CoolSculpting: Yet Another New Fat Treatment

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There are so many different options for banishing fat from your body and so much noise about them in the marketplace—it’s enough to make your head spin. From the many variations of liposuction to less-invasive techniques like laser therapy (said to liquefy fat) and injections (that claim to dissolve it), it’s increasingly difficult to separate fat, er, fact, from fiction.

Now there’s a new device that claims to melt away pockets of stubborn body fat with a completely different approach called CoolSculptingTM. The manufacturer, located in aptly named Pleasanton, Calif., is ZELTIQ®, a medical device company. The technique, termed CryolipolysisTM, or cold lipolysis, was developed at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. And ZELTIQ’s new approach was given the thumbs up for fat reduction by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just a few days ago.

So, why make note of yet another option for, as a Memphis plastic surgeon put it, “separating people from their hard earned money by separating them from SOME of their fat?” In short, CoolSculpting seems to work. According to ZELTIQ’s press release dated September 8, 2010, fat cells are susceptible to extreme cold and are destroyed, painlessly and permanently, through the new technology. Results emerge over a period of two to four months, according to the company.

CoolSculpting uses a hand-held applicator to deliver controlled cooling through surface skin to the fat cells underneath. A few weeks after treatment, which lasts about two hours, fat cells begin the process of natural cell death called “apoptosis.” In securing FDA approval, ZELTIQ submitted multiple studies performed in a variety of settings to show the technology’s effectiveness.

ZELTIQ says its new technology is particularly well suited for treating love handles. The company claims the CoolSculpting procedure eliminates around 20 percent of the fat from a targeted area with no risks or downtime.
Because the technology is relatively new, there are just limited patient and doctor experiences to report. On www.realself.com, the site where patients can review cosmetic procedures, eight patients gave it the thumbs up, two said they were not sure, and one was unsatisfied with treatment.

Interestingly, seven out of seven physicians who responded to a question about efficacy said CoolSculpting works. There’s reason to be both skeptical and encouraged by this result. Obviously, those who can speak from experience are most often doctors who have invested in the equipment, therefore they could be said to have a good reason for being positive about results. On the other hand, their comments shed light on how and why the technology works. One dermatologist said that whereas laser technology liquefies the fat inside fat cells, the ZELTIQ equipment actually kills the cells altogether. Another explained that only abdominal fat can be treated to date because of the limitations of the hand piece. These doctors seem to make sense. Moreover, they're talking to women from across the country with questions, most of whom are not prospective patients.

Does CoolSculpting—or any other non-invasive approach to fat blasting, for that matter—rival liposuction for trimming the bulges? No, not yet. But you can be sure of a few things. First, new technologies such as CoolSculpting will be easier to evaluate as more experience accumulates. And, if this one works as well as it seems to, the equipment will proliferate far and wide and you will hear more about it. Finally, to paraphrase the tongue-in-cheek plastic surgeon from Tennessee, know that as long as people want to separate themselves from their love handles, saddlebags and tummy pooches, companies like ZELTIQ will work hard to find solutions to funnel the money in play to their bottom lines. Eventually, one will come up with a non-invasive method for banishing stubborn fat that really works.

References:

http://www.coolsculpting.com/en-us/
http://www.body-contouring.com/zeltiq.aspx
http://www.coolsculpting.com/downloads/ZELTIQ-Consumer-FDA-Press-Release-Love-Handle-09.08.10-FINAL.pdf
http://www.realself.com/question/zeltiq-fat-reduction

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Anonymous

I've been looking into this procedure. It seems pretty interesting and has a 70% approval rating on RealSelf (see here: http://www.realself.com/coolsculpting-by-zeltiq)

And this sums up the science pretty well: http://www.freezefatinflorida.com/videos/

I'm considering getting it done. What are everyone's thoughts?

November 7, 2013 - 3:20pm

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We value and respect our HERWriters' experiences, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice, although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.