Most of you have heard of coolsculpting by now. It has almost become a household name when one thinks of wanting to get rid of unwanted areas of fat without downtime. Coolsculpting, as the name implies, works by lowering the temperature in your subcutaneous (under the skin) tissues where the fat exists to a temperature that is found to push fat cells into apoptosis (a process known as programmed cell death where the cell is pushed into the process of dying off naturally). The fat that is slowly released from the dying fat cells is eliminated via your lymphatic system. There is no danger to your health. It does not cause clogging of your vessels or a spike in your blood serum levels of fat or cholesterol. Think of it more a like a bad bruise which your body heals naturally. Coolsculpting was developed from an observation that children who held cold lollipops in their cheeks for extended time periods developed dimples as a result of cheek fat loss. Just about any body area can be treated with the various sized suction and nonsuction applicators available. The most common areas treated are the stomach, love handles, arms, inner and outer thighs, and the chin. Bra fat, knees, calves, banana rolls, male breasts (gynecomastia) can also be greatly improved with coolsculpting. Generally, one can expect about 24-25% fat loss in a single treatment, with results seen within 6-12 weeks of treatment. We recommend 2-3 treatments to the same area for best results. Though not designed for skin tightening, if the skin has decent elasticity, one is generally not left with loose hanging skin.
So then what is warmsculpting? Warmsculpting is becoming increasingly more popular. It generally refers to a competing technology called Sculpsure, which uses at 1060 nm wavelength laser to target subcutaneous fat. The laser causes damage to the fat cell wall. It also gives some gentle heating to the elastic fibers and collagen fibers in the skin, inducing a bit of skin tightening, which is an advantage to coolsculpting. This procedure is termed warmsculpting because one feels heat vs cold. the procedure takes 25 minutes, vs the 35 min-1 hour 15 min cycles of coolsculpting. Additionally, both love handles can usually be treated in one single 25 minute treatment compared to two cycles of coolsculpting requiring 1 hour and 10 mins of treatment time.
Because we have both technologies, we can help you chose which procedure would be best for your particular case. We have other noninvasive tools also such as Vanquish ME (excellent for generally larger bellies and love handles, inner and outer thighs), and Emsculpt for fat loss and muscle gain as well as vaser liposuction for the quickest and best results. Many times, we might recommend a combination of Coolsculpting and Warmsculpting in alternating treatments to achieve the best results. Warmsculpting is a bit more versatile with where it can be placed and is especially useful in areas of less pinchable fat where the suction applicators of coolsculpting might fail.
We welcome you in for a consultation to see how to best achieve your ideal body contouring goals! Give us a call at 513-985-9885!
