Diet and regular exercise remain the best tools to maintain a healthy and beautifully contoured body. However, even the most disciplined women and men often retain pockets of stubborn fat, particularly around their waistline. Fat freezing is the latest trend in the non-invasive removal of such fat. Also known as CoolSculpting, it is heavily marketed to women and men who want slimmer waistlines without traditional surgery.
But how well does fat freezing work?
How Fat Freezing Works
What CoolSculpting aims to achieve is the destruction of fat cells with the application of extreme cold to the targeted area. As a patient, you go in for your treatment in regular intervals. Your MedSpa attendant then passes the CoolSculpting wand over your stomach to freeze the fat underneath. No local anesthesia is needed for fat freezing, however patients have reported that the sensation of cold on their skin can be quite uncomfortable. There can also be temporary numbness and swelling.
Over the following weeks, the dead fat cells are eliminated from your body through your regular bodily functions. You then return for another round of fat freezing a second or third time, until the desired results are visible.
Pros and Cons of CoolSclupting
Fat freezing has the advantage of being a non-invasive treatment. No surgery, no recovery period to speak of, no pain beyond having to endure very cold temps on your skin. Patients who shy away from the idea of plastic surgery often op for non-invasive alternatives such as CoolSculpting. What’s the harm in trying?
While there is no harm in trying non-invasive fat removal solutions, you may be wasting your time and money. CoolSclupting is quite an expensive procedure, and the repeat treatments necessary for even modest results mean that you may be caught up with it over many months. If you don’t like the results, you may not have the funds to move on to a more effective procedure for quite some time.
How does Liposuction Compare to Fat Freezing?
The advantages of liposuction over CoolSculpting are obvious: With liposuction you don’t have to endure any repeat treatments. It’s a one-time procedure that takes about two hours, and it eliminates your fat cells permanently and immedaitely via a small cannula. If you are so inclined, you can take a good long look, or even lift up the jar that contains your fat to see how heavy it is. The results to your figure are immediately obvious, although you may have some swelling for the first few post-op days.
Liposuction is minimally-invasive, meaning that like CoolSculpting it does not require any surgery, staples, or stitches. You are lightly sedated but awake throughout your procedure, which means that you won’t feel any pain but that you will nevertheless have a fast recovery.
Another advantage of liposuction is that your plastic surgeon can target certain areas very specifically. With a procedure like NuBody Liposuction, the bulk of your fat can easily be eliminated using the so-called Body Jet technology which operates under water pressure to flush out the fat. This is then followed by the application of heat using laser or radio frequency energy to target the smaller remnants of fat. Whether it’s your love handles or muffin tops, your sagging neck or bulging thighs, a combination of different liposuction methods is able to efficiently remove the fat like no freezing ever can.
Choosing the Best Belly Fat Removal Method for Yourself
To recap: NuBody Liposuction is a minimally-invasive surgical procedure – performed by a board-certified plastic surgeon in a medical practice – while CoolSculpting is a non-surgical procedure most often administered by an aesthetician or nurse in places such as Med Spas. The result most often come out in favor of the one-time procedure, both in the short and long term. It’s also important to note that NuBody Liposuction is so gentle that it can hardly be called surgery in a traditional sense. Patients are able to quickly return to work and to resume their regular activities within two days or less.
Which plastic surgery option is best for you often has to be weighed against its cost. At NuBody Concept, we are happy to extend affordable financing options to our patients starting at just 99 dollars a month.
If you are looking for liposuction in Nashville, please contact our Nashville Cosmetic Surgery Practice for a consultation. To schedule a consultation for liposuction in Memphis, please contact our Memphis Cosmetic Surgery Practice.
John Rosdeutscher, MD
Double board-certified plastic surgeon “Dr. R” has been voted Best of Music City #1 plastic surgeon 3+ years.
