What Is Coolsculpting Or Cryolipolysis?

How cool is “Coolsculpting,” otherwise known as cryolipolysis or “fat freezing?” Well, placing what looks like a big vacuum cleaner on your fat folds doesn’t look very cool but is being touted as the non-invasive alternative to liposuction. (Please keep in mind that putting a regular vacuum cleaner on your fat folds does nothing.) But does cryolipolysis really work, and is it safe ?

Use of liposuction has become relatively widespread. Rumors have suggested that numerous celebrities have had liposuction. (Yes, I know, shocking…that there are rumors about celebrities.) And when celebrities do something, you know others are doing it as well. According to a 2011 International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS) survey, plastic surgeons worldwide performed 1,268,287 liposuctions (otherwise known as lipoplasties). This number likely underestimates the true number.

How popsicles and pigs led to the way cryolipolysis works

Enter the Coolscultping system, manufactured and sold by ZELTIQ Aesthetics, Inc., after receiving approval for use in Europe in September 2009 and in the United States by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2010. The theory behind cryolipolysis is that fat cells are more sensitive to cold temperatures than other types of surrounding body cells. This theory stemmed from an observed medical phenomenon called popsicle panniculitis in which infants and young children get swelling and redness in their cheeks 6 to 72 hours after sucking on a popsicle or ice cube. In some cases, popsicle exposure led to dimples. Adults probably don’t exhibit this phenomenon because they have fewer fatty acids in their cheeks. (Part of what you pinch when pinching babies’ cheeks.) Two dermatologists at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dieter Manstein, MD, and R. Rox Anderson, MD, then began experimenting on applying cool treatments to pigs (which consisted of more than just giving pigs popsicles), eventually leading to the development of “coolsculpting.”