You spent all day Sunday trying on clothes at Orlando International Premium Outlets. But the shirts and pants that fit your stomach were too loose in the chest and thighs. You eat right most of the time, drink in moderation, and work out five times a week. So why are there still stubborn fat deposits over your lower abdomen? At 20 Something Anti Aging Center in Orlando, FL, we know the struggle and understand the science behind it. That’s why we’re proud to offer CoolSculpting.
What Is CoolSculpting?
Invented in 2005, CoolSculpting is a device that harnesses the power of penetrating cold to target and freeze subcutaneous fat cells. However, most people use the word CoolSculpting, or cryolipolysis, to describe the body contouring treatment itself.
This convenient, pain-free treatment is ideal for people who do not tolerate anesthesia well, have the right amount of fat to lose, have heart problems that exclude them from liposuction, or who simply want to look better without extensive downtime.
Is It Safe?
CoolSculpting treatment with this cryolipolysis device was FDA-approved in September 2010 to eliminate fat from the flanks, sometimes called ‘love handles”. At the same time, its safety was also verified by the European Union and Health Canada. Towards the end of 2012, the FDA approved this treatment to eliminate abdominal fat. Since then, over 4,000,000 treatments have been performed around the world and there have been no reports of major risks or side effects.
How Long Does CoolSculpting Treatment Take?
One advantage cryolipolysis has over liposuction is the length of treatment. Liposuction usually takes one to three hours depending on the extent of fat reduction necessary and technique used. Cryolipolysis coolsculpting lower back fat treatments usually take between 35 minutes to an hour. Treatment sessions will take longer if larger areas, like the abdomen or lower back, are being treated. However, this time can be halved through DualSculpting, which is the use of two cryolipolysis devices simultaneously.
What Can I Expect During Treatment?
During a CoolSculpting treatment session, your provider will apply a gel pad and clamp the applicator onto the area you want to treat. This cools the fat deposit to freezing temperature. While administering suction, your provider will move the device over your skin, cooling the subcutaneous fat.
Depending on the area or areas you want to treat, two cryolipolysis devices may be used at once. This is particularly common in areas where symmetry is required. For example, if you wanted to reduce the same amount of fat in each of your upper arms or inner thighs, two identical devices would run for the same amount of time, removing the same amount of fat from each treatment site.
Once your treatment session is finished, your provider will gently massage the treated area. This external stimulation plays a key role in hastening the results. The massage breaks up large pieces of deeply frozen fat into smaller, more easy-to-absorb pieces.
How Does It Work?
Cryolipolysis works because when a warm cell comes into contact with something cold, it transfers its energy to the cold molecules to warm it up. During cryolipolysis, the penetrating cold is extreme. The fat cells in your body transfer enough heat that they slowly experience “cell death”.
Once your body recognizes the fat cells are dead, it absorbs them and treats them like dietary fat. Over the course of several weeks and months, dead fat cells are eliminated as waste.
Does It Hurt?
Your provider will apply a gel pad to your skin to protect it from the deep cold. As a result, the cold should cause no pain to your skin. If you have a medical condition such as Raynaud’s disease or other hypersensitivity to the cold, WarmSculpting may be a better body contouring solution for you.
Everyone’s tolerance for cold is different, but many people choose to read a book, play a video game on their cell phone, or take a nap during treatment. This treatment is almost always tolerated well. Moreover, the penetrating cold has a numbing effect on the tissues beneath your skin, meaning your muscles won’t hurt from the cold.
How Much Fat Can I Lose?
How much weight can you lose with coolsculpting in one treatment session depends primarily on how much fat you have in your trouble area. While results can vary from 20% of localized fat deposits to 80% of adipose tissue, you can reasonably expect your fat loss to be around a quarter of the fat in the targeted region.
Thus, if you have four inches of excess fat around your thighs, you can expect to lose around an inch of fat from your thighs. If you’re still not satisfied by the appearance of your thighs, you can come in for a follow-up treatment later, after which you would have three inches of fat around your thighs. Your follow-up treatment session will probably only remove another quarter of your remaining fat (0.75″). A few weeks after your second treatment, you will have around 2.25″ of fat around your thighs.
How Many Treatments Will I Need?
How many cryolipolysis treatments you will need depends on several factors. First, we must consider the size of the area you want treated. Chin fat is usually treated in one session. If you’re trying to reduce fat on your back, stomach and lower buttocks, you may need two or three treatment sessions.
Second, we’ll need to consider your aesthetic goals and the volume of fat you have to lose. If you want drastic fat reduction and have a significant layer of fat, you may need several treatments to achieve your extreme goals.
Advantages Over Liposuction
While the cooling applicator freezes and kills cells during treatment, you won’t actually see the results immediately. However, that’s actually one of several advantages that CoolSculpting has over liposuction.
Speed of Results
Liposuction involves extreme swelling, and the results won’t be noticeable for several months. With cryolipolysis, you can see results in just two to three weeks. This is due in part to the fact that there is no swelling associated with treatment. With liposuction, the fat is immediately suctioned out from your body, but you won’t be able to tell for one to four months.
Lack of Side Effects
Cryolipolysis is non-invasive and does not come with severe side effects like liposuction involves. Because there’s no swelling, you don’t have to hide your treatment sites for several months while your body recovers.
Subtlety
With cryolipolysis, your body absorbs the dead fat cells. Deoxycholic acid, a natural by-product of your gut bacteria, processes these dead fat cells like dietary fat. The destroyed subcutaneous fat cells work their way through your lymphatic system and are eventually filtered through your liver and eliminated as waste.
With liposuction, it’s obvious that you’ve had “work done”. This is especially true if you use liposuction to address submental fullness (chin fat). You can wear a short-sleeve turtleneck to cover your neck, but you can’t do anything to hide your swollen chin. Since cryolipolysis involves the slow, systematic elimination of fat cells, it looks like you’re losing weight naturally over a period of several months.
Am I a Good Candidate?
During your initial consultation, we will review your medical history and aesthetic goals to help you determine if you are a good candidate for this treatment. If you’re not, we’ll help you find a body contouring solution that is a better fit for your unique needs. Let’s look at a few things that make you a good candidate for cryolipolysis:
You Understand It’s a Fat Removal Treatment
It’s essential that clients understand this is a fat removal solution rather than a weight loss solution. In other words, it removes a percentage of localized fat deposits, but it won’t help you lose 35 or 50 pounds.
You’re Near Your Ideal Weight
There are several reasons you should be no more than 20 or 30 pounds from your goal weight. First, the treatment isn’t designed or FDA-approved to help you shed significant amounts of weight.
Second, significant weight loss often results in skin laxity as the elastin and collagen that holds your skin tight to your body weakens. People who experience drastic weight loss often find their success is accompanied by sagging skin, which may require a cosmetic treatment to correct.
If you wait until you’re nearly done losing weight, the cold from the treatment will actually encourage the growth of new, healthy collagen. In other words, it tightens your skin as it helps your body eliminate stubborn pockets of fat.
You’re Done Having Children
There are no health or safety risks to bearing children or nursing after cryolipolysis. However, pregnancy causes drastic changes in your body, including the accumulation of fat around your lower abdomen. If you’re using cryolipolysis, or another body contouring treatment, to address excess fat below your navel, the effects may be diminished if you get pregnant in the future.
You Have Realistic Expectations About the Results
We want all our clients to be completely satisfied with the results of all their aesthetic treatments. A large part of that comes from understanding the limitations of this treatment. The best candidate for this treatment has a clear understanding of all the results he can reasonably expect.
You may see people claiming that cryolipolysis can eliminate 80% of localized fat deposits. This is only a partial truth. The most drastic fat reduction results occur at small treatment sites, such as the upper arms or chin. When treating larger areas, like the lower buttocks, stomach, middle or lower back, sides or inner and outer thighs, realistic results are closer to 20 to 40%.
You Don’t Want Liposuction
A good indicator that cryolipolysis is right for you is if you don’t want to undergo liposuction. While liposuction can be just as effective as CoolSculpting, safely removing up to five liters (11 pounds) of fat, it’s not right for everyone. For example, you have to be in better health to qualify for liposuction than cryolipolysis.
Moreover, you will need at least one to three weeks of time off from work to recover from lipo. Recovery time depends on several factors, including your health, the extent of the procedure, if any other procedures were done at the same time, the size of the treatment area, the technique used and your health. Regardless of how long it takes your body to heal, you must be mentally and physically prepared for the recovery process.
You Have Enough Fat to Treat
One of the most common alternatives to cryolipolysis is WarmSculpting, also known as SculpSure. A distinct advantage this treatment has over cryolipolysis is there is no applicator involved. Rather, it uses pulsing laser energy to heat and destroy stubborn fat cells.
This means you need to have enough fat in your trouble area for the applicator to latch on to. While there are smooth, flat applicators that allow you to address small fat pockets, SculpSure doesn’t involve an applicator at all. Therefore, it may be ideal to treat trouble areas with smaller fat pockets.
You’re Committed to a Lifelong Healthy Lifestyle
The ideal candidate for cryolipolysis, or any other body contouring treatment, has a commitment to a lifelong healthy lifestyle. The results of cryolipolysis are considered permanent because once the fat cells die they are excreted from the body. Adults cannot grow new fat cells, so you will permanently have a reduced volume of fat in the treated sites.
However, if you gain weight after treatment, the results may be diminished. You may find the remaining fat cells in the treatment site expand when you gain weight. Or, you may accumulate fat deposits somewhere else and once again become displeased with your body.
How Can I Extend the Longevity of Results?
The only way you can maintain the results of cryolipolysis is to live an active, healthy lifestyle and eat right most of the time. This includes getting at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise weekly. Moreover, you should not drink to excess and you should eat reasonably portioned, healthy meals most of the time.
While you may want to look 20-something forever, it’s important to remember that your body changes as you age. We can correct some of the problems that occur at a cellular level by using hyaluronic acid or neuromodulator anti-aging treatments. We can even promote the growth of elastin and collagen. But when your hormones become imbalanced, cravings may skyrocket and metabolism may plummet.
You Don’t Take Blood Thinners
While there is no risk of serious side effects from CoolSculpting, taking blood thinners and certain other blood-thinning medications and supplements can affect the outcome of your treatment. These include warfarin, St. John’s wort, vitamin E, ibuprofen and aspirin. Do not take NSAIDs within 12 hours of your treatment to eliminate the risk of bruising from the suction or applicator clamping.
Sculpt Your Dream Contours Today
Are you sick and tired of the way your clothes fit? Are you dismayed by the appearance of your arms despite the dozens of weekly tricep dips you do? If this sounds at all familiar to you, contact the trained and certified medical experts at 20 Something Anti Aging Center in Orlando, FL today to schedule your initial consultation. CoolSculpting may be the ideal treatment to help you look as young as you really feel.
