MD, a board-certified plastic surgeon in New York City, describes a chair-based treatment that uses electromagnetic stimulation of the pelvic floor. The patient remains clothed, without an internal applicator. The episode focuses on pelvic floor function and stress-related urinary leakage.
Originally published August 1, 2020. The recording's treatment schedules, prices and early study statistics reflect that period and are not a personalized treatment plan.
What you will learn
🎯 Treatment targets
Emsella and Emsculpt use related electromagnetic technology, but target different muscle groups: the pelvic floor and body muscles respectively.
🪑 Chair-based treatment
The recording describes sitting on a dedicated chair while its magnetic field stimulates pelvic floor contractions.
💬 Urinary leakage
Dr. Smith discusses leakage associated with activity or laughing, including concerns people may notice after childbirth or with age.
🩺 Pelvic floor physical therapy
He describes how device treatment may be considered alongside pelvic floor physical therapy rather than treating these as mutually exclusive approaches.
🧩 Combined treatment planning
The episode introduces the practice's then-current concept of combining abdominal muscle treatment and pelvic floor treatment.
Questions this episode answers
Does Emsella require an internal probe?
No internal probe is described in the recording. The patient stays clothed and sits on the treatment chair. An assessment is still needed to decide whether the treatment is appropriate.
How many sessions are discussed?
In this 2020 episode, Dr. Smith describes six approximately 30-minute sessions over three weeks. That is a historical example; a current clinician should confirm the protocol, contraindications and expected benefits for the individual patient.
Can it be paired with pelvic floor physical therapy?
Yes, Dr. Smith discusses that possibility. The episode is not a diagnosis of the cause of leakage or a promise that one treatment can address every pelvic floor concern.
🔗 Related information
See the practice's current Emsella information and, for the separate abdominal body-contouring treatment, Emsculpt NEO information. You can also schedule a consultation to discuss suitability.
Educational information, not individualized medical advice. Benefits, risks and responses vary; intimate-wellness claims in the audio are not guarantees. Show notes updated September 30, 2026.
Original show notes
Board certified NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Darren Smith introduces Emsella, a non-invasive (dare we say "magical"?) treatment that is taking the intimate wellness space by storm.
Read the conversation.
[00:08] I'm board certified New York City plastic surgeon, Dr. Darren Smith, and this is plastic surgery before and after. Your source for the real deal about plastic surgery procedures, news about trends in aesthetic medicine, and candid sessions with industry insiders. We hope you enjoy today's episode. What's the most exciting new technology for women's intimate health? We are constantly monitoring the market and the literature for the latest breakthroughs in all aspects of aesthetic surgery and wellness. And recently, a really exciting new development came to our attention. I'm talking about Emsella from BTL. And this topic follows naturally from our last episode about Emsculpt, which is also by BTL.
[00:59] Because Emsella harnesses that same HIFEM, the high-intensity focused electromagnetic energy as Emsculpt, but for a different purpose. Emsella was designed as a unique solution for the intimate wellness space. We've heard a lot about different technologies that can be used for vaginal rejuvenation. These have ranged from lasers to radio frequency energy and other technologies. However, they all have one thing in common. They're all very invasive and can be fairly uncomfortable. They also focus exclusively on the health and structure of the vaginal canal. We love Emsella because it takes an entirely new approach to women's intimate wellness. And the difference is immediately evident. There are no probes involved, no wands, and in fact, you remain completely clothed throughout the treatment. All you do is sit in a special chair and read a magazine, drink some coffee, relax, enjoy some private time, and let the process happen.
[02:11] Not only is there no pain or discomfort associated with Emsella, but some actually find the treatment enjoyable. And unlike other women's intimate health treatments, Emsella is not just about the vaginal canal. It also doesn't rely on causing tissue damage to get tissue strengthening and regrowth. Instead, Emsella is a natural holistic approach to women's wellness. So what do I mean by this? Emsella takes that HIFEM, that high intensity focused electromagnetic energy that we've known about from Emsculpt and applies it to the pelvic floor. So while Emsculpt can help you do 20,000 crunches or 20,000 squats in 30 minutes, MSELA actually triggers the equivalent of 11,000 Kegel exercises in 30 minutes. So these exercises engage the entire pelvic floor, building these muscles, increasing blood flow to the area, and taking intimate health to an entirely new level.
[03:21] What's interesting about emcella is that it was initially developed to treat stress incontinence and it does this to great effect. Specifically, there are five clinical studies right now documenting the effectiveness of emcella to treat stress incontinence and these studies have yielded some great statistics, such as women that are completing the Emsella treatment cycle can achieve a 75% reduction in the number of incontinence pads they're using. And they've also documented that 95% of patients that use Emsella report an increase in quality of life. So the intimate health benefits of Emsella were really discovered as something of a happy side effect. So how exactly does emcella work and what is the treatment process like? Well, it's almost deceptively simple. For an emcella treatment, the patient just walks into an exam room, has a seat on a special chair, and sits there for half an hour. And as I mentioned, there are no probes, nothing internal happens, and you can be completely clothed.
[04:40] As you're sitting on that chair, the magnet in the base of the chair is doing its magic. The magnet is producing this high intensity focused electromagnetic energy and inducing 11,000 Kegels in your pelvic floor over the course of your 30 minute treatment. And this builds and tightens and tones the pelvic floor while you just relax. The recommended treatment protocol for Emsella is six of these 30-minute treatments delivered over a three-week period. And some people find that they like to have a touch-up treatment every six to 12 months. How much does Emsella cost? This is going to vary a bit by geography and provider, but we find that an expectation of anywhere between $2,000 and $3,000 for the six treatment set is pretty reasonable.
[05:37] Emsella can also be paired with a pelvic floor physical therapy regimen and it's also good for people that want to be doing kegels but either can't do kegels effectively or having trouble figuring out how to do effective kegels or people that just are having trouble making the time to do enough kegels to really see the benefits. Emsella has proven extremely popular both with women that are looking for the intimate wellness advantages of Emsella and also for those that are looking for a alternative to surgical therapies for mild to moderate stress incontinence. Emsella is really big with new mothers that might be experiencing some leakage with physical activity or laughing and also with older patients that might be developing stress incontinence over time. It also isn't surprising to learn that the abdominal musculature, the musculature of the core is also connected to the musculature of the pelvic floor. So a lot of people that are looking to achieve overall conditioning also really like the idea of combining Emsella treatments with Emsculpt. And this is how the notion of core to floor treatment came about. The two treatments really have a wonderful synergistic effect on your overall wellness.
[07:06] So, Emsella is safe, it's easy, and it can have a dramatic impact on your quality of life. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, share the show, and head over to darrensmithmd.com for more real-world plastic surgery talk.
Sources and context.
Original Captivate episode. Original release date: 2020-08-01. The recording is the source for the transcript and episode discussion. Later context in the written summary is identified separately.
Behind the conversation.
Darren M. Smith, MD, FACS