The Body Contouring Mastermind

by Natasha Wolff | September 14, 2016 10:00 am

Aesthetic laser specialist Jeannel Astarita doesn’t cut corners. When she worked in various doctors’ offices and saw patients whose concerns couldn’t be suitably addressed by whatever body-contouring machines she had on-hand, she’d send them away, refusing to treat using anything other than the precise mix of technology she knew to be best. It’s not common practice in an industry where, to some, patients look like walking, talking dollar signs—and machines are expensive enough that most offices can afford only one or two—but Astarita is not your average specialist. Instead of waiting for her doctor-employers to buy all the machines on her wish list, she bought them herself, each and every gleaming hunk of metal. Now Astarita treats clients out of one of two Eva Scrivo salons in Manhattan, where she keeps her 10-machine arsenal (some of which are multipurpose), mixing and matching to refine each client’s body. You might say she’s something of a mechanical mad scientist.

Some of Jeannel Astarita’s favorite mechanical cocktails

Although Astarita’s methods are proprietary and her combination of treatments is completely customized, one of her most-requested treatments is CoolSculpting, which she calls the “gold standard” for noninvasive fat reduction. It uses controlled cooling to selectively destroy fat cells by freezing them without harming surrounding tissue. Though it was once recommended for patients with just a small amount of unwanted fat, Astarita, ever the sculpting pioneer, tried it on a wider variety of body types—and the results were amazing. That’s when she first realized she might be able to combine a number of machines to get previously unheard-of results, with one or two machines doing the “heavy lifting” and others serving to complement, smooth and reshape for the most natural look.

Some of Jeannel Astarita’s favorite mechanical cocktails

She often uses Vanquish, for example, to blend and tighten areas that have had multiple sessions of CoolSculpting. “I call it my shrink-wrap service,” says Astarita, who explains that Vanquish uses noncontact radio frequency to kill fat cells with heat. She’ll also use Vanquish with UltraShape, which she calls “the most comfortable” of all the effective treatments. “It works by causing the fat cells to vibrate until they rupture,” she says, “destroying the cell membrane, which is then processed as waste.” She might use UltraShape to enhance the fat-melting benefits of Futura Fit, a machine that simulates the effects of a superhuman workout, calling on ultrasound and electric muscle stimulation to liquefy fat and build muscle tone. Exilis Elite, often used after Vanquish, is a radio-frequency device that resurfaces and tightens skin, smoothing over unwanted lumps and bumps, while ZWave, used post-CoolSculpting (and sometimes post-Vanquish), serves to enhance overall outcomes by using radial acoustic shockwaves to “break up the destroyed fat cells, stimulate lymphatic drainage and increase blood flow,” says Astarita. Mad scientist, indeed. 

Photo: Getty Images

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