Effects of 5% Caffeine Ultrasonophoresis on Gynoid Lipodystrophy—A Randomized Controlled Study

Introduction: Gynoid lipodystrophy (GL) affects most women, manifesting itself from puberty to adulthood. Its multifactorial etiology generates controversy in the literature about the most suitable treatment. Several methods are used, from the smallest to the most invasive, in the search for an effective fight against the severity of GL. The positive effect of ultrasound therapy (US) in decreasing subcutaneous adipose tissue is in increasing the skin permeability of pharmacological molecules, and it has aroused interest in the effect of a combination of the two techniques on the severity of GL. However, the results of this technique associated with an exercise program are unknown. Objective(s): To analyze the effect of three sessions of US + 5% caffeine in association with the realization of an exercise program, in females, on the level of severity of GL in the gluteal region and on the posterior proximal third part of the thigh. Methods: A total of 36 healthy women, aged between 18 and 55, who were considered to have GL, were randomly allocated in two experimental groups and one placebo group. The placebo group (PG) performed only physical exercise during the study. Experimental group 1 (EP1) performed US with 5% caffeine alongside a physical exercise protocol and experimental group 2 (EP2) performed US with a conventional US gel alongside a physical exercise protocol. The three groups completed three intervention sessions over 3 weeks, with one session per week. In addition to the level of severity assessed by the Cellulite Several Scale (CSS), anthropometric measures, body composition, and lipid profile of the participants were evaluated. The first assessment was carried out before the intervention (M0) and the last assessment after the three interventions (M1). The results were analyzed using the ANOVA test. The Tukey test was used for multiple comparisons of the groups in all variables, except for those related to the CSS, where the Kruskal–Wallis test was used with a significance level of 0.05. Results: A total of 29 women completed the study. There was a significant decrease inside the PG related to triglycerides (p = 0.012). In M1, all groups started to present median values below 200 mg of triglycerides. In cholesterol, a significant reduction was observed in all groups (p = 0.05). On the gluteal level at 5 cm, there was a decrease in EP1 and EP2 between M0 and M1 with p = 0.006 and p = 0.002, respectively. On the CSS there were no significant differences between groups or between moments. Conclusions: Three sessions of 5% caffeine and US in association with a physical exercise protocol have no effect on reducing the level of severity of GL.