When you were pregnant, you ate for two, and you gained a healthy amount of weight to support the growth of your baby. But now that you’ve delivered, you have a bunch of excess weight you probably don’t want. What can you do?
It’s always a good idea to start with a healthy diet and consistent exercise, but no matter how much work you put into it, there are places on your body that stubbornly refuse to give up their fat.
Fortunately, there’s a body sculpting treatment that can help — CoolSculpting®. This noninvasive system uses controlled cooling to freeze and destroy stubborn fat cells without harming the skin or surrounding areas.
Our expert team of aestheticians here at Eterna Vein & Medical Aesthetics depends on the CoolSculpting process to help our patients in the Puyallup, Washington, area meet their aesthetic goals and reclaim their pre-pregnancy body with no muss, no fuss.
The basics of CoolSculpting
Liposuction and tummy tucks are two surgical procedures that can remove your stubborn fat, but they’re both invasive and have extended recovery times. In contrast, CoolSculpting destroys the fat and sculpts your silhouette without scalpels or injections at any point.
This type of fat removal is called cryolipolysis — literally “fat removal by freezing.” The treatment’s handheld device freezes the fat cells just below the skin’s surface.
When you lose weight through diet and exercise, your fat cells shrink, but CoolSculpting destroys up to 20-25% of the treated cells completely and permanently, so there’s nothing left to grow larger over time. Your lymphatic system flushes the dead cells out of your system in the weeks to months following the treatment, leaving behind a more toned body.
CoolSculpting is FDA-cleared for visible fat bulges in the following areas:
Submental (a “double chin”)
Submandibular (under the jawline)
Thighs
Abdomen and flanks
Bra and back fat
Below the buttocks (the banana roll)
Upper arm
Good candidates are those:
Within 30 pounds of their target weight
Who have a healthy diet and exercise routine
Who have stubborn fat pockets they can’t eliminate themselves
Note that CoolSculpting is not a weight loss treatment, but rather a treatment for eliminating those last, hard-to-lose areas of fat.
The CoolSculpting process
Each CoolSculpting session can last from one to several hours, depending on the size(s) and the area(s) you’re having treated.
We first place a gel pad on the treatment area, then apply the handheld device. When we activate it, you may feel some pressure and a “sucking” sensation as the machine pulls up your tissue. You’ll probably feel some stinging, tingling, or cramping at first from the cold, but these go away as the skin becomes numb. We leave the device in place for 35-45 minutes.
Immediately following your treatment, your skin will be red and firm from the frozen and crystallized fat cells. We massage the treatment area to break down those cells. It may be a bit uncomfortable, but it’s an important part of the fat-reduction process.
Your skin can remain red for several hours, and you might notice some blanching or bruising, all of which are completely normal. If you need to, you can take an anti-inflammatory for pain. We also strongly recommend that you continue to exercise and eat a healthy diet while you wait to see your results.
So, when do I see my CoolSculpting results?
You could start seeing results from your CoolSculpting session in as little as three weeks, but the most dramatic changes show up between one and three months, with the final results arriving about four months post-treatment; this is how long your lymphatic system needs to completely flush out the dead fat cells.
Generally, we recommend two complete treatments for optimal outcomes. You can improve upon your results in a given area by having additional treatments, but you’ll have to wait at least a month in between sessions to give your skin time to recover.
Keep in mind that your final results are permanent, because CoolSculpting destroys your fat cells instead of simply shrinking them. The only way you’ll gain fat in the treated area(s) is if you stop exercising and eating a healthy diet, or if you become pregnant again. If you’re planning on becoming pregnant, you may want to hold off on treatment until you’re through having children.
If you’ve got residual “baby fat,” CoolSculpting can be a great option to regain your slimmer figure. To learn more, or to schedule a consultation with one of our aestheticians, call our office at 253-268-3400 today.