Endermologie vs CoolSculpting, cavitation and Emsculpt

What does each treatment target?

From the FDA files and the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), checked October 29, 2026.

BTL announced in July 2019 that Emsculpt was cleared for arms and calves, building on its abdomen, buttock and thigh clearances. The BTL 799-2 files above carry those same indications.

Which layer do you want to change?

Most mix-ups come from treating three different problems as one. Dimpling is a skin-surface look, shaped by the fibrous bands that tie skin to the tissue below. A bulge is a pocket of fat. Softness or a lack of definition is often about muscle. Each device in the table aims at one of those, and none of them handles all three.

So before comparing prices or brands, stand in front of a mirror and name what bothers you. If it is dimpling on the thighs or buttocks, the fat and muscle devices are not built for it. If it is a pocket of fat that stays despite diet and exercise, a cellulite treatment will not shrink it.

CoolSculpting: what the 2024 label adds

The current CoolSculpting Elite clearance is specific. It covers cold-assisted breakdown of fat on the upper arm, bra fat, back fat, banana roll, thigh, abdomen and flank in people with a body mass index of 30 or less, and under the chin and jaw up to a BMI of 46.2. The same file says it is intended to affect the look of visible fat bulges in those areas.

Cellulite is not on that list. The AAD places cryolipolysis, the method behind CoolSculpting, among the treatments it does not recommend for cellulite. Session counts, results timing and a rare side effect called paradoxical adipose hyperplasia are covered in our body contouring guide.

Is cavitation FDA-cleared?

"Cavitation" is a word on spa menus more than a device category. A search of the FDA's 510(k) database on October 29, 2026 found no device with cavitation in its name. Ultrasound devices that are cleared for fat, such as UltraShape, fall under the federal rule for focused ultrasound for aesthetic use, and UltraShape's 2014 clearance names one result: a smaller abdominal circumference.

If a provider offers cavitation, ask for the device brand and its 510(k) number, then check it yourself. In Florida, rule 61G5-18.00015 places ultrasound treatments beyond the scope of a cosmetology license.

Does Emsculpt help cellulite?

BTL's 2018 file describes its 799-2 device as one that produces an electromagnetic field that interacts with body tissue to stimulate muscle, to strengthen, tone and firm the abdomen, buttocks and thighs. Its wording is about muscle. It says nothing about cellulite or the skin surface.

Karisma has its own muscle session, EMS body sculpting (EMS Body Sculpting, $125), which is not sold as a cellulite treatment either. The device Kay uses is the EMSlim Neo.

Where Endermologie fits, and a client's VelaShape comparison

Endermologie is the only one of the four whose FDA wording is about cellulite, and that wording is careful: a temporary reduction in how it looks. Studies are small and mixed, as laid out in does Endermologie work for cellulite?, and the AAD notes cellulite tends to return within a month of stopping.

VelaShape is a fifth device people bring up. The FDA lists it, cleared in 2007, in the device class for vacuum massagers with light-induced heating. One Karisma client who had tried both compared the feel in her Google review, which you can read on the Endermologie page. Karisma does not offer VelaShape.

Which one matches your goal?

• Dimpled thighs or buttocks, for a season: Endermologie, with upkeep. Results are temporary and vary.
• A pocket of fat near your goal weight: a fat-reduction device at a physician-led practice. Not offered at Karisma.
• Softer abdominal or buttock muscles: a muscle device or strength training.
• Loose skin after pregnancy or weight loss: none of these four. Read postpartum body options.
• Pain, swelling or easy bruising in the legs: a physician first. See lipedema vs cellulite.