Lasers can get pretty toasty, here at Profile MD. In fact, when it comes to losing stubborn pockets of fat, our Coolsculpting keeps things chilly.
You’ve probably heard about this revolutionary fat freezing procedure, but you may have some questions about how it works. Here’s some background on the science behind the procedure and how CoolSculpting came to be.
It started with a Rocket Pop
When the two scientists who invented CoolSculpting came up with the idea they were actually investigating something else. Two doctors at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Drs. Dieter Manstein and R. Rox Anderson, were doing a study that theorized children who ate lots of popsicles developed dimples in their cheeks more than children who didn’t eat lots of popsicles. Dimples form 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. Their theory proved true, and the doctors called this Popsicle Panniculitis.
Based on their theory of what was happening in the cheeks, the two doctors further theorized that the same process/result could happen elsewhere. So, they investigated selectively freezing fat cells in a process they called cryolipolysis. The end result of those studies was CoolSculpting.
How it works
We know — CoolSculpting sounds too good to be true. How could you easily freeze fat cells without harming adjacent skin and muscle cells? It takes a process.
To freeze the fat, CoolSculpting uses a three-step process. First, a cooling panel uses suction to pull the target area skin into solid contact with the cooling plates. Then the 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. It takes anywhere from three to 12 weeks for the body to permanently remove the dead fat cells.
How much fat gets chilled out? A 20 to 23% decrease in fat cells in the treatment area over the months following your CoolSculpting session with the Profile MD team.
Non-invasive and not painful
The entire CoolSculpting procedure isn’t painful. There is some minor discomfort when the cooling is first being delivered, but that passes as the area becomes numb with the cooling. And there isn’t any downtime. How cool, literally, is that?!
Schedule A Consultation
See there’s more than high-intensity laser light for us here at Profile MD We can chill with the best of them. Put that cool to work on your stubborn pockets of fat with CoolSculpting. Call us at 410-544-4600 to make an appointment.
