Ladies - Anybody curious about CoolSculpting?

I have purchased four sessions of CoolSculpting and will be having the first two this coming Wednesday, in the late afternoon. If there is an interest, I'll be happy to post about the experience.

I thought I would make a thread on this because when I was trying to research it, I found that most of what pops up when you google is just advertisements for the procedure, not information about it.

Here is what I can tell you now...

Cost - pretty expensive (in my world) - you pay by the session and can do one session per "area". Each session is one hour long. Supposedly, one session equals approximately 20% fat loss from the "area". You can have more than one session done in the same area, if you want to lose more fat in a certain area, and you can do those sessions back to back on the same day. My friendly local Medispa has a holiday special going for this month, which is $450/area if you purchase three or more sessions.

How - it freezes fat cells under your skin, then your body absorbs/flushes the dead cells out over the next three months. So, the results are not immediate, it takes three months to see the final results of the procedure. That said, it looks like you can see some initial results as early as 12 days following the procedure, given the before/after pics I have seen.

There is no down time; if is done in the office, no anesthetic needed, and there is no cutting/surgery involved. From what I understand, there is a machine that does the freezing and it has nozzles that fit the different areas, such as tummy, buttock, flank, thigh, etc. your flesh is sucked into the nozzle, kind of like if you hold a vacuum cleaner nozzle against you, and held in place for the hour that the fat freezing requires. Once the time is up, they turn the machine off and your "area" is still cold, and they described it to me as being the consistency of a stick of butter, which the technician will then knead and "massage" in order to break it up and help your body absorb it.

Pain - they recommended lumping the treatments together as much as possible, not spreading them out, because they said it will be tender, so best to get it over with all at once. My consultant said the next day, she was swollen and tender, and the tenderness lasted about a week. I have read online accounts where people described a deep itch a couple days after the procedure, which lasted a few days.

That is all I know going in - if you guys want to know more, I'll be happy to post updates and describe what it is like for me. Let me know...

Gwynnhwyfar

reply to post by gwynnhwyfar


No replies so far, but I'll take the couple of stars as an indication that you would like to hear more. So, I'll go ahead and try to record the experience and my subjective thoughts about it, journal style. As I said in my OP, the first two sessions are scheduled for late this Wednesday afternoon/early evening, so I will post about it then.

I'd love to hear more about the process and how it works over time/
Do you need to keep your body wrapped at for the treated area and how long?
How long does the wrapping last last after the treatment before you can have the NEXT treatment/
What kind of ongoing maintenance to they suggest - wearing the wrap continually or changing it periodically>?

When you're treatment is completed in an area can you immediately move on to an adjacent treatment area?

How many inches/pounds is the initial treatment method capable of removing?

As your recovery progresses, please feel free to answer these or other questions regarding your recovery, future treatments and of course, your results. Thank you for your post

ganjoa

reply to post by ganjoa


You bet, and what I have been told so far is this: NO wrapping is required (unlike liposuction, where one must wear a pressure garment/wrap for weeks). That is one of the things that I find appealing about the CoolSculpting procedure - we shall see if it turns out to be true or hype.

I had lipo done on my inner and outer thighs two years ago, and I was stuck in the pressure garment for soooo long! I hated wearing the thing!!! Plus I had that surgery days before I started a new job, and starting a new job while concealing a pressure garment (like very heavy duty, tight and uncomfortable lingerie, that you can not remove when it becomes uncomfortable and must sleep in) beneath your work clothes, makes you feel really odd.

For background - I am continuing to refine issues I have already addressed through other means, including YEARS of hard work with weight loss, diet and exercise, breast aug, and lipo. I worked with a Trainer for four years in my twenties, and culminated all the hard work by competing in a Figure competition. I am older now, and have a high stress job that allows less time to dedicate to fitness, but I still continue to work on my body. I work out and run, 4-5 days a week.

So on to the next treatment, and let's see how it works. I really like that this is supposed to be non-invasive with no down time. It makes it so much easier to schedule.

You can treat the next area immediately following the first treatment. The only limitation seems to be that they can only do one area at a time. So, for example, I want two treatments on my tummy - since each session is 20% fat reduction, and I think I will be happiest with a 40% reduction.

I could do these two sessions back to back or weeks apart, that doesn't seem to matter, however, they recommended doing it back-to-back, to get all the soreness over at the same time..

Similarly, for my other two sessions, that I paid for but have not yet scheduled, I plan to use as one for each buttock. I was hoping they could do them at the same time, but as it turns out, there is only one machine, and it has only one nozzle, with different heads for the different areas, so I will be scheduling this in two sessions, probably either Thursday or Saturday, but it will be done in two, one-hour, back-to-back sessions, the first hour on one buttock and the second hour on the other.

reply to post by ganjoa

Regarding this, specifically:

How many inches/pounds is the initial treatment method capable of removing?

From what they told me, at my local Medispa, It is supposed to remove 20% of the fat in the area treated, per session. If you have more fat in a particular area, then you can supposedly do as many sessions as needed to get to the place you want to be, and you can do these sessions back-to-back, limited only by your available money, time, and endurance. The results, however, take a little time, so this thread won't be final, in regards to my findings, for a couple of months.

I will relate my experiences as they occur.

Got in to work this morning and checked my calendar, and I realized I am scheduled for a meeting at the end of my workday, Wednesday afternoon, that will conflict with my appt.

I am trying to reschedule to Thursday instead, and if I am able to switch to Thursday, I requested to do all 4 sessions in a row. If that doesn't work out, I'll stick with the Wednesday appt., leave my last mtg early, then schedule the other two sessions for a different day, as per my original plan.

Updates to follow.

I'm interested in following your progress long term. By that I mean years and decades.

I wouldn't recommend this procedure to anyone, your body stores fat in a particular pattern around your body based on your dominant gland. This is important because your body will go to those dominant storage areas first in times of need, i.e. if you put on most of your fat around your belly and small amounts elsewhere, your body will take fat mostly from your belly first. This could result in strange aesthetics if you lose or gain weight after the procedure, or even be a detriment to your health depending on what particular area you freeze and how much you get rid of.

I honestly cannot see this working out well for you in the long term. As I said, I would be interested in following you and any health problems you develop (morbid, I know) over the years if you do go through with it. Would you consider making a yearly post describing your health status and general wellbeing?

I have some general advice I give to people in situations similar to yours: never be the first in line for anything!

If you look at laser eye surgery 10 and 20 years ago, they had absolutely awful accident and failure rates, now it's pretty much guaranteed safe. It's great that this revolutionary new surgery has come along to help with fat loss (I'd like to say muscle loss too, but I haven't heard of the surgery before, I'll look in to it when I get time) but I wouldn't be rushing to be a guinea pig any time soon. In 10 years if it's still around, it'll be cheaper, quicker and safer. If it's not, you'll regret having it done every day of your life.

I hate advocating drug intervention, but I think in this case it would be preferable to physical removal of fat. I'd suggest speaking to your doctor about orlistat, it can be obtained via prescription as Xenical or over the counter as Alli. It stops fat forming process in the body occurring, basically forcing you to use your fat reserves as if you weren't consuming enough food.

As I say, I hate saying "take 2 of these with dinner and drink lots of water" but it sounds like you've been struggling with weight loss for a long time. Obviously you've probably tried a lot of things, but one thing I'd suggest that may be an unexplored avenue is identifying your dominant gland and avoiding foods which stimulate it in an attempt to make the fat distribution more even, and stimulate your metabolism to encourage weight loss.

We can talk more about the diet options if you want, I can help you come up with a list of foods to avoid and what to eat that maintains your nutritional needs, obviously check it with your doctor before you follow it etc, but if you've already done all this then I wish you luck with whatever choice you make.

reply to post by Dispo

Hi Dispo, thanks for your interest.

I first heard about the procedure in the book, "Skin Rules - Trade Secrets from a Top New York Dermatologist. It is a non-invasive, non-surgical procedure that is an alternative to liposuction. I have had liposuction on my thighs before, so the fact that this is non-surgical is a big plus. I'll be posting updates for a while, not sure about years and decades, though. I'm going to try to post during the 90 days it takes to realize the full results, although I'm sure I won't notice changes on a daily basis.

I'm not afraid - it won't be a cosmetic procedure that gets me in the end - it will either be the horrible traffic on the highways where I live, or my love of micro-brews.

ETA: Thanks for your offer concerning diet - I actually have a very good grasp of nutrition and a healthy diet (minus those micro-brews). I lost well over 20 pounds in my late thirties and have kept it off. I just happen to be very interested in maintaining my body, so I keep whittling away at the flaws, one by one. Yep, I'm a little vain, but I'd rather spend the money and be happy in my body. I had a lousy body image as a teenager and it made me unhappy and insecure for years. My quality of life is much better now.

General update - I worked out the problem with my schedule and so I will be having the first two sessions today and the other two tomorrow.

Well, I am sitting here with the machine on now, in session number one. So, right now it is my lower abdomen that it is working on. It really does look like a big vacuum cleaner head, only larger. It was uncomfortable when she first turned on the suction and it sucked my flesh in, but now that the cord is hung up and I've been sitting with it on for a few minutes, the discomfort is mostly gone. Once this finishes, then we will do the next session on my upper abdomen. Luckily, I can sit here and read ATS, so I'm not just staring at the wall.

Ok, session one is complete. So, once your time is up, they turn off the suction and remove the nozzle, and all your flesh that was sucked up in the nozzle stays in the same shape, so they then massage it for a full minute and smooth it all back down into your tummy. She told me the more you massage the area, the better your results will be. I'll be sitting around massaging it tonight!

Now I am on session two, upper abdomen, and this is much more uncomfortable. It is centered over my ribs and sucked up everything from my belly button to where my bra starts. When she turned the machine on, I felt like I couldn't breath for a minute, but then she assured me that it is ok to take a deep breath and it won't dislodge anything, so once I took a couple deep breaths I felt fine. Now it is humming away and all is well.

Morning - First day after tummy sessions, tushy sessions are scheduled for this evening.

I am much more sore than I expected to be. Both areas are painful to touch, and my upper abdomen is the worst. Any pressure in the area about an inch and a half above my belly button is very painful. I would say it is comparable to the pain levels I have felt after a surgical procedure, so the "no down time" is a bit misleading, but unlike after a surgery I am not on any pain meds that make me sleep, and there are no stitches that have to heal, so in that sense, I am not "down". I am working from home today and was planning to go in to the office tomorrow, but considering my tush is likely to feel the same way my tummy currently does, I think I will work from home tomorrow too, so I can wear something soft and put extra cushions on my chair.

The areas are a little swollen and the skin is slightly more pink than usual. The upper tummy captured the exact area needed, but I think the lower tummy was slightly off-centered, so we'll have to see how it comes out. If needed, I'll go back in a couple of months to even it up.

I've never tried it as I am adverse to medical procedures of all kinds (I'm scared of the equipment). I will say it sounds interesting though. I personally just do hot yoga and live with my lumps for the most part. The only problem I foresee is that if you gain weight you will do it in some odd places as the amount of fat cells we actually have is fixed during puberty. If you remove them your body is going to start storing the fat in places it didn't before. It's the main reason I will never do it as my fat storage patterns aren't bad right now. I tend to store in my chest, upper arms, hips and thighs. At my smallest (135), I came in at 39-27-39, could have been better, but I was happy with it. I'm working on losing my baby weight now so I'm at 43-32-43, little embarrassing but it is what it is. I have considered lipo to smooth out my hips as I hate the sort of "indent" on the sides. They look a little square because I have a short torso.

Ah me, being an ugly woman can be rough lol



I hope it all works out for you and I enjoyed reading all about it, let us know how it ultimately turns out for you. I suspect it will be good.

I am very dubious of this, mainly because from what I've looked at, it doesn't explain anything. I've always been an advocate of the tried and tested old fashioned way of losing weight; and the idea of freezing my fat and then it breaking down and ....??? is a bit of a horror to me.

I don't understand how and why freezing the fat will cause it to break down, and I don't understand how it will be expelled once it is in crystalline form.

And I don't mean to be a ninny, but some of the before and after pictures aren't very obvious at all.
I would hate to spend money on doing something I would consider to be unnatural to my body, only for the results not to be that obvious.

reply to post by Lulzaroonie


Well the problem it is not really that she needs to lose weight. This is someone who competes in figure contests from what I gather. It's a different world. The problem with just losing weight is unless you are grossly overweight your essential shape will stay the same. In my case I had large breasts, a small waist and large hips before i ever gained weight. I retained that even when I was pushing 200 pounds. Anything over that and I began to lose it that. All losing weight did was refine that figure (and if anything make it more extreme). The only way to really change the bodies shape drastically is through manipulation. Working out merely refines and maintains the figure, it's not going to make you a totally different shape. We can make certain areas bigger through working out, but if it was small before it isn't going to get much bigger. The best way to explain this is a man who has broad shoulders versus one who has narrow ones. You can add muscle through working out but the broad shouldered man will always appear to have bigger shoulders. While it may seem nitpicky at her level of fitness the devil is in the details.

reply to post by antonia

Yes, I did compete in (just one) figure competition, and I used to belly dance and get paid for it, but I don't any more. My job does not permit me that kind of free time these days as I have 24 hour on-call duty every two weeks. I am not overweight and I work out or run 4-5 days/week. I just have some stubborn areas, like everyone does, and I decided to try this and see if it is as effective as liposuction, as touted.

It is hard to get past all the advertisements and get some real info about the procedure. That's why I made this thread, so I can report on the reality of it, good or bad. I'll let you guys know what unexpected things I come across and whether or not I am happy with the results in the end. No lectures please, this is a fact finding mission.

reply to post by gwynnhwyfar


I'm sorry if it came off as a lecture. I don't judge you for it at all. If I had money I'd probably do something about my lack of good looks. Most of the people lecturing are men. Until you live without beauty you can never understand the advantage it confers to women. I'd give most of my intelligence for it truthfully. For a woman it's more useful in the end.

reply to post by antonia


No no, you didn't sound like you were lecturing - I just hit reply to your post because I was responding about the figure competition. Not to worry! I should have put the second paragraph in its own post.

So, session three, left side of the tush is now in progress. It's not as uncomfortable as either upper or lower tummy, at least during the process. I'm sure it will hurt tomorrow, though, based on how the tummy felt today. As the day has gone on, however, some of the soreness has subsided. I haven't been able to massage it because it is too tender, but I am starting to be able to run my hand across the areas on my tummy now.

The tech here at my Medispa tells me to expect the soreness to subside and then there will be a deep itching sensation that lasts around ten days. We'll see - so far I have not felt all the same things she said I might feel. For instance, for the first ten minutes of the treatment, she said it might feel cold alternating with hot, but I haven't felt that in any area yet.

As far as it compares to surgery, there are some definite plusses I have noticed so far. No cutting and no stitches, obviously. Since there is no cutting, you don't have to avoid pain relievers (which thin the blood) for a week before you have the procedure done. You can literally just schedule it for the next day if you want. That was nice for me because I get frequent headaches, so it is hard to go a week with no Advil. There are no prescription pain meds afterwards, which is good because it means you aren't knocked out, sleeping all the time, and can work. No wrap or pressure garment is required (after lipo or tummy tuck you have to wear a pressure garment 24x7 for a couple of MONTHS), although I did put on a wrap for an hour or two this morning when it was really sore. But then I was able to take it off and I was fine.

So far, stands up pretty favorably. Let's see how the last area and the rest of the recovery goes, and of course, the results! My Medispa takes the before pics and then has you come in monthly for follow up pics. I should have a pretty good idea of not only how I feel, but also how the results look, by the end of the three months.

Ok, session four is all finished and I am home now. Let the healing begin!!

Another nice thing I learned about having this procedure instead of lipo is that there are no restrictions on exercise. I can work out as soon as I feel like it, which means I will be heading to the stair-master tomorrow after work, and probably some light yoga, at home, in the morning, as long as I'm not too, too sore. That is a big plus! Usually, after surgery, you have to wait a week or more, before exercise or "intimacy".