In our battle with weight loss, many things cause us endless angst - that exercise can seem to have so little effect, that the kilos shed can easily return or that fat in certain areas can prove impossible to shift.

For all these problems and more, The Artisan Wellness can offer its CynoSure Body Trinity treatments. Utilising equipment made by medical aesthetics company CynoSure, the medispa offers three different but complementary treatments - SculpSure® which is said to help destroy fat cells; StimSure to help improve the appearance of muscle tone; and TempSure, to help to improve the appearance of loose skin.

Medical director and founder of The Artisan Wellness, Dr Isaac Wong, 38, says, "Body Trinity is the first protocol that targets all three layers, from skin to fat to muscle."

Targeting fat

SculpSure® utilises a selective wave-length laser to target fat cells under the skin, using high temperatures to destroy them, in a procedure also known as Warmsculpting. The earliest version of bodysculpting actually involved the opposite - freezing fat cells to get rid of them, called Coolsculpting.

Dr Wong explains, "Warmsculpting is the newer technology. The laser helps to tighten the skin by depositing collagen in the skin layer. It takes four minutes to reach treatment temperature, so each session needs only 25 minutes."

This is usually used on problem areas like the stomach, thighs and love handles.

For muscle

After targeting the fat, muscles can be worked on with StimSure - a high-intensity focused electromagnetic stimulation technology that is said to strengthen and tone muscles, achieving up to 24,000 muscle contractions in 26 minutes, something that cannot be achieved through exercise alone.

As such, it may have an effect for people who find themselves unable to work out. "I use it for patients who have issues like knee pain. Physiotherapists also send us patients who require localised targeted muscle building," explains Dr Wong, who says it is effective for those who need to fight muscle atrophy because of illness or injury. "There is also a big use for post-stroke rehabilitation, as it generates muscle bulk."

Other medical applications of this technology include using it to treat women with diastasis recti, the condition where the two muscles of the belly split apart during pregnancy. "Traditionally, this is fixed by surgery, in which the muscles are stitched back together," says Dr Wong. "With StimSure, there is published data that electromagnetic stimulation can also help the muscles repair."

For skin tightening

The last part in the Body Trinity is TempSure Firm, which utilises radio frequency energy to help with collagen growth. This improves the appearance of loose skin and dimpled skin by helping to break down cellulite. Dr Wong says this is especially useful for people who lose weight fast, and end up with loose skin.

The medispa also uses a version of this, called TempSure Envi, to help with face lifting.

The fact that the treatments offer such a wide range of applications has been something of a natural development for CynoSure. "We started off with providing light-based technology in the medical space but that naturally evolved into aesthetics," says Mr Michael Byers, Southeast Asia regional sales director of the American company which offers a wide range of laser and radio frequency equipment. "There's currently a lot of research going on in the areas of skin rejuvenation and body contouring."

This is a global trend, and Mr Byers has noted the role that the region is playing. He says, "Asia is leading the trend when you look at the aesthetics market. This area is the growth engine because there is such a strong desire to work in areas where image is really important, driven by social media, so people are paying a lot of attention to this."

Most importantly, The Artisan Wellness is at the front of this wave. "Dr Wong is the only one in Singapore, in fact, the only one in Southeast Asia, who currently has StimSure," says Mr Byers.

For more information, visit www.artisanwellness.sg.

* There is no scientific proof that any slimming programme can achieve permanent weight loss; except when accompanied with a balanced diet and regular exercise. Information correct at press time.