If you’ve heard about the new technology that freezes away fat, we understand why you may be dubious. After all, you’ve likely been trying for years to get rid of stubborn fat using every approach imaginable, with nothing to show for your efforts. In fact, there’s no shortage of products, services, and programs that promise to melt away the pounds, and many are, indeed, too good to be true.
With the advent of laser technology, the cosmetic field now has a world of new possibilities, and one of them is the ability to tackle fat cells, eliminating them once and for all using targeted cooling energy. Here at Balcones Dermatology, we researched the different laser fat reduction options and settled on CoolSculpting® because of its effectiveness and ease of use.
To help you understand better what many of our Austin, Texas, area clients have already discovered, we’re going to walk you through what you should expect during your CoolSculpting treatments at our office.
To understand how and why CoolSculpting works, you to need understand the problem you’re facing when you try diet and exercise to get to your ideal body shape. If you’ve spent hours at the gym and cut down on all of your favorite snacks in order to get within your target weight range, only to be left with stubborn pockets of fat, you’re not alone.
The fact is that when you lose weight, you can control how much you lose, but not where you lose it. As an adult, you carry the same number of fat cells in your body, which expand or decrease in size, not in number, as you gain and lose weight. When you cut out the calories and ramp up your exercise regimen, your body turns to these existing fat cells and determines where to draw the energy from.
And where your body gets its energy may not align with your goals. For example, women hold onto fat around their reproductive organs, which means they carry more weight around their hips, thighs, and abdomen. Men are more prone to carry weight around their midsection.
So, while your efforts may be paying off elsewhere as your body shrinks, they may not be getting to the areas you’d like, which is where CoolSculpting comes in.
Using a process known as cryolipolysis, the CoolSculpting system delivers cooling energy into the fat cells without harming the surface area, essentially destroying those fat cells. These fat cells are then flushed out through your lymphatic system.
When you come in for your first treatment, there’s nothing you need to do to prepare in advance. We do need to access the parts of your body that we’re going to treat, so you may want to wear a sports bra and comfortable underwear.
Once you’re settled in the treatment chair, we place a gel pad and applicator over your target area and let CoolSculpting do the rest.
First, the machine vacuums your tissue into the applicator, so you feel some tugging or pulling. When the energy begins to travel through your skin, you feel intense cold at first, which you get used to after a few minutes as your body numbs. We also supply you with a blanket to help keep you warm.
After the initial shock of the cold, your experience should be smooth sailing. In fact, the CoolSculpting treatments are so tolerable that many of our clients use this time to catch up on some emails or do a little reading.
Once the treatment is over, you simply get dressed, and you’re free to return to your normal activities, which is one of the biggest advantages of the procedure — no downtime. From there, you let your body do the rest of the work after your treatment as it flushes away your fat cells.
If you still have questions about what to expect during your CoolSculpting treatments, we invite you to give us a call or use the online booking tool to schedule a consultation.
