Lithotripsy : What is lithotripsy?

The story of the invention of lithotripsy is only now emerging. It was invented in Bulgaria by ..... For a long time it was though that the German company, Dornier, were the inventors and back in the late 1970's, their scientists were interested in the pressure waves, later to be called shock waves, on the nose cones of space rockets re-entering the atmosphere. By wonderful lateral thinking they applied their discovery of the shock waves to create the first non-invasive surgery. Using pulses of sudden sound they focussed on a kidney stone and disintegrated it to sand so that it could be flushed out of the body thereby removing a stone that would otherwise have required severe and deep surgery and months of healing. The early history will surely be compiled because many of the inventors are still alive and Bulgaria is now a free country.

The shock waves are made by flashing high voltage electricity between an anode and a cathode in a similar way to a spark plug in a car engine. In the lithotripter it is done in water and the first machines immersed the patient in a bath of water. Later the procedure was simplified by using gel instead of water so that the shock waves passed through the gel and into the body and the body behaves to the waves in the same way as water. To aim at a stone, the shock head was aligned with an X ray and an ultrasound scanner. The shock waves are focussed by a reflector called a parabola. Changing the shape of the parabola changes the focussing distance.

About the mid 1980's it was asked what would happen to bone if it was hit by the shockwaves. The answer was that the bone micro-fractured and then healed very well. Thus was discovered a cure for bones that would not heal. By zapping them with a lithotripter they were forced to heal and as well as the urologists using lithotripters on kidney stones the orthopaedic surgeons were then bringing their patients along to treat legs and arms. The manufacturers made machines especially for orthopaedic work to get around the problem of spacers. A kidney stone requires a focus of about 150 mm but a bone might be only 50 mm deep inside a leg. It was easier to re-shape the parabola. The early orthopaedic lithotripters had power controls and it was discovered that most were used at low power on sports injuries. The users were showing the manufacturers where their market lay.

By the mid 1990's we got reports of lithotripters curing cellulite. It was not clear whether it was a permanent cure and what exactly was happening to the skin structure. However, the main problem was that the medical machines were priced for sale to hospitals and were much too expensive for the beauty market. CellSonic started work on a purpose built machine and it took over five years to satisfy the original design specifications of safety, price and performance. All existing machines were ignored and completely new circuitry and designs were invented bringing lithotripsy to everyone world wide.

Is it safe?

Yes. It is safer than scissors and no one regards scissors as dangerous but they can be in the wrong hands. The same with a lithotripter, a motor car and a cooking stove. You have to be sensible. That is why every CellSonic therapist has been trained and is monitored by the local distributor who in turn is checked continuously by the company.

Let us say now that if you have any doubt about the treatment, tell us straight away. The "Ask any questions" button flashes a message to us that will be seen immediately and acted on.

In the early stages of development we had a problem with the CellSonic machine not working. Eventually we found why it was not working. Built in is a device to check that the earthing is adequate. If it is not, the machine will not work. So in fact the machine was working. It was failing safe. Details about the electricity supply are included with the instruction manual and when the distributor installs the machine they will check the supply.

The numbers of shocks (sound, not electric) that can be delivered in one cycle is set by the factory. You can not do too many.

The power can not be changed. This is deliberate. It is not possible to turn up the machine. If a large area has to be treated there are no short cuts. You have to just work steadily at each area and bit by bit apply the treatment. There is a limit to what the body can stand and we are well under that limit.

For over thirty years, lithotripters have treated millions of patients firing billions of shocks into the body. There are no known side effects even though armies of doctors and inspectors have been looking for them. Even the industry has been trying to find faults. What better way to beat your competitor than by showing that his machine is dangerous but it has never happened? The technology is safe.

There are now many manufacturers of lithotripters in many countries. It is standard medical equipment.

The fat released from the cellulite and the underlying layers travels around the body into the liver and eventually out of the body. This has been well researched by doctors and the conclusion is that the ability of the body to handle this process is far greater than CellSonic can release fat. Any health dangers could be coming from other factors such as what allowed the fat to accumulate in the first place. For this reason it is essential to have exercise. By exercise we mean getting out of breath and sweating.

Our lithotripsy treatments are non-invasive with no drugs and no anaesthetics. Even the creams to tighten the sagging skin (after removing fat your skin will sag if it has lost its elasticity) so we tighten the skin with creams made entirely of natural ingredients.

Will it work for me?

Yes but we don't know you. That is why you will assessed by a therapist who will explain what can and can not be done. All we can do here is outline the possibilities, what you can do to help yourself and explain the realities of the body and the ever unpopular process of aging.

The objective is to make you thinner and your skin smoother, like, dare we say, you were when you were seventeen. Be realistic. We'll do our best but please understand that your best defence against your body having changed is your growing confidence, experience and sense of humour.

There are conditions under which treatment has to be refused such as pregnancy (doctors always worry about pregnancy and we take their advice) and skin disease. However, there are now medical papers reporting cures of non-healing wounds. Some quite unbelievable wounds have been healed by shock waves and amputations avoided so we shall keep everyone updated as we receive more medical advice. We do not experiment, not on animals and not on humans. We are cautious and we follow.