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When Denise Dajles joined Cytrellis Biosystems, she saw more than another medical aesthetics device. There was a market gap widening in real time, driven by aging patients, rapid weight loss, GLP-1 medications and a growing desire for natural-looking results without surgery.
As CEO, Dajles is leading Cytrellis through the next phase of growth for ellacor , a first-in-class technology designed to remove skin without surgery. The product sits in a space that has long been underserved: patients with meaningful skin laxity who are not ready for, interested in or well-suited to surgical procedures, but who also need more than what traditional energy-based treatments can offer.
“Several things converged to make joining Cytrellis an easy decision. The first was the science,” Dajles said. “The founders of Cytrellis, inventors of ellacor, are some of the most accomplished innovators in medical aesthetics, and when you have a founding team with that level of pedigree and scientific credibility behind a technology, it tells you something important: this isn’t a concept being marketed ahead of the evidence. This is a category being built on a genuine foundation.”
Ellacor uses Micro-Coring Technology to remove small micro-cores of excess skin without surgery. The proprietary hollow needles physically remove tiny portions of skin and trigger the body’s natural regenerative response. The natural-looking result is smoother, tighter skin.
The timing, Dajles said, also mattered. She points to the rapid rise of GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy, with more than 12% of American adults now using the drugs, as a major force reshaping demand in aesthetics. Many patients are losing 30, 40 or more than 50 pounds, leaving them with loose skin on the face, abdomen, arms, knees and other areas.
“Surgery can help, but it’s not accessible or appropriate for every patient. Energy-based devices can improve texture, but they can’t address the fundamental problem of excess skin. There was a gap and a huge opportunity, and it was growing,” she said.
For Dajles, the entrepreneurial challenge is not simply selling a product, but building a framework for a category many physicians and patients have not encountered before.
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