Fat freezing is a treatment that has been around for a few years now, but its popularity shows absolutely no signs of slowing down any time soon. Performed as a safe and painless alternative to conventional liposuction surgery, fat freezing is capable of removing stubborn built up areas of fat from areas of the body that tend to be more resilient to weight loss from exercise.
During the fat freezing treatment, fat cells are cooled to a specific temperature where the crystallization of fat begins. When this happens, the fat cells are destroyed permanently and the body flushes them our using the lymphatic system as waste. This process is known as apoptosis, which is simply referred to as “cell death”. Thanks to the specific temperature used within the treatment, the skin, internal organs and any neighboring structures and tissues aren’t affected as these require much colder temperatures to be damaged. The reason why it is so popular as a method of weight loss and fat removal is thanks to its non-invasive and non-surgical nature.
Most commonly, it tends to be the arms, thighs, back, chin/neck or abdomen that are treated, although any area with stubborn built up fat can be treated.
What are the pros of fat freezing?
Fat freezing treatments have a number of pro’s, such as;
It’s a non-invasive treatment
The vast majority of fat freezing devices use a range of applicators in different sizes to work on practically any part of the body. Because the applicator is placed on the surface of the skin and works by utilizing vacuum suction to gently pull on the skin, it’s not considered to be an invasive treatment.
The treatment is relatively short
Depending on the size of the area to be treated, fat freezing tends to take anywhere up to 60 minutes for one localized treatment area. The time required is directly related to the amount of fat cells that you are looking to remove and the area that is being treated (for example, removing a small amount of fat from the chin area is going to take less time than removing a larger amount from the stomach).
Short period of recovery
Using liposuction as a direct comparison, the treatment has a huge decrease in the amount of downtime post treatment. In fact, fat freezing treatments are considered to have practically no downtime and most patients are able to return to work (or their normal daily life) on the day of the treatment.
What are the cons of fat freezing?
As with all cosmetic procedures, both surgical and non-surgical, fat freezing does have some cons related to it. These are;
There are some side effects
As with most body sculpting treatments, fat freezing does come with a few side effects (but thankfully, there aren’t that many). The most commonly reported side effects are a general feeling of numbness, redness or swelling and increased sensitivity in the area that has been treated. With the right aftercare, any fat freezing side effects can be minimized or reduced to almost none at all.
Fat freezing can require multiple sessions
Depending on the area of the body that is to be treated, it’s entirely possible that you may need more than one session. For larger areas of the body, it may be that you undergo a treatment every few weeks until you start to see significant results. The same may be said if you’re trying to target more than one area of the body.
Is there anything that would stop me being considered as a good candidate for fat freezing?
Fat freezing treatments are generally suitable for pretty much anyone who is looking to target stubborn fatty buildups. Having said that, there are a number of reasons that someone would not be a good candidate for treatment.
Fat freezing shouldn’t be performed on any areas of skin that are broken or containing varicose veins, dermatitis or any form of skin lesions. It should also be avoided by any patients who are classed as severely overweight or obese as it isn’t considered to be performed as a significant weight loss treatment.
There are other conditions that could pose a risk to being suitable for treatment, such as being pregnant or breast feeding, having any nerve disorders or skin inflammatory disorders, or suffering from skin conditions caused by immune system disorders.
What happens to the fat cells that have been treated in a fat freezing treatment?
Once the fat cells have been broken down and dissolved by the body, they are passed through the lymphatic and immune systems to be flushed out of the body using its natural waste processes. The area that has been treated will show a visible reduction in size over the coming weeks and months, the process takes time and is dependent on the individual patient.