Get the real deal on beauty treatments—real doctors, real reviews, and real photos with real results.Here's how we earn your trust.

POSTED UNDER CoolSculpting REVIEWS

More Painful Downtime Than Expected; results did not last - London, GB

ORIGINAL POST

30 y/o, no children, 5'7, 140 or so pounds,...

Elena91299
$4,800
30 y/o, no children, 5'7, 140 or so pounds, clothes size 10UK/US 6 (I don't weigh myself and usually just look at how my clothes fits).
I am definitely no stranger to cosmetic treatments. I have fillers and botox on a regular basis, had rhinoplasty in April 2014 and am a firm believer in "no pain no gain". I had vaser liposuction without anaesthesia in May 2013 on inner and outer thighs, flanks and back of the arms (it was cheaper for more areas) with the intention of coming back to do my stomach, but the whole experience was too painful for me to want to repeat it and I couldn't afford two weeks downtime with my current job. Since then I've been exercising regularly 3-5 times a week (heavy weights and cardio), eating healthy apart from episodes of bulimia that I've had since early 20s and that have been the reason I gained weight to start with. I've been steadily losing weight all year and I would even say the weight kept coming off the "liposuction'd" areas more eagerly than my arms (front) and stomach that started to bother me more by comparison with thinner legs. I came across an article about "Aqualyx" fat-dissolving injections, went to a clinic for a consultation and learned about Coolsculpting instead. It seems to be advertised as a "no-downtime non-invasive" easy-breezy treatment, almost like having a massage after work. I did read lots of reviews on here and saw that while some people were in pain, others weren't at all, so I proceeded thinking I will be one of the lucky ones (but I wasn't). I went to two clinics, in one of them the doctor said he could "coolsculpt" absolutely anything off me and encouraged me to buy as many areas as I could, which really put me off. A nurse in the other clinic seemed a bit more realistic and said I only had enough "grabbable fat" on my stomach and it wouldn't work on any other area. I preferred this approach and booked the procedure in two weeks' time.

Still remembering my awfully painful vaser lipo experience, I took painkillers and a tranquilizer pill just before Coolsculpting and slept through the procedure. Two small cups were used on my lower stomach and the first five minutes on each side were almost unbearably painful, I wanted to jump off the couch and run away but the nurse encouraged me to wait it out. At the end she said I had a really impressive block of frozen fat and could expect good results. I left the clinic feeling absolutely normal and for the next three days I wasn't in much discomfort, I did my usual treadmill interval running (wearing spanx just in case) but my stomach felt like a big bruise and looked really swollen, so I had to choose the most maternity-like clothes to wear, trousers were out of the question and compression garments helped somewhat. The pain started on day 4, first off as pins and needles, on day five I was in lots of pain (many describe it like being stabbed in the stomach every few seconds, plus the itchy-sunburn feeling) and started taking non-prescription painkillers which don't seem to make much difference, day six painkillers and ice pack, it's day seven now and I can't even leave the house, ice pack is on all the time but at least the swelling seems to have subsided. I will wait until my final result to say if it was worth it or not but I do think the "no downtime" claims made by clinics should be a little more realistic. At the moment I just wish the pain would go away, it's the fact that it's so constant that makes it really bad.

Elena91299's provider

Cavendish Clinic

Elena91299 ratings

Overall rating
Doctor's bedside manner
Answered my questions
After care follow-up
Time spent with me
Phone or email responsiveness
Staff professionalism & courtesy
Payment process
Wait times

A nurse performed it, I didn't have any problems with the clinic or the staff. Not sure if I can rate "bedside manner" or "time spent with me" as the cup was put on and I was sleeping for two hours, It's not the sort of procedure where you want someone to be next to you all the time. I come back once a week for velashape so "aftercare and follow-up" would not be very objective. I was made comfortable but wasn't expecting anything outstanding.

Replies (3)

User Avatar
January 30, 2015
Wow! I'm sorry you are going thru that! I did coolsculpting twice and didn't have any pain at all. There must be something that sets it off. Maybe I had more fat? So it was pulled less? Please update with results!
February 25, 2015
I experience the same pain after 1 month and still swollen. I have a bigger stomack than I started with!?
April 23, 2015
I will agree with you and jasper01 about the pain and being swollen. I have done many different treatments and this is horrible. I would never get this treatment again or would I recommend it to anyone. Beside the fact that the person that did my treatment said they would call me after a couple of days to see how I was doing and zzzz I have not heard a thing...even after I cancelled my next appointments to get more done. I guess they have my money so cha ching, bu bye. I do endurance bike riding and I would rather ride 200k daily for a week and I would still feel better than this.
UPDATED FROM Elena91299
8 days post

Day 7 - just after ice pack, swelling gone

Elena91299
This is pretty close to how my stomach looked before the procedure, it tightens up after ice pack quite a bit.

Replies (1)

July 10, 2016
Ice pack is the ONLY thing that helps the pain it seems
UPDATED FROM Elena91299
8 days post

Day 8, still lots of pain

Elena91299
My belly button is extremely itchy and the constant little stabs under the skin are still very bad and non-stop. When I press on the stomach it feels very painful, more painful than the bruise pain I had the first three days, more like internal organ pain. Letting cats near it is out of question!
I found some codeine left from my rhinoplasty and took it just to see if it works, but biggest relief still comes from icing, as soon as the ice pack is off the pain is back. I am extremely annoyed I have missed at least two of my usual gym days already, that can't be helping the fat loss!

Replies (2)

April 23, 2015
Totally agree.
July 10, 2016
Same. It seems everyone like to pretend that the nerve pain is not normal but almost every review I have read someone has it. I feel extremely deceived. How can you not have off days with this kind of pain and it's unresponsive to mediation?