By Dr. TRACY MOUNTFORD, MBBS MBCAM
For your own health and safety, we break down some of the too good to be true, enticing products and offers out there. You’ve looked online for clinic fat freezing treatments but are not sure. Suddenly you get the idea of “well, can I freeze my fat off at home?” You think it will be less expensive, no hassle and you can walk out of your living room looking slimmer and contoured. Unfortunately, that is not the reality. For your own health and safety, we break down some of the too good to be true, enticing products and offers out there.
1. Fat freezing belts
Temperature control
Through official CoolSculpting devices, the skin’s temperature is lowered to around -11*C. To reach this temperature, the skin is cooled slowly and remains at the temperature for the duration of the treatment – there are other factors in play too.
However, with fat freezing belts, the temperature is not going to be accurately controlled to a precise degree. As a result, it could get too cold and damage your skin tissue permanently or doesn’t reach the right temperature to have an impact. You’ll just be causing yourself pain.
No consistency
With fat freezing belts, you can get specific ones that contain cold packs or ones you cool in the freezer before your treatment. What’s the problem with this? The freezer packs will start cold but throughout the treatment the pack warms. There is no accurate freezing happening, so you’ll get no results.
Limited treatment areas
There are limited areas of treatment with a fat freezing belt. Professional CoolSculpting machines at The Cosmetic Skin Clinic can treat almost any area of the body including, arms, chin, stomach, legs, love handles, inner thighs, outer thighs, back fat, bra fat, and even knee fat. However, fat freezing belts can only be worn around the waist.
Untested and unproven
These “miracle fat freezing belts” are untested and unregulated. With no academic and published research claims, the belts are ineffective at targeting and reducing fat cells. These belts have also not been through rigorous testing to confirm stability and safety.
2. It is cheaper to buy this fat freezing use-at-home device
At the end of the day, if a home fat freezing device that worked and was safe only cost £100, everyone would be doing it. The risk assumed is too big, which is why people trust the expertise and experience of our practitioners. Along with our consultation, to treatment day and follow up check – you won’t get any of that care and attention to detail if you use an at home device.
Our in clinic CoolSculpting machines are well tested and proven machines. There is no at home machine that can give you as big and as safe a result as an official CoolSculpting device can. At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself if it is worth spending money on a poorer quality and untested option.
3. DIY CoolSculpting with ice cubes or other frozen materials
Trying to use ice cubes or other cold materials can do more damage than good. It can only freeze your skin and not in fact get rid of any fat cells. You’ll only be damaging your skin causing potential tissue damage or numbness. It won’t be able to safely reduce the temperature for your skin and fat cells to the ideal –11C.
And just like the above point – if all it took to remove fat cells was to use ice packs – everyone would be doing it.
Why should you not do any of the above:
- Fat freezing belts only “treat” one area of the body
- Fat freezing belts aren’t proven to be effective and can be unsafe due to inaccurate temperature control
- No clear answer as to how much fat reduction can happen – if any – with belts
- High skin damage risk with DIY CoolSculpting
- Poor quality and untested
- Wasting money on a highly likely chance of seeing no professional results
Other health risks of attempting CoolSculpting or fat freezing at home are:
- Pain
- Permanent tissue damage
- Frostbite or numbness
Also, a key point to note, with at home devices, the risk is all on you. Copycat devices aren’t covered by insurance. Attempting CoolSculpting at home is not only potentially dangerous, but also ineffective. You simply will not get the results you see in an experienced, qualified and safe clinic.
Why should you only choose CoolSculpting and not imitations?
These freeze fat at home products are just too good to be true and are a high risk to your health. The only fat freezing (cryolipolysis) device approved by the FDA is CoolSculpting by Zeltiq. Zeltiq introduced this pioneering fat-freezing treatment which is to be administered by a professional in a clinic, not at home. Any at home fat freezing tools or “at home CoolSculpting” machines are imitations and not the FDA-approved Zeltiq brand.
Why waste money and time, risking yourself for an at home product that isn’t FDA-approved and likely to not give you the results you want? This also applies to if you visit a clinic and they only use the term “fat freezing” treatment. Make sure you do your research and ensure it is CoolSculpting machine.
With the non-invasive CoolSculpting procedure, it targets fat cells and destroys them with long term results. Founder of The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, Dr Mountford highlights that “on average, we can see between 23% to 40% fat reduction in the area treated after just a single treatment.”
Why book CoolSculpting with The Cosmetic Skin Clinic?
At The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, we require our patients to book a consultation with our practitioners. We do this to assess your viability for treatments. We want to make sure that this treatment is the right one for you and will give you the results you expect. Our aim is to ensure you get the best results and experience; we will honestly assess your likely outcome.
Our practitioners are trained and licensed in the CoolSculpting procedure. The Cosmetic Skin Clinic can provide the best experience for you as we’re the No 1. Clinic group for CoolSculpting in the UK. We’ve seen thousands of CoolSculpting patients who are happy with their fat freezing results. The Cosmetic Skin Clinic has performed over 50,000 CoolSculpting treatments to date. With an expert clinic team trained in fat loss, you know you can trust and rely on our professional advice to get you results.
Book your CoolSculpting consultation or call our London clinic or our Buckinghamshire clinic at 0330 433 1989.
