CoolSculpting by Zeltiq: A Liposuction Alternative

What is CoolScultping by Zeltiq?

CoolSculpting by Zeltiq is a treatment for patients who have an unwanted bulge of fat. It's perfect for patients who have a normal and stable body weight and just have one or two areas that don't seem to be responding to diet and exercise alone.

This treatment uses cool temperatures to freeze the fat, but it doesn't damage the overlying skin, blood vessels and nerves. When the fat is frozen, it actually changes and the immune system sees it as having changed. The immune system will clear that fat away over a period of two to four months after the treatment.

Who is this treatment recommended for? What benefits can you expect?

CoolSculpting is a great treatment for localized, unwanted bulges of fat. Some of the typical areas that we treat are belly or the love handles, the inner thighs, and under the arms.

Expectation and Results

As long as you pick the right patient which is a patient who has a normal and stable body weight and just a localized bulge, and they can expect a 20 to 30% reduction in the contour of the bulge that was treated.

It's important to contrast it with the gold standard treatment which would be liposuction. When you use liposuction which is a surgical procedure, you can actually remove significantly more than 30% of fat per treatment.

How long is the recovery time for this procedure?

CoolSculpting treatment takes an hour per application-for example, an hour to treat the belly. Potentially it can take up to two hours if you're treating two bulges-like the inner thighs and the flanks. Most patients recover very easily. There can be some numbness at the area treated, a few days of swelling, and very rarely patients can have discomfort or pain, but we would not expect any lasting or permanent complications from the treatment.

Patients don't even really need to modify their lifestyle; they can head back to the gym or work after they've had their treatment done. They do, however, have to wait for the results-they're gradual-over two to four months following the treatment.

What is the typical cost of treatment?

The cost of a CoolSculpting treatment is determined by how many applications are being done. A single application can range in cost from four to five hundred dollars, and if you're doing multiple applications, it could cost several thousand dollars.