I just had a round of cool sculpting at a local dermatologists, and thought others might be curious about the process.
This is a fairly good description:
I did it on my abdomen. It’s basically a cosmetic treatment, but I feel like my belly fat is also uncomfortable, in ways that my hip, arm, thigh, and back fat aren’t. So I’m hoping both to find it easier to buy clothes, and also be a little more comfortable when I bend over.
In some sense, what I really wanted is liposuction, or to just magically remove that fat. But liposuction is a surprisingly invasive procedure, involving anesthesia and a significant risk of infection. This is using a vacuum cleaner to suck some skin and underlying fat away from the body, and chilling it. The skin is never broken, and I read my kindle throughout the procedure. The risk of major problems is extremely low.
I don’t guarantee I’ll answer anything, of course… And I won’t know how successful it was for a couple of months. So there’s stuff I can’t answer. But I thought I’d start this thread, nonetheless.
I’ve thought idly about it. Did you have a consultation discussing what you hoped to get out of it, and was the doctor helpful in deciding if it was a good fit?
Maybe? I did have a consultation, with both a nurse and the doctor. But I’d done a lot of research and pretty much knew what it could do. The nurse’s comments to the doctor were “she seems to know an awful lot about this” and “her expectations seem realistic”.
I had read medical papers about what can do wrong, for instance, i really was fairly on top of it.
My chief question was whether i am too fat overall to be an appropriate candidate. The doctor said i wasn’t. She also said that since my fatty tissue was fairly firm, not soft and squishy, i would not have been a good candidate for the first generation of devices, which depended on squishing your rolls of fat between two plates, but the latest generation, which uses suction to pull it into a smooth cup, should work fine.
On the other hand, she makes her living selling this kind of service…
Also, i want to say that i hurt much more than i expected to. They did talk about the chance of bruising, and similar, and i don’t think what I’m experiencing is outside the range of normal reactions. But my whole belly is tender and a little swollen, like it’s bruised. (I don’t actually see blood, like with a normal bruise.) Weirdly, if i jump in a way that would make my belly fat jiggle, it’s extremely uncomfortable.
Yeah, basically. The procedure kills some fat cells, and the immune system picks up the bits and pieces, including the fat they held. And that fat is tucked away in other fat calls, wherever else you happen to store your fat.
They call it “sculpting”, because if it works, it changes your shape. But it doesn’t change your weight.
I also watched some of their extended ad for their other services. (Thankfully, that TV was silent, so i could also look away and ignore it.) Did you know they can kill the sweat glands under your arms these days? I asked the doctor about it, and she said they only offer that to the 1% of the population that sweats excessively, but yes. And that they can use Botox to reduce palm sweating, but it doesn’t work as well as the under arm procedure.
I actually know this dermatologist slightly through my social network, and i know that a lot of what she does is Botox treatments for wrinkles. I had no idea it was also used for sweating.
Hey, I may have invented this years ago.
Dang it, I always miss the boat.
Years ago my older sister and her friend were talking about how their breasts were too small. I thought to myself that’s not your problem, it’s that belly fat you have.
I kept thinking about it. In my genius pea-brain I thought we need to figure out a way to put belly fat on to the breast area. Kill two birds with one stone.
Okay, so this hurts a lot more than i was expecting. They did a lot of damage to my tissue, and it’s sore.
Also, it’s swollen. So the immediate result is exactly the opposite of the intention. And having frozen (and mechanically injured - at the end of a treatment, a nurse or physician’s assistant “massages” the area to damage the cold tissue) the tissue is softer. So i went for a walk yesterday, and with each step i could feel my belly jiggle, and each jiggle hurt.
The area also looks red, and feels warm.
This morning I’m not as sore as i was yesterday. I expect this will pass. But it’s pretty damn unpleasant.
The doctor says most people will want a second session, after 2-4 months, which is how long it takes to completely heal from one session. I don’t think they recommend more than two. The fat cells that are killed don’t ordinarily regenerate, so no maintenance is required. (Of course, the remaining fat cells can get plumper. It’s what they do. But you are left with fewer fat cells in the treated area and proportionally more elsewhere.)
One session is supposed to kill 20%-25% of the fat cells in the treated area.
The actual treatment is painless, though. Well, except for the “massage”. But the freezing just feels cold, which i don’t perceive as especially unpleasant. It’s just the next few days…
The business model is interesting. Per a family member who sculpts people, the facility buys the equipment, but has to pay Zeltiq (Allergen subsidiary) per cycle via some DRM counter cartridge.
I went to a stand-alone local practitioner. She has high ratings on social media, the location is very convenient, her website was VERY explicit about their covid precautions, which is something I cared about, and as I mentioned above, I know the dermatologist socially, and based on my interactions with her (on a school reunion committee) she seems generally competent.
Some. follow-up skin removal is not usually done – the guidelines for the procedure say that people whose skin isn’t elastic enough to tighten up are not good candidates. I probably should have asked about that explicitly, but didn’t. I am extremely unlikely to get surgical skin removal whatever the outcome, but I hope not to have baggy skin.
No, I don’t think so. If the same amount of fat is spread mostly across my butt and thighs, with some on the back and bust (which would mirror where I generally have more subcutaneous fat) then I will be happy with the results. My shape will better fit into dresses and pants, and I won’t have a roll of fat that’s uncomfortable when I bend over.
I had it done using what I assume was the first generation devices (maybe 8 years ago?). They did indeed grab a roll of flab and clamp it between two freezing cold metal plates. At certain intervals I think they crank up the vacuum and that’s kind of uncomfortable but nothing compared to the massage part you mentioned. When they were prepping me and explaining what to expect, they advised me not to look when they take off the clamps, as the sight of what looks like a stick of butter (but is actually the fat) sitting on the abdomen sometimes makes people queasy. It kind of did!! But the discomfort superceded any queasiness. And then the massaging . . . Jaysus wept. I won’t say it’s the most pain I’ve ever experienced but it was considerable.
@puzzegal, I hope your discomfort goes away real soon and you get the results you’re hoping for. I had my belly and inner thighs done and for me, it took about a year to see the difference(but I’m glad I did it). I’m thinking about going for another session, now that you’ve told us they use different equipment. That, or whatever the laser surgery is that Sonobello keeps after me to try.
The pain is a lot less today, although i think i may have a little neuropathy (one of the potential side effects they warned me of) and that may be slow to heal. We’ll see.
I found the “massage” a lot less painful after i tightened up my abdominal muscles to protect my innards.
Sorry, I only just saw this. As I recall, I was what I called sore for about 7-10 days and then tender for a few weeks. It may sound counter intuitive, bur I found relief wearing support panty hose. That may not be practical for you(my office is cold AF and also at that time we were formal business attire). I guess the idea is to keep it all shmooshed together so the tender areas don’t slosh around.
And I won’t know how successful it was for a couple of months. So there’s stuff I can’t answer. But I thought I’d start this thread, nonetheless.
. Even at age 10.