I had CoolSculpting on my upper and lower abs 3 months ago, now the skin is loose/hanging. Will it shrink? (Photos)

Hi,Unfortunately Coolsculpt does not help to tighten your skin. It is only targeting your fat cells. After Coolsculpt, it is best to receive a skin tightening treatment, such as Venus Legacy, to help tighten up the laxity that may be left behind after your body has rid the fat. I suggest partnering up with your local service provider to determine the next step in your treatment plan. Good luck.

Skin integrity is based on many factors (age/hormones, weight gain or loss, etc), and likely you always had some laxity in your abdominal area prior to CoolSculpting. As mentioned in previous posts, if you remove volume from an area that has some laxity already, it can appear more obvious after the volume that was holding up that area is gone. Thankfully there are many treatments to help with skin tightening. We have Thermage, a radio frequency device, at our office to help with thin, lax tissue. I would strongly advise you to look into methods of skin tightening at the office you're established at or search in your area for reputable clinics that can offer you the appropriate treatment. Best of luck!

The downside to losing weight after a certain age (which varies by individual and skin quality) is that it usually leaves you with some sagging skin. Although CoolSculpting does offer slight skin-tightening effects, if your skin is already inelastic, you will have sagging, just as you would if you’d lost weight through diet and exercise. You can look into Ultherapy and other heat-based therapies that stimulate collagen production and help take up some of the slack. Be sure to consult a board-certified dermatologist who can pick the best treatment for you.

Thanks for your question.  Unfortunately, Coolsculpting does not tighten skin in the abs.  For a noninvasive option you may consider Exilis to tight the skin along with Cellutone to decrease cellutone and enhance the results of your treatments.  Exilis uses high frequency electromagnetic energy to tighten skin. Best of luck!

Coolsculpting is a fantastic procedure but I am not sure why they had you repeat the procedure after only one month on such a small area when you had so little fat.  Unless there is a large amount of fat it is best to wait four months to see the full effect from your Coolsculpting.  At this point I would consider Thermage to treat this area. It will tighten up this abdominal area but will have to be repeated every two years.  It will generate new collagen and tighten up the skin.  Best, Dr. Green

Thanks for your question.  Unfortunately, Coolsculpting does not tighten skin in the abs.  For a noninvasive option you may consider Exilis to tight the skin along with Cellutone to decrease cellutone and enhance the results of your treatments.  Exilis uses high frequency electromagnetic energy to tighten skin.  Hope this helps and good luck. 

Dear NYCPainDOC:
Your photo is quite striking and even though I was one of the first ten MDs in NYC chosen to premier this technology, I have not seen this happen after CoolSculpting, Usually, the skin tightens up nicely after treatment. It is interesting that it appears that this only occurred with one of the applicators, not the others. I am wondering if a much higher vacuum pressure was set on the device than usual when you had treatment to that area, or even if you might have the benign, hypermobile type of Ehler’s Danlos, where one has flexible joints and poor wound-healing. These individuals can also have papery, “fish-mouth” scars from trauma or surgery, The abnormal elastic fibers in this type of Ehler’s Danlos does not create other problems in the body, so is not of concern other than laxity of joints and abnormal wound-healing. The condition is actually much more common than is appreciated and is greatly under-diagnosed. 
Along with treatment you might want to optimize the basic building blocks needed to make connective tissue proteins including amino acids, vitamin C, copper, magnesium, and zinc. As we get older we do not absorb minerals and nutrients as well, and poor gut function is also common from taking antibiotics and eating processed foods. So some supplements might be beneficial to maximize the benefits of one of a number of biostimulatory treatments to create more connective tissue proteins including collagen and elastin. The possible treatments include radiofrequency (eg with ThermiSmooth, PelleFirm, or ThermiTight), High-intensity microfocused ultrasound with Ultherapy, Sculptra, and Microneedling with PRP.  Sometimes a combination of two or three different treatments will achieve the fasted and most profound results, especially when combined with topical biostimulatory agents like retinoids (eg Skin Revision), growth factors (TNS), Vitamin C cream, Glycolic acid or  Alastin. You may wish to consult someone who offers several options so that you can be evaluated to determine the best course for you. 
I do hope this was helpful!
Sheryl Clark, MD, FAAD

Unfortunately, that is one of the issues with CoolSculpting.   It sucks your skin into the device which stretches it.  Plus, killing your fat cells Deflates it.   I had CoolSculpting and got rid of it due to this and other issues.   I now have SculpSure.   It kills fat equally as well and more consistently.  Plus, in about 30% of patients, it actually tightens their skin.  

Thank you for your question.  While Coolsculpting does not have an indication for skin tightening in the abdomen (it does in the submental area) anecdotally we find that often times it does tighten.  That being said in this case you unfortunately did not get skin tightening and may actually have laxity.  Coolsculpting has potential breakthrough innovations coming in 2019 with Coolsculpting 3.0 (Fire and Ice) that will utilize radiofrequency to create skin tightening while Coolsculpting.  While this isnt here yet, you could potentially try a non-invasive radio frequency device like Thermage to see if you receive any skin tightening benefit and recreate what they are actually studying as part of their 3.0 campaign.  Other options include JPlasma/Renuvion which uses an internal probe to heat the skin with plasma and tighten the skin or potentially even Ulthera which uses micro focused Ultrasound to tighten skin.  Please follow up with your board certified Dermatologist  Kind Regards, Dr. Matt Elias Board Certified Dermatologist

Having CoolSculpting on any area of the body is just like losing weight and at your age the skin cannot possibly become any tighter and therefore the result is before your eyes. At this point in time you only have two options to tighten up that skin. Either through the use a procedure called Skin Tight or J plasma also known as Renuvion. Good luck from New York City