EMSculpt Neo Side Effects: What Is Normal, What Is Not, and Who Should Not Have It
Contents
EMSculpt Neo has one of the shortest side effect lists of any body treatment, mostly because nothing is cut, injected or frozen. The muscle does the work and the radiofrequency warms the fat over it. It is still an intense treatment, and there is a group of people who should not have it. This page covers what is normal in the day or two afterwards, what is not, and the medical reasons we would turn you away, based on what we see at our clinic in Whickham, Newcastle.
The short version
- Normal: muscle soreness like a hard workout for a day or two, warmth and a pink patch over the area for an hour or so, and a muscle that feels worked.
- Not normal: pain that gets worse rather than better, blistering, or numbness that lasts. All rare on a genuine device, and all reasons to call us.
- Not treated: pregnancy, a pacemaker or any implanted electronics, metal in the area (including a copper coil if the stomach is being treated), a hernia at the site, recent surgery, and a few conditions we check at the free assessment.
What EMSculpt Neo feels like during the session
The session is 30 minutes. For the first few minutes the main thing you notice is warmth from the radiofrequency, a bit like a heat pack on the area. Then the contractions start. Your practitioner sets the intensity low and turns it up as you get used to it, and by the middle of the session the muscle is contracting fully, around 20,000 times in total. It feels like a deep pulling and tapping rather than pain, and it is strange the first time because your muscle is working flat out while you lie still. You can talk, and most people scroll on their phone. The tapping phases between the contractions are there to flush the muscle, which is why the soreness afterwards is milder than that amount of work would normally give you.
Side effects that are normal
Muscle soreness
The most common one. For 24 to 48 hours the treated muscle feels the way it does after a serious gym session, and it is usually strongest after the first appointment and mildest after the fourth. It needs nothing. Move normally, drink water and it goes.
Warmth and redness
The radiofrequency leaves the skin warm and a little pink. That settles within an hour or two.
A muscle that feels tired
After a session on the buttocks, stairs feel like leg day. After the stomach, you notice your core when you sit up in bed. It is the same fatigue you get from training and it passes in a day.
Twitching or tingling
Some people feel the muscle twitch for a short while after the applicator comes off. It stops on its own.
A cramp during the session
Occasionally the muscle cramps while it is contracting. Your practitioner lowers the intensity and it goes. Tell them straight away rather than sitting through it.
There is nothing to recover from. You can go back to work, drive and train the same day if you want to, although most people leave the gym until the next day.
Side effects that are not normal
These are rare and you should call us if any of them happen. Pain that increases over the following day instead of fading. Skin that blisters or stays red for more than a day. Numbness in the area that lasts. A genuine EMSculpt Neo has temperature sensors in the applicator and cuts out if the skin gets too warm, which is why skin burns are almost unheard of on the real device. The stories you may have read about burns and uneven results nearly all come from lookalike machines, which is one of the reasons we are clear about the device we run. Our EMS vs EMSculpt Neo page explains the difference. We are a medically led clinic, so if anything worries you after a session, someone who understands the treatment will look at it.
Who should not have EMSculpt Neo
Most of these are about the electromagnetic field and the heat, and we go through all of them at the free assessment before anything is booked.
- Pregnancy. It is not used at any stage. After a baby, once you have been signed off to exercise again, it is one of the few treatments that does something for the separated stomach muscles.
- A pacemaker, defibrillator, nerve stimulator or drug pump. Any implanted electronic device rules it out, wherever the device sits.
- Metal in the treatment area. Plates, screws and pins near the area, and a copper coil if the stomach is being treated. A hormonal coil is not metal, but tell us which you have so we can check.
- A hernia at the site. The contractions are too strong to treat over one.
- Recent surgery in the area. The scar needs to be fully healed, and we will ask how long ago it was.
- Epilepsy.
- Active cancer, or recent treatment for it.
- A bleeding disorder, or blood thinning medication.
- Heart or lung conditions that a doctor is managing. We would want to know what and how it is controlled.
- A fever or infection on the day. We move the appointment.
- Under 18.
One more that is about results rather than safety: a thick layer of fat over the muscle. The contractions cannot reach through it properly and the result disappoints, so we would treat the fat first with fat freezing or Emerald Laser and bring EMSculpt in afterwards. We will tell you that at the assessment rather than take the booking.
Is EMSculpt Neo safe?
Yes, for the people it suits. It is CE marked and FDA cleared for the stomach, buttocks, arms, thighs and calves, and BTL, who make it, put it through seven clinical studies before it was sold. The muscle change it produces is the same adaptation you get from training, just reached faster, and nothing is done to the skin or the organs. The biggest safety variable with any EMSculpt treatment is the machine itself, which is why it matters that a clinic can tell you what it runs. Ours is a genuine BTL EMSculpt Neo, and you are welcome to see it. Full details are on our EMSculpt Neo in Newcastle page.
Common questions
Does EMSculpt Neo hurt?
No. It is intense, and the first session feels odd, but it is not painful. The intensity is set to what you can comfortably take and turned up as you adjust.
Can I exercise after EMSculpt Neo?
Yes. There is no reason to rest the muscle. Most people leave heavy training until the next day because the muscle already feels worked.
Can I have the stomach treated during my period?
We would rather not on a heavy day, because the contractions can make cramps worse. We move the appointment by a few days.
Does EMSculpt Neo damage the muscle?
No. A contraction stronger than you could manage yourself is exactly what makes muscle grow, and the muscle recovers the way it does after training.
Are there long term side effects?
None have been reported in the studies or in the years the device has been in use. The muscle behaves like muscle you built in the gym, and the fat that has been cleared does not come back as long as your weight stays roughly stable.
Not sure if it is right for you?
Book a free assessment at our clinic in Whickham, Newcastle. We go through your medical history, look at the area, and tell you straight whether EMSculpt Neo is suitable or whether something else should come first. Call 0191 649 8699 or text 07307 201681.
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