Your First “Cool” Experience – What It Feels Like to Get Coolsculpting for the First Time
- Posted on: Sep 14 2017
By April
One of my favorite things about working at Azul is seeing brand new, first-time patients come into the Spa. No matter how well-prepared they think they are, no matter how in-depth their consultation was, there is always this mixture of nervousness and excitement. It’s kind of like seeing kids on Christmas morning before they open their presents! They know there’s something good in there, they just don’t know what it is yet. One of the procedures that creates the most excitement in our patients is CoolSculpting®.
CoolSculping is the first and only FDA-cleared treatment designed to eliminate fat using a patented, cold technology. It’s a non-invasive alternative to liposuction and other fat removal methods that allows us to sculpt your body without surgery.
CoolSculpting works through a process called cryolipolysis, a medical treatment where only the fat cells are destroyed through exposure to targeted cold energy, leaving the surrounding cells undamaged. These crystallized, destroyed fat cells are then naturally eliminated by your body. The eliminated fat is gone for good, and patients begin to see results in as soon as three weeks, although most will experience the most dramatic results between one and three months. It’s the perfect way to treat stubborn pockets of fat, such as love handles, saddlebags, the inner thighs and many more areas.
The question that I get most often when it comes to CoolSculpting is, “What does it feel like? Does it hurt?” For many patients, their level of discomfort is minimal. After an examination to determine the areas we want to focus on, it’s treatment time. Using the CoolSculpting handpiece, we literally suck the fat into the cooling pads to be treated. This can be a strange and somewhat curious sensation at first, although most patients find it becomes comfortable rather quickly. I have been told that it feels a little similar to holding an ice pack against the skin. The entire procedure takes about an hour in total, so feel free to bring in a book, tablet or your phone to entertain yourself while being treated. (You can also watch Netflix on our system!)
Although CoolSculpting is completely non-invasive, there are still a few potential side-effects. After treatment, your skin might feel numb and a bit red for a day or so, kind of like you have freezer burn. In rare cases, you may experience some minor bruising and swelling in the areas treated, but this will fade as the tissue heals. You won’t be able to see your full results until the destroyed fat cells have been reabsorbed by your body, which happens gradually over a couple months. After that, the fat cells will be gone for good!
CoolSculping has become the body sculpting method of choice for many people, as it offers incredible advantages over traditional surgical fat removal methods such as liposuction. It’s super-fast, incredibly effective, and it requires absolutely no downtime. Since it isn’t at all invasive, you don’t have to worry about painful recovery or possible surgical complications. All you have to do is lie back and relax – and let CoolSculpting freeze your fat away!
If you’d like to learn more about CoolSculpting or any of our other non-invasive cosmetic procedures, you can visit our website at www.azulbeauty.com. If you’d like to book a CoolSculpting appointment, or get a free consultation with Dr. Flaharty, you can call us at (239) 415-7576. Remember, with CoolSculpting, there are no needles, no knives and no anesthesia, just a noticeable, natural-looking reduction of stubborn fat.
CoolSculpting is a registered trademark of ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc.
Posted in: Procedures