Life is full of things that we just do not like but have to deal with. It may be that every morning you get up and go to a job that you hate. It could be that you live in an area that has weather that you don’t like, but for the time being there’s nothing that you can do to change it. There are other things in our lives that we may not like but can do something about it. A good example of this is stubborn pockets of fat. CoolSculpting® can help you make those stubborn pockets of fat disappear.
What Is CoolSculpting®?
This is a relatively new treatment that has taken the world of body contouring by storm. Since its approval by the FDA in 2010 and following subsequent approvals all the way through 2014, it has been used as a non-surgical and non-invasive way to help people address unwanted pockets of fat. It has literally been making fat disappear off of millions of patients.
This treatment uses controlled cooling to affect the way that fat cells act in your body. It is easier to understand the way this treatment works when you understand the way that fat cells in your body react to the cold. Fat cells are more susceptible to cold temperatures than other cells in your body. In fact, fat cells will break apart and die at temperatures that are a lot warmer than what affects the other cells in your body.
This treatment takes advantage of the fact that by exposing the fat cells in your body to precision cold, they will die and release the fatty material that they are holding onto. The surrounding tissue is not negatively affected by the cold that is used during the treatment.
Not a Weight Loss Treatment
One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about CoolSculpting® is that it is a weight loss treatment. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is a body contouring treatment. It is designed to sculpt the body and remove excess pockets of fat that you have not been able to get rid of with diet and exercise alone.
Since this is not a weight loss program, it is not designed for individuals who are obese. There are other treatments and procedures out there, such as gastric bypass surgery and other forms of weight loss surgery, that can help an individual who is obese to get down to a size where this treatment may be an option.
Weight loss programs are not designed to change the amount of fat cells in your body. A weight loss program is designed to make the fat cells that you have in your body smaller. If you have gastric bypass surgery done, it is going to minimize the amount of food that you eat, lowering your caloric intake, which will over time cause your fat cells to get smaller and allow you to lose weight.
The precision cooling that is offered with this treatment will not cause you to see a drastic change in the numbers that appear on the scale. Its goal is to kill and remove fat cells in areas that you have not been able to address with diet and exercise alone. Once this treatment runs its course, the number of fat cells that you have in your body will be reduced. When fat cells are destroyed, they do not grow back.
This is one of the reasons why this treatment is reviewed as a permanent fat removal treatment. It offers a lot of the same benefits a person would receive with liposuction. The only difference is that with liposuction, the fat is sucked out of the body using surgery and a cannula.
How Does This Treatment Compare with Surgical Options?
There is no denying the fact that liposuction has created some phenomenal results, and it is a treatment that people are using even to this day. However, since CoolSculpting® is non-surgical and non-invasive, it does not have the same risks or potential downsides that come from using a surgical procedure.
Of course, the results that you get using controlled cooling to remove unwanted fat are not going to be as dramatic or as quickly seen as those you would get from a surgical procedure. You should expect to slowly see results over the course of four to six months as your body goes through the process of absorbing and destroying unwanted fat cells.
Is CoolSculpting® an Uncomfortable Treatment?
The answer to this question can be gleaned in part when you look at how the technology behind this treatment was first discovered. There were doctors who were working with the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. These doctors were working with children. Soon, they noticed a pattern developing in some of the children who they were working with. These children were beginning to develop dimples in their cheeks. While some children developed dimples on both sides of their cheeks, many were developing dimples on just one cheek.
Of course, the doctors were concerned and interested in finding out what it was that was causing these children to lose fat in their cheeks and develop dimples. The answer, no doubt, surprised them. The culprit was popsicles. These children were sucking on popsicles. Popsicles are commonly distributed to children when they are recovering in the hospital.
Many children had the habit of sucking on a popsicle on the same side of their mouth day after day. In doing this, they were exposing that side of their mouth to extremely cold temperatures. The result was that the fat cells around the area where they held the popsicle were beginning to die. Soon, the fat cells in that area completely disappeared. And this is why the children developed dimples.
Obviously, these children were not uncomfortable while they were enjoying their popsicles. In fact, if the doctors doing research in the hospital had not noticed the phenomenon, the children would likely have not realized anything had changed.
This exemplifies the experience that a person has when they undergo the CoolSculpting® process. It is very comfortable. Honestly, most people are able to sleep through the treatment, read a book, or watch a movie.
During the treatment, suction is used to grab onto the area that is going to be treated. The area is gently massaged, and then precision cooling is used to bring the area down to a temperature where the fat cells in the treated area begin to die.
Some people may feel slight discomfort during the very first moments of treatment because of the skin being exposed to precision cooling. You can imagine how it feels when someone puts ice on your skin or puts a snowball down the back of your shirt. There is that initial chill. However, within a couple of minutes, that same cold causes the treated area to go numb. All sensation is gone, and the treatment process continues without there being any discomfort on the part of the individual who is having the treatment done.
What Results Should You Expect?
The idea of using controlled cooling sounds good, but you would do well to ask about the type of results should you expect. On average, an individual who has this treatment done experiences a 25 percent reduction in fat cells around the targeted area. Many opt to have the treatment done a number of times until they get the results that are right for them.
One of the nice things about this treatment is its versatility. It can be used on almost any part of the body. A lot of people who come in to have this treatment done do so because they are concerned about excess pockets of fat on their midsection. Understandably, the midsection is a cause of concern because it is the area that people want to slim down the most when they go to the gym, when they exercise, and when they diet.
Unfortunately, your midsection, including the abdomen, your flanks, and your sides, is one of the hardest areas to treat on your own. You can diet, you can exercise, you can starve yourself, and you may find that you are losing fat everywhere except for your midsection. And what makes matters worse is that since you are losing fat from everywhere else, your midsection actually starts to look bigger because the rest of your body is getting smaller.
In addition to addressing your midsection, this treatment can be used to address your upper arms, your neck, back fat, and your spare tire. Basically, anywhere on your body where you are struggling with excess fat, this treatment can help you make it go away in a healthy and natural way.
According to some surveys, eight out of 10 patients feel that their clothing fits better after having this treatment done. This is one of the reasons why it is the number one non-surgical fat reduction treatment on the planet. At the time of this writing, more than six million people have enjoyed the benefits of this treatment around the world. Eighty percent of patients say that they are so happy with the treatment that they received that they would recommend it to others who are looking for a non-surgical way to lose weight.
What Should I Expect during My First Visit?
We understand that you have questions about the CoolSculpting® treatment. We understand that you have personal body contouring goals. This is why during your first consultation with us, we will be interested in simply talking with you. Once we learn about your goals and once we learn about treatments you have tried in the past, we will then be able to work with you and help you to create a body contouring treatment plan that is going to exceed your needs.
In addition to talking about your weight loss goals, we will be happy to discuss any health concerns that you have. Most people are good candidates for this treatment. There are a few health considerations that may disqualify a person from these treatments. During our initial conversation with you,we can rule these out and then based on that conversation create a plan that should work well for you.
After you have treatment, we will follow up with you and see how your results are progressing. Within the first few weeks, you should start to see results. Four to six months after the treatment, you should see the most dramatic and noticeable results. If you want, you will be able to schedule follow-up fat reduction treatments with us to pinpoint targeted areas that you would like to improve.
Life is full of a lot of things that we don’t like but we cannot do anything about. Excess stubborn pockets of fat that do not respond to diet and exercise do not have to be one of those things.
Would you like to see for yourself how you can chill out with CoolSculpting® at Kaniff Cosmetic Medical Center? If so, consider visiting our office in Sacramento, CA. We look forward to working with you, learning about your body contouring goals, and then helping you take those body contouring goals and turn them into a lifelong reality. Contact us today to schedule your consultation!
