Coolsculpting- Abdomen and Love Handles - Des Moines, IA

I've been stalking this site for a while and finally decided to write my own review. I went to a local clinic where they were having a special. As a standard they want you to treat the same area twice. They said second procedure should be done about a month after the first.

I decided to do CoolSculpting because I feel like I can never get rid of my love handles or abdominal fat. I am 5' 7" and typically weigh about 135 lbs. No matter how much weight I lose or how much I exercise I can never get rid of it in my middle section as much as I'd like.

I had my love handles and lower abdomen treated on October 8th. I didn't find the actual procedure to be that uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable when the fat was first sucked in but it really wasn't that bad, especially after a couple minutes when the fat started freezing. The hardest part was half sitting, half lying in this chair that didn't fold back all the way on one hip for an hour without moving.

I didn't have a lot of pain or discomfort in the days and weeks after the procedure. Definitely numb for a long time and itchy sometimes. Shooting tingly pains every now and then for a week or two after the procedure. But definitely not that bad. I was afraid that it was a sign that the procedure wouldn't work. Like if it wasn't enough to cause a lot of pain, would it be enough to get rid of the fat?

I had my second treatment on both areas on November 8th. Pretty much the same story that I didn't think it was that uncomfortable. That was only 3 days ago so my stomach is itchy and a bit numb again. The numbness was almost completely gone from the first procedure when I got the second.

I didn't think I'd seen any changes yet but I decided to take pictures anyway. The pictures are from the day after the second treatment. Even with the swelling I can definitely see a difference which was a pleasant surprise! I weighed 136lbs the day of the first treatment and 134lbs the day of the second. I normally exercise frequently but I since I have had the procedure I have hardly exercised at all. Years of intense exercise haven't reduced my love handles as much as this one procedure did in a month.

I am definitely happy with the changes apparent after just 5 weeks. For how much money I spent I definitely would like to see more results so hopefully I will continue to see changes for the next few months!

Depending on how things go I am seriously considering getting my upper abdomen treated as well and possibly a third treatment on my love handles.

My changes from one month post to two months post don't look quite as dramatic as my changes from before and one month post (even though I had a second procedure done at the one month mark), but I still see a bit of improvement. I took these pictures on 12/4/13, so it was just shy of 2 months from my original first procedure. I weighed in at 134lbs again this past weekend so my weight is the same.

I'll be honest; I would like to see more changes than this. But I did know going in that it can only get rid of about 20% of the fat with each procedure so completely getting rid of my love handles in 2 procedures isn't reasonably expected.

I hardly had any pain or discomfort after the second procedure. My stomach was numb for nearly a month after the first, but I don't think any numbness lasted beyond a week after the second procedure.

I think I will get my abs and love handles done a third time. I think I'll have the applicator moved up a bit on my abs so I get my upper stomach done.

Overall I am pretty happy so far. I got some new pants that fit snugly around the waist and I don't have nearly the muffin top that I would have had 2 months ago. I can wear form-fitting dresses and my love handles aren't nearly as noticeable. It's funny though because I measured myself before the procedure and I'm only measuring maybe half an inch smaller now than before I did CoolSculpting. So the measuring tape hardly indicates any results but I can tell there is a difference in photos and in clothing. I guess that is more important than what a measuring tape says!

I had a third treatment done on February 19th. I had the same areas done as I did with my previous two treatments (lower abdomen & love handles) only I had them position the applicators in slightly different positions. They treated mostly my lower abdomen but got a little above my bellybutton this time as well.

I was pretty happy with how my love handles turned out from the first two treatments. Before the CoolSculpting, when I wore a fitted dress I could clearly see love handle bulges and hated it! Plus my rear is on the small side which made the love handles even more noticeable I think. I wouldn't say they are completely gone but fitted dresses look so much better now with a smoother shape. My dress pants used to squeeze at the waist & make them bulge but now they are on the loose side.

However, my waist to hip ratio is a bit larger than I'd like. Either my waist isn't small enough for my hips or my hips aren't large enough for my waist. Apparently 0.7 is considered "optimal" and I am at more like 0.82. Anyway, I don't know how to describe it but my waist is only thin right under my bra, so rather than doing my exact love handle area a third time I had them applied a couple inches above my iliac crest. You can tell how they were applied from the bruising. Hopefully this will make the smallest area of my waist extend a bit further down my sides.

My results from the first two treatments of my abdomen were "ok" I would say. I was hoping to have a bit better results than I did. Honestly I don't think I say any changes after the second treatment. If there were any it wasn't very noticeable. I'm hoping the 3rd treatment will have much better results for my abdomen. I had a different person this time apply the CoolSculpting. It seemed like she really pushed on the applicators and massaged more afterward and I am more sore now than I was after the second treatment. Hopefully this will mean better results!

I took the pictures a little differently this time. I didn't even think about it but I included my legs in the previous pictures rather than just zooming in on the area treated. So I zoomed in the pictures this time; unfortunately I can't keep them from looking a little fuzzy when I zoom in.

Also, I weighed 132lbs on the day of my most recent treatment. A couple pounds lighter but pretty close to the same weight since I first started CoolSculpting.