Pain killers bad for CoolSculpting? I'm 10 days post and the pain is awful.

Hello Toniacol,Did you have the older applicators done? The older have been found to have more late onset pain, bruising and numbness that tends to last a little longer. Tylenol is not a problem and is okay to take at the recommended dose. Taking Tylenol should not have any negative effects on your results.

Not all doctors will have the same opinion, but I would say that there are pain killers that you could take that would not affect your CoolSculpting results.  Some doctors may not want patients to use anti-inflammatory medications, such as ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) or aspirin because they don't want the inflammatory response from the CoolSculpting procedure to be affected.  In my opinion, Tylenol would be fine to take because it does have an anti-inflammatory effect.  In addition, there are specific medications that can be used to target nerve pain (such as gabapentin) that also would not be anti-inflammatory.  

Thank you for your question. It is not common to have this degree of discomfort after CoolSculpting treatment, although it has been reported. The pain you are experiencing can be caused by nerve pain, inflammation or cramping pain. Your treating physician can prescribe you Neurontin for the nerve pain. Tylenol is also another great option for pain control without treating the inflammation. I recommend having a follow up visit with your treating physician for evaluation and treatment. Best of Luck!

Thank you for your question. It is not common to have this degree of discomfort after CoolSculpting treatment, although it has been reported. The pain you are experiencing can be caused by nerve pain, inflammation or cramping pain. Your treating physician can prescribe you Neurontin for the nerve pain. Tylenol is also another great option for pain control without treating the inflammation. I recommend having a follow up visit with your treating physician for evaluation and treatment. Best of Luck!

Hi Toniacol, thank you for your excellent question.  In our experience, having treated tens of thousands of patients with CoolSculpting, there is not usually the level of post treatment discomfort that you describe. It looks as though you were treated with the earlier generation of Coolsculpting applicators that use more intense suction, and tend to cause more late onset pain. For most patents that do experience this discomfort, we find that the pain only last from 5-10 days maximum.  There have been rare cases when patients did have more prolonged pain of up to three weeks, but not longer.  I would highly suggest that you schedule a followup appointment with your CoolSculpting provider to see if there are any other issues that need to be addressed.  More than likely, the pain will dissipate on it's own soon.  But, you do want be sure that everything is okay.  In the meantime, you may want to wear compression garments and alternate heat and ice in the treated area. Regarding the painkillers,Tylenol is fine.  Ibuprofin is not encouraged because it inhibits the inflammation that is a necessary part of the process. If you do take anti-inflammatory medication, it will not render less results from CoolSculpting, it will simply slow down the results.  Good luck with everything. I hope you feel better soon.

It is unusual to have this degree of discomfort after coolsculpting although it has been reported.  The pain is usually caused by nerve pain ,inflammation or cramping pain.  I do not think pain killers are the best option in this situation.  I suggest you apply heat and compression to the area. I will usually prescribe something for the nerve pain like neurontin.Tylenol is also a good choice for pain control without treating the inflammation.  If this does not help I would use anti-inflammatory such as motrin or advil . We have found that this has not affected the outcome of the procedure.

Thank you for your question. I am sorry to hear you are experiencing this issue after CoolSculpting (CS). The degree of discomfort after CS varies greatly from patient to patient. However, it will  resolve within one to three weeks. If Tylenol does not give you any relief of symptoms, I suggest returning to the clinic for a proper follow up and examination.  Lyrica can also be prescribed and it should improve your discomfort significantly as I saw from my experience with my patients who had some discomfort after their CS treatments and with no relief with Tylenol. I hope this help. All the best,