Cryolipolysis is the general term for nonsurgical fat reduction via freezing. During such body-contouring treatments, practitioners suck pinchable body fat into applicators of various shapes and sizes to chill the lipid-rich tissue, inducing cell death. Once the fat cells crystalize and disintegrate, they leave the body as waste within four to six months due to a natural inflammatory response. Cryolipolysis can be used on abdominal fat, love handles, the upper arms, the inner thighs, under the chin, below the buttocks (the so-called “banana rolls”), and on bra and back fat bulges.
A 2015 review published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery analyzed 19 previous studies on the efficacy of cryolipolysis. Researchers found that volunteers lost an average of 14.67–28.5% of the fat in areas treated by cryolipolysis (as measured by calipers). When assessed with ultrasound, the fat loss was between 10.3% and 25.5%.
A separate review of 16 studies on clinical efficacy, published in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, found that subjects had an average fat reduction of 19.55%.
Although there are many cryolipolysis machines in use around the world, CoolSculpting by Zeltiq is the only cryolipolysis treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “I’d be careful with imitations of this procedure,” says Dr. W. Tomasz Majewski, a plastic surgeon in Jonesboro, Arkansas. “CoolSculpting has been researching this procedure for more than 15 years.”
Though not intended for skin tightening, a 2014 study reported the noninvasive body contouring procedure’s potential as a treatment for sagging skin, with a demonstrated reduction in skin laxity.
