What is the difference between OndaPro and the earlier Onda?
The earlier machine is DEKA's Onda, built on what the company calls Coolwaves, a microwave source that DEKA introduced in 2018. OndaPro is the later model. DEKA's own brochure for OndaPro names one hardware addition, a third handpiece called Pocket, and one refinement, Precision-GigaWave (PGW) technology, which the maker says lets the energy be confined more precisely.
That is a smaller list than many patients expect when they see "Pro" on a menu. The rest of this article separates what is published and checkable from what is the maker's own description, because the two are easy to mix up.
What stayed the same?
The physics. Both machines use microwaves at 2.45 GHz. DEKA explains that this frequency is absorbed preferentially by fat rather than by water, so most of the energy settles in the fat layer beneath the skin while the skin above, which holds plenty of water, absorbs less. Radiofrequency devices work at much lower frequencies and are absorbed closer to the surface.
The published power is also the same: the OndaPro specification lists up to 200 W, and the advisory board paper gives the same figure for the Onda. Both carry cooling built into the handpiece, which presses against the skin to protect the upper layers while the fat is heated. Both keep the Deep and Shallow handpieces for the body, one working deeper for localised fat and one shallower for cellulite and skin tightening. The advisory board paper puts their focal depths at about 1.2 cm and 0.7 cm.
The biology after the energy is delivered is described the same way too. Heated fat cells are damaged, and the body clears them over the following weeks, which is explained in full in where the fat actually goes.
What did change in OndaPro?
- A Pocket handpiece. DEKA lists it for firming and lifting and for the submental area, the soft tissue under the chin. It is the one piece of hardware the earlier machine does not have.
- PGW technology. The maker says the energy is more selective and more precisely confined to the depth of each handpiece. This is a design claim from DEKA. The sources checked here include no independent measurement that separates it from the earlier handpieces.
- A built-in tutorial. The specification lists an integrated tutorial with treatment protocols and a new on-screen interface. That helps the person operating the machine, and it does not change what the energy does.
- Optional handpieces. DEKA marks all three handpieces as optional, so two machines sold as OndaPro can carry different sets.
A distributor's announcement of April 2026 for the US and Canadian markets describes OndaPro as re-engineered from clinical experience since 2018. It reports no comparative data.
What does the evidence cover?
The most useful independent summary found is a 2024 paper from the Onda Coolwaves International Advisory Board, published in Bioengineering. It reviews studies in cellulite, abdominal fat, the area under the chin and combined treatments, with groups of 12 to 49 patients and follow up from three months to one year. A typical protocol in that paper is four sessions, four weeks apart. The effects reported were mild and temporary: redness, firm nodules that settled, bruising and numbness. The authors themselves say long term data on safety and effectiveness are lacking and larger randomised trials are needed.
Those studies were done on the earlier Onda. The sources checked include no peer reviewed trial that compares OndaPro with the earlier machine, and none of the Pocket handpiece. The brochure photographs credited to doctors are the maker's material, not a study. That is a normal position for a newer model, and it means the honest summary is: the same technology, with a plausible refinement, whose extra benefit has not yet been shown in published comparisons.
What does it mean for a patient comparing machines?
A clinic using the earlier Onda is working with the same microwave frequency, the same power rating, the same cooling and the same two body handpieces. The machine name alone does not settle the result. Judgement about who is treated, where, and how many sessions matters at least as much.
The Retreat Clinic has offered OndaPro since 2025. It is a new machine, and it carries all three handpieces, Deep, Shallow and Pocket; which one is used depends on the face or body area being treated, and the sessions are carried out by qualified therapists certified in OndaPro. Every plan begins with Dr Ong's own examination of the fat layer, the skin above it and overall body composition, and he decides whether the device is the right tool at all. Numbing cream is not used. The treatment is not weight loss, which is covered in OndaPro is not a weight loss treatment, and the cautions are in OndaPro side effects and who should not have it.
If you are weighing OndaPro against another machine, four questions are fair. Which handpieces does this unit carry? What is the assessment before treatment? Which published studies is the claim based on, and was it the earlier model or this one? And what happens if the device turns out not to be the right tool for the concern? A clear answer to the last one is worth more than the model number. Wider options for a localised pocket of fat are set out under stubborn fat.
