By Dr. TRACY MOUNTFORD, MBBS MBCAM
CoolSculpting is one of most popular procedures we offer here at The Cosmetic Skin Clinic, and I get many questions about how it works. So this week in my Weekly Q&A, I’m answering your four most-asked questions about CoolSculpting.
Q: “If I have fat removed from one area of my body, will it go somewhere else?”
A: I get asked this question all the time, and the answer is no! The good news about fat freezing is that the fat will never go somewhere else. Once it’s gone it’s gone for good.
Q: “Does Coolsculpting hurt?”
A: The honest answer is that it’s a medical procedure, so Coolsculpting will be a little bit uncomfortable. However, it’s not painful. It’s more of a squeezing, pulling sensation on the skin, and it does feel quite cold for a few minutes when the applicators are first applied.
Once it’s been on for a few minutes, it’s completely fine. After about 35 minutes, when the applicator comes off, there is some slight discomfort, but again, it’s not painful. It’s more of a numb tingle, and the practitioner will massage the area for a couple of minutes in order to break up the fat cells, which might be a little uncomfortable. Then you can go back to completely normal activities.
Q: “Are there any side effects of Coolsculpting?”
A: Again, the honest answer is that there’s always a potential side effect to a medical treatment. You may feel a little numb after treatment for a few days, and it may last up to a couple weeks. This is caused by slightly inflamed nerve endings, but don’t worry, you’ll get full sensation back.
Sometimes the area that’s been targeted will look a bit swollen for a few days. This is from the inflammation that occurs when we freeze the cells, and it’s nothing to be worried about.
Very occasionally, patients can get some bruising after the treatment. This is not common, but we do warn all patients about this in case they are having any CoolSculpting done in visible places, such as on the face or arms. However, bruising only happens in about 2% of our patients, and it will go away about a week later.
Q: “How quickly will I see results from Coolsculpting?”
A: Most patients begin to see some impact in about a month, and improvement can be seen as early as three week for those that have facial procedures.
We do the first review at 8 weeks to check that everything is looking good and as it should. Within roughly two months you can pretty much see the full effect, which is very quick for this kind of treatment!
It’s our job here at the clinic is to provide you with as much information as possible. We want our patients to know it’s not as scary as it may seem, and chances are, if you’ve considered CoolSculpting, you’ve asked yourself these, too!
For more advice like this, check out my weekly Q&A videos on Youtube!
