Why not ice packs to kill fat? Do you really expect us to believe it's dangerous?

Question

negative answers re ice from dermatologists w/ vested interests in selling overpriced CoolSculpting. scare tactics like necrosis of the skin. what, everyone is at risk who applies ice packs to injuries, incl pro athletes who "ice down" after games?

Michael I. Echavez, MD · Answer

CoolSculpting employs a very well studied approach to cool fat cells to cause fat cell death.  The device is able to draw up tissue into an applicator to isolate the fat in the treated area and also cools to a specific temperature for a specific amount of time to give optimal results.  Potentially, cooling fat with ice packs could work, but it would be technically difficult to maintain a specific temperature to avoid getting too cold, which could cause damage, or not getting cold enough to cause an affect.  It would also be inefficient to just place ice packs on top of an area to cause fat cell death because only the most superficial layer of fat would be affected.  The CoolSculpting device is able to draw the tissue up in an applicator and treat a much higher percentage of fat cells in a given area.

Michael Law, MD · Answer

CoolSculpting has the ability to treat fat without damaging the surrounding tissues.  Many physicians (myself included) were skeptical about Coolsculpting even after it received FDA clearance. It does sound too god to be true, but it really works

Steven F. Weiner, MD · Answer

Coolsculpting protects skin, muscle, and nerves by precisely controlling the temperature at which the fat is cooled to.  Through feedback mechanism, the temperature is maintained over the hour of the cycle to a certain level.  Ice applied would give a variable temperature and can cause skin injury.  From personal experience, my daughter fell asleep with an ice pack and that resulted in hyperpigmentation on her leg.

Why not ice packs to kill fat? Do you really expect us to believe it's dangerous?

Answers (3)

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