My Experience with CoolSculpting: Not Painful, and I'm Happy with the Results. Charleston, SC

I originally contacted the medical university in my city to ask about liposuction. I'm in my early 40s, and tall and thin - an ectomorph by body type. One would think someone tall and thin would not need liposuction, but what one does not consider is that if you're tall and thin and you have a problem body area, that problem body area will stick out on you like a sore thumb. I've seen others with my body type and problem area, and it IS very noticeable, not just on me. My problem area has always been my abdomen. I had a flat stomach as a pre-teen but the minute I entered puberty, a bulge appeared just below my belly button, and this bulge not only would not go away no matter how I exercised, it grew as I grew older. It responded to NOTHING: not diet, not exercise, not special supplements, not anything. I've done P90X as my daily workout for years. No effect on that belly! If I did extra sit-ups, the muscle that would build in my abdomen would push the fat further out and my belly would protrude even more. At one point after dieting for more than a year I went down to a size 0 from a size 8 and was on my way to a size 00. There it was, a roll of fat bulging out beneath my belly button even after every other ounce of fat on my body (including on my rump, making sitting a pretty uncomfortable experience) was gone. Thanks, belly. I got health physicals through work and got dinged for being underweight, but it was like if I ate a single walnut, the belly bulge grew half an inch. (My slim, healthy grandmother also had this problem area, and she wore a girdle her whole life to combat it as well as eating like a bird. I wasn't willing to go so far as a lifetime of girdle wearing!)

Finally I was so frustrated that I thought I was just going to have to liposuction if I was ever going to be able to be at a healthy weight for my height. I called the plastic surgery department at the Medical University of South Carolina and the receptionist there, after asking why I was considering liposuction, asked if I had considered CoolSculpting as a non-surgical alternative instead. She recommended Dr. O'Neill, who was associated with MUSC but had his own practice on Daniel Island, an area of Charleston. I called his office and talked with them about the CoolSculpting, and also did a lot of research about it myself. This website was incredibly helpful. I went in with pretty reasonable expectations thanks to what reviewers on this website wrote. I didn't expect for it to remove ALL belly fat, I expected the procedure and/or recovery to be at least somewhat painful, perhaps quite painful, I knew it would take a few months to see results (and in the meantime the belly would look even worse as it would be swollen at first), and I knew from Dr. O'Neill's staff that this would not remove any visceral fat - the dangerous fat between the organs in the torso. (Nothing will remove that but diet, though Dr. O'Neill's staff told me I should not lose any more weight.)

To my delight, I did have good results - the expected percentage of fat came off in 2-3 months, and now for the first time I could finally see the ab muscles I had from P90X, as they weren't totally covered up by fat! And neither the procedure nor the recovery were painful for me. During the procedure, when the machine sucks the fat into it (that sounds worse than it was), which many other patients mentioned was painful, I definitely noticed it but it wasn't painful. It was more like a strong pressure, and it went away after several minutes. The rest of the time I just relaxed and read a book. The belly massage after the procedure felt quite strange but didn't hurt. And that was it! I felt entirely fine after that. I filled a pain prescription from the doctor's office just in case, but never had to open the bottle or take even an ibuprofen. My belly did swell and bruise a little after the procedure, but not much, and I expected that since I've always bruised easily. During the recovery process my body shape looked no worse than it always looked, and then my belly started to decrease.

When I came to the office for my post-procedure follow-up and photos 8 weeks afterward, I had actually gained 7 pounds (dieting less since I was counting on the procedure to let me be at a more healthy weight) but my belly looked like I had lost weight. Though it felt strange, it was actually kind of nice to gain a little weight on my rump and thighs instead of my belly for once! The staff was delighted to hear this, and they were also delighted with my before & after photos, which really showed the difference.

All in all, completely worth it and much easier than I had expected! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Note: I did get a discount via MUSC. In my mind, for the results it was a bargain!