Unwanted pockets of fat aren’t cool. Beyond that they’re more stubborn than your mother-in-law. Unfortunately, fat pockets in certain areas of the body such as the abdomen and outer thighs can be almost impossible to get rid of with exercise and changes in diet.
But you can give that fat the cold shoulder, so to speak, with CoolSculpting from Dr. Hetzler. CoolSculpting freezes and eliminates fat cells permanently, decreasing fat by almost a quarter in the treated areas.
Most people with even a passing interest in the aesthetic industry have heard of CoolSculpting, as the procedure has really taken off due to its results and non-invasive nature. But do you really know how CoolSculpting works? Here’s some background on the science behind the procedure and how CoolSculpting came to be.
It all came from kids eating popsicles
As happens with many everyday things such as Post-It Notes and Jell-O, CoolSculpting was the result of an accidental discovery. Two doctors at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Drs. Dieter Manstein and R. Rox Anderson, were testing a theory that children who ate lots of popsicles growing up developed dimples in their cheeks more than children who didn’t eat lots of popsicles. Dimples are depressions in the cheeks where the muscle isn’t covered with much fat, so when the muscle contracts a dimple forms. The idea was that the cold in the popsicles somehow affected the fat cells in the cheeks. They called this Popsicle Panniculitis. Their theory proved to be true.
From there, they took it one step further, the thinking being that what happened in the cheeks could maybe happen elsewhere. So, they investigated selectively freezing fat cells in a process they called cryolipolysis. CoolSculpting was born.
CoolSculpting process
Cryolipolysis in CoolSculpting happens in three steps. First, cooling is directed downward into the skin. The temperature is precisely equal to the freezing point of fat cells, while not freezing adjacent tissue cells that freeze at a higher temperature. Exposure to this freezing causes fat cell apoptosis (a natural, controlled cell death). The body sends cytokines and other inflammatory mediators to the area to gradually digest the dead fat cells in the weeks following the CoolSculpting session. Lipids from the dead fat cells are slowly released and transported by the lymphatic system to be processed and eliminated from the body, in the same manner that fat in food is eliminated.
In the end, Dr. Hetzler’s patients are realizing a 20 to 23% decrease in fat cells in the treatment area over the months following their CoolSculpting session.
Versus other fat reduction methods
The cooling is a key difference between other non-invasive fat reduction methods, along with the level of comfort. In those applications, either laser or high-intensity focused ultrasound energy are used. Unlike CoolSculpting’s precise, targeted freezing of only the fat cells, these other methods cause damage to surrounding tissue. This leads to burning, pain, and other issues.
OK, you’ve passed CoolSculpting 101. Are you ready to graduate to getting rid of that unwanted fat? Well, let’s talk. Call Dr. Hetzler at 732-219-0447 and ask about CoolSculpting.
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