Endospheres Therapy in London: what it is, what the maker's studies show, and what it costs

This guide is written by the team at our Endospheres clinic in London SW7 and reviewed by our doctor. It sets out what the device is and how it is classed, what the maker's studies measured, every area it is used on, how a session runs, the course, side effects and how we price it. It ends with the questions people ask most, including whether it is lymphatic drainage, whether cellulite comes back, and whether it hurts.

What Endospheres Therapy is

Endospheres Therapy is a mechanical massage treatment for the appearance of cellulite, circumference, skin tone and muscle relaxation. The maker, Fenix Group of Italy, describes it as a patented technology based on compressive microvibration, with a body roller of 55 silicone spheres. As the roller turns over the skin, the spheres press and release the tissue in a rhythm, generating low-frequency mechanical vibrations. The roller is worked over the area in passes, in a session that the maker gives as a minimum of about 45 minutes and a maximum of an hour and a half, and a body course runs over weeks. The maker lists muscle toning among its uses; no document measures it, and we describe it as the maker does.

Two things about its status are worth stating plainly. The maker's technical file classes Endospheres Therapy as an aesthetic massage appliance under the Low Voltage Directive, and we have found no medical-device CE certificate. The US FDA record is an establishment registration for a class I therapeutic massager, in the category of devices "to relieve minor muscle aches and pains", with no 510(k); the FDA has neither approved it nor cleared it for cellulite. It is a massage device, and that is how we offer it. The clinic is CQC registered.

Does Endospheres work? What the maker's studies show

No study of this device exists on PubMed or Europe PMC. The evidence is twelve documents on the maker's website: nine patient series of 9 to 100 people, a brochure, a narrative summary and a review without patients. None is randomised, blinded or sham-controlled; two compare the device with something, one against manual drainage with a diet in both groups and one the device alone against the device with a diet. Eleven are co-written by members of the maker's scientific committee, and three, from one Moscow project, were paid for by a company, ItalConsult LLC. The longest follow-up is two months after treatment. We cite them as the maker's studies, and here is what they measured.

• Cellulite, 16 women: a cellulite score devised by the authors fell from 26.18 to 12.93 after twelve sessions.
• Cellulite, 20 women: the same kind of score fell from 27.55 to 17.65.
• Cellulite, 20 women: patient ratings only, with 18 satisfied.
• Circumference, 30 women, twelve sessions: with the device alone, the abdomen measured 1.4 cm less and the thigh 1.2 cm less; with the device and a diet, 3.2 cm and 2.9 cm.
• Circumference, 27 women, no comparison: the waist measured 4.1 to 6.3 cm less and the hips 2.2 to 3.0 cm less.
• Face, 9 volunteers, five sessions: skin roughness on the nasolabial fold, the forehead and around the eye was 20.5% lower on imaging thirteen weeks after the first session, and satisfaction averaged 8.11 out of 10.
• For scale, an independent trial of three massage techniques (mechanical massage, manual lymphatic drainage and connective tissue manipulation) in 60 women found the thighs 0.5 cm smaller in every group.

Taken together: in the maker's own series, a course of twelve sessions was followed by a lower cellulite score and a smaller measurement at the waist, abdomen, hips and thigh, by 1.2 to 6.3 cm. The change was measured no later than two months after the course. No study measures lymph flow or collagen, or follows anyone beyond that window, and we say so. In our experience the people happiest with it are those who want a firm mechanical massage over a course, with smoother-looking skin and a smaller measurement at the end of it, and who keep it up with maintenance.

Is it lymphatic drainage?

Many people search for lymphatic drainage. Endospheres is a mechanical massage method; it is not manual lymphatic drainage, and no study has yet measured lymph flow with it. We make no claim that it clears anything from the body, because the liver and the kidneys do that, as the advertising regulator notes.

Which areas Endospheres treats

Our rule is simple: every area the device is used on, we treat. The maker describes the body from feet to neck, buttocks to abdomen, arms to back, and the face, and the level of evidence differs by area.

• Abdomen: three maker series, 9 to 30 women.
• Front of the thighs: six maker series.
• Backs and inner sides of the thighs: one maker series of nine women, measuring the skin layers on ultrasound.
• Hips and waist: one maker series of 27 women, measuring circumference.
• Outer sides of the thighs, buttocks, shins, calves and feet: named in the maker's protocols, with no result reported per area; the maker's FAQ also names the ankles.
• Upper arms, neck and back: on the maker's list, with no series (its brochure shows one back case); the doctor advises at the consultation.
• Heavy legs: the maker names "fight heavy legs" among its body treatments, with no series.
• Cheeks: in our practice part of every face session, with no maker wording or series for the cheek on its own.
• Face: a separate maker system, with one series of nine volunteers measuring roughness on the nasolabial fold, forehead and eye area. We treat the face, and we make no claim about collagen, elastin or hyaluronic acid, which the maker's page asserts and no study measures.

Each area has its own page: the hips, thighs, buttocks, calves, heavy legs, ankles, feet, arms, back, neck, eyes, forehead, nasolabial folds and cheeks.

Who Endospheres suits, and who it does not

In our practice Endospheres suits an adult who wants a firm mechanical massage over a course for the appearance of cellulite on the thighs and buttocks, a smaller measurement at the waist or thigh, or a firmer-looking skin tone. It suits someone willing to attend two or three sessions a week and to maintain the result. It suits someone who wants no needles and no heat, and who understands that it is a massage, not a fat or collagen treatment.

The maker's protocol strictly suggests not carrying it out in pregnancy or breastfeeding, and asks for at least 30 days after hyaluronic acid fillers. The maker's papers also excluded cancer, blood clots, varicose veins, acute infection, skin disease, diabetes and lipoedema; we list none of these as a rule. We take your history at the free consultation, where Dr Marie Duggan says whether Endospheres is right for you.

A session, step by step

1. Free consultation. Dr Marie Duggan examines the areas, listens to what you want to change, explains what the maker's series measured and what they did not, takes your history, and sets out the course and its price in writing.
2. Preparation. In our practice you undress to the areas being treated and lie on the couch.
3. Treatment. The roller is passed over each area in slow passes, its spheres pressing and releasing the tissue; in our practice the operator adjusts the pressure with you. The maker gives a session as about 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on the areas.
4. Straight after. In our experience the skin can look pink and feel warm from the massage, and you go straight back to your day.
5. The following days. Some people feel sore after a session, like after a gym session, which a third of the women in one maker series reported, and some notice slight tingling or temporary redness. The maker asks for at least 48 hours between sessions.
6. The course. Usually two or three sessions a week, as the maker describes, then maintenance.

How many sessions

The maker describes a body course of twelve or eighteen sessions, two or three times a week, and up to twenty-four where there is significant inflammation, excessive sagging or excess weight. It describes a single session as less significant and lasting. Most of its series used twelve sessions of 40 to 60 minutes. The maker says the results can last up to six months with a healthy lifestyle, then recommends maintenance of two sessions a month for three or four months and then one a month. For the face it describes two a month after the intensive cycle. In our practice your number is set at the consultation and reviewed as the course runs.

What Endospheres costs

We set out the price of Endosphères in writing at a free consultation, and we price match any comparable written quote. Consultations and follow-up reviews are free whatever you decide. The price depends on the areas and the number of sessions, and the written plan shows both.

Results you can check

The figures in this guide come from the maker's own study documents, which are on its website, and from the technical and regulatory records named, and can be checked.

Endospheres compared with the alternatives

• Manual lymphatic drainage. A trained therapist's hands, for fluid, with its own evidence in lymphoedema care. Endospheres is a mechanical roller with no measurement of lymph flow, and the two are different things.
• Radiofrequency and ultrasound body treatments. Heat-based devices that measure circumference in at least one sham-controlled trial. Endospheres is a massage with no heat, and the doctor plans the right one at the consultation.
• Fat reduction, CoolSculpting and SculpSure among them. Those destroy fat cells in a bulge and are measured in trials behind their clearances. Endospheres moves tissue and fluid and measures circumference; it does not destroy fat, and we do not claim it does.
• Exercise and diet. In the maker's own comparison, adding a diet to the course more than doubled the fall in circumference.

Side effects and safety

Soreness after a session like after a gym session was reported by a third of the women in one maker series, and slight tingling, a squeezing sensation and temporary redness in another. We do not describe it as having no side effects or no contraindications, because the maker's own FAQ excludes pregnancy and breastfeeding and asks for 30 days after fillers. In our experience bruising is possible with any firm massage in someone who bruises easily, and in our practice the operator adjusts the pressure with you. The device is a massage appliance in its own technical file, and we present it as one.

How to choose a clinic

Ask what Endospheres is, and expect the answer that it is a mechanical massage device, CE marked as an aesthetic massage appliance rather than as a medical device. Ask what the evidence is, and expect to hear that it is the maker's own series, none randomised or sham-controlled. Ask who examines you before the course and for their registration number; this guide is reviewed by Dr Marie Duggan, GMC 7488383, who sees you at the free consultation in a CQC registered clinic. Ask how the areas will be measured so you can see the change in centimetres. Ask for the price in writing before you book, and what the maintenance plan is after the course.

Aftercare

In our practice: drink water on the day of each session, go back to your day, and expect possible soreness after the session. Leave at least 48 hours between sessions, as the maker asks. Keep up any exercise and eating plan you have, because the maker's own comparison shows the measurement falls further with a diet alongside. Tell us about bruising that worries you or soreness that does not settle in a day or two.

Frequently asked questions