Body contours are more than a beauty trend. The way we look has a direct effect on how we feel. This is evidenced by the immense popularity of body contouring treatments. When it comes to getting your best body, you have an abundance of choices. You may have tried to get rid of unwanted fat by cutting calories and spending more time in the gym. Seeing as these strategies, though good for health, may not completely do the trick, other options may need to be considered. In our Laurel office, CoolSculpting is one of them.
You may have heard of CoolSculpting. The fat-freezing technique has been around for nearly a decade at this point. You may know that CoolSculpting uses cold temperature to get rid of fat. However, your familiarity may end there. We believe that informed patients are the best patients, so want to dive deeper into the whole concept of freezing unwanted fat.
What CoolSculpting Can Do
One of the first details of CoolSculpting that may surprise patients is that this treatment isn’t just for the flanks. The FDA initially approved the device for this area but extended approval to the abdomen in 2012. Now, CoolSculpting is commonly used to treat stubborn fat on these areas as well as the thighs, back and bra area, backs of the arms, under the buttocks (banana roll) and chin. The device has also helped many men decrease excess fatty tissue on the chest.
The way that CoolSculpting eliminates unwanted fat is by cooling fatty tissue to a temperature at which fat cells crystalize. This prompts the body to react as if the cells have been damaged. The natural healing response is for the cells to be flushed through the lymphatic system. To freeze targeted fat, the CoolSculpting device sandwiches a small area of tissue between two cooling panels that gradually reach the desired temperature.
About Pain
If you’ve ever held an ice pack against your skin for any length of time, you may presume that CoolSculpting would be intolerably painful. Clearly, it’s not. Millions of people have undergone this treatment, many of them in more than one area of the body. What patients should expect during a CoolSculpting session is for their tissue to feel cold, then slightly achy or crampy, and then numb. It only takes about 10 minutes for this to happen. After that, the remainder of the fat-freezing treatment is a breeze.
Learn more about CoolSculpting. Call (855) 803-MIVC (6482) to schedule a consultation in our Laurel office.