If you’ve noticed that many of your fellow Atlanta residents are looking increasingly svelte, you may be seeing the stunning effects of their recent CoolSculpting® treatments. This procedure has made it possible for people to streamline their physiques by eliminating unwanted deposits of fat across common trouble zones. With this advanced fat-freezing technology, you can achieve results that far surpass those of diet and exercise, particularly in the area of body sculpting. Moreover, this treatment is entirely non-surgical. CoolSculpting® does not require incisions, post-procedure wound care, or downtime. This means that you can enhance your looks without having to take time off of work, and without having to let the world know that you’ve undergone cosmetic treatment. Best of all, the average CoolSculpting® appointment in Atlanta lasts about one hour.
What to Expect During Your CoolSculpting® Appointment in Atlanta
When scheduling a CoolSculpting® appointment, you can look forward to experiencing one of the easiest weight loss treatments available. There’s absolutely no need for anesthesia given that your provider will only be freezing select areas of fat, rather than physically removing them. Another thing to note is that the application of cooling temperatures, which is exactly what this treatment process is, has a gradual and very subtle numbing effect that prevents patients from feeling any significant discomfort both during and after their procedures.
At the start of this process, a special gel pad will be placed on top of the fat that you want targeted. This will then be covered by a small cooling applicator or paddle. This unit will gradually lower the temperature of the targeted fat stores until these crystallize and die off. This portion of the treatment can actually be quite relaxing. You can read a good book, work on your laptop, listen to music, or play games on your phone.
During and after the cooling process, our doctor in Atlanta will use suction and massage techniques to manually break up the frozen tissues, and to ensure smooth and even results. Once the entire treatment is finished, the area will be quickly inspected, and you will be free to go. You may experience some slight hardening of the affected areas post-treatment, along with slight reddening and swelling at the surface of the skin. Each of these developments is completely normal and should be expected after any successful CoolSculpting® procedure. These aftereffects are generally very mild and will gradually abate on their own.
Why Does CoolSculpting® Work?
Cryolipolysis is the science of fat freezing. It leverages the unique cellular response of different cell types to eliminate unwanted fat stores without causing damage to any surrounding tissues. The beauty of fat is that it succumbs to freezing temperatures a lot quicker than other types of tissue. Due to this fact, fat cells freeze, crystallize, and then die off even as nearby skin, muscle, and connective tissues remain healthy and unchanged. Once crystallization occurs, the body can break down the damaged cells and route them out. As these cells are removed, volume in the treated area will invariably decrease. This is what produces that outward slimming effect that CoolSculpting® patients in Atlanta are looking for.
When used in the cosmetic setting, cryolipolysis is an incredibly exact procedure. The overarching goal is to eliminate as much of the targeted fat as possible, without causing any harm. Carefully controlled and very precise cooling technologies are applied to the treatment area, and each coolsculpting session is carefully timed. Special techniques are additionally employed during the freezing process to help expedite the breakdown and removal of unwanted fat, and to ensure that the affected tissues are freezing evenly.
Understanding the Difference Between Visceral Fat and Subcutaneous Fat
One of the most important things for Atlanta residents to know about this procedure is that it is only capable of removing targeted stores of subcutaneous fat. This is especially important to note if you’re looking to tone down a large, taut belly. The stomach is the most common trouble zone among both men and women. The nature and location of stomach fat always plays an important role in determining whether or not CoolSculpting® is a viable solution. Subcutaneous fat is the soft, pinchable fat that lies just below your skin. When you take hold of your love handles or gather up heavy rolls of fat at your lower abdomen, the fat that you are touching is subcutaneous fat. Due to the very nature of this fat and its convenient and easily accessible location, it is highly responsive to CoolSculpting® applications.
Conversely, visceral fat is a heavier, waxier fat that collects around the organs within the abdominal cavity. It can surround the liver, pancreas, intestines, and other internal organs. While having lots of visceral fat will definitely add lots of volume to the waistline, you won’t be able to grab or pinch this fat using your fingers. In fact, when the belly is large and distended as a result of visceral fat accumulations, it often feels hard and tight. This is fat that is based addressed by making healthy changes in your diet and exercise habits. In some instances, however, eliminating collections of subcutaneous fat via cryolipolysis procedure is a great way to gain the motivation and confidence that’s necessary for implementing an effective weight loss plan.
Why Choose CoolSculpting® in Atlanta?
When you count calories and intensify your workouts to produce weight loss, all of your fat cells shrink over time. This shrinkage is completely uniform across the entire body and thus, your results will be uniform as well. Your entire body will become smaller with each and every pound that you lose, but your physical proportions are going to remain virtually unchanged.
This is the bane of dieters everywhere. That’s because most people are predisposed to developing excess fat stores in specific body areas. Unfortunately, this extra fat rarely accumulates in the places where people would like to see it. Instead, it might collect at the backs of the arms to create dimples and unwanted movement. It may accumulate at the very top of the neck or under the chin, thereby forming a double-chin and aging the face. Many patients in Atlanta are distressed to discover that despite their best efforts in the gym, their waistlines in proportion to their hips never significantly change.
Disproportionate fat storage at the midsection is something that a lot of people deal with after childbirth, as they get older, and as their hormones profiles change. Love handles, muffin tops, and even excess fat at the mid and low back areas are all things that can greatly detract from a person’s appearance. CoolSculpting® is able to eliminate these collections of fat to produce a slimmer and far more refined physique overall. It can also address fat at the inner thighs, buttocks, and hips, among other areas.
Why Do Some CoolSculpting Session Last Longer Than Others?
Certain stores of fat are more difficult to target than others. This is especially true when fat accumulations are several inches thick. The cooling process will only be able to safely address the topmost layers of unwanted fat in these instances. Even at a carefully moderated temperature, prolonged exposure to the cooling appliance used in these treatments can ultimately result in unwanted tissue damage. Due to this fact, some patients in Atlanta require two or more cryolipolysis treatments to reach their weight loss goals. Others may require longer exposure to cold temperatures during their initial visits, but they may also find that a single CoolSculpting session is more than sufficient for meeting their needs.
If you intend on having multiple areas treated during a single CoolSculpting session, keep in mind that the need for hands-on stimulation of the treatment area will probably result in more time spent in our Atlanta office. This remains true even if both targeted areas are exposed to cold temperatures at the same time. Manually massaging the treatment area is a vital part of cryolipolysis when it comes to ensuring smooth, beautiful, and ultimately natural-looking results.
How Long Do These Treatments Last?
To eliminate a modest amount of fat from a relatively moderate trouble zone can be quick and easy. Some people are able to get into and out of the office in under an hour. When larger and more stubborn collections of fat exist, these treatments can take a bit longer. More often than not, however, the longest CoolSculpting® treatments are for those with multiple issues to address. Targeting multiple trouble zones in a single CoolSculpting session requires the application of multiple cooling paddles. It also entails additional suction and massage techniques for expediting the breakdown of fat, breaking up blocks of frozen tissue, and for ensuring the rapid removal of all resulting wastes. For a typical, single-zone appointment, Atlanta locals can expect to spend about 60 to 90 minutes in the office.
Understanding the Recovery Process for Cryolipolysis
Fat freezing is comparable to liposuction in its ability to target very specific stores of excess and unwanted fat. This, however, is where the similarities between these two very popular fat removal procedures lie. During a liposuction appointment, one or more incisions are made in the targeted area. Excess fat is then suctioned out via these openings. Once this process is complete, the incisions are sutured closed, and patients are sent home to heal. Post-treatment wound care must be diligently performed, and patients are often given antibiotics to help minimize the risk of infection. Due to the invasive nature of surgical fat removal procedures, there is also the added risk of post-treatment scarring and other complications.
Conversely, CoolSculpting® recoveries are always mild and easy. Depending upon the location of your treatment, and the amount of post-treatment redness and hardening that you experience, you may want to spend the rest of the day relaxing at home. When the aftereffects of treatment are relatively mild, however, many people resume their normal activities right away. There’s no special aftercare that Atlanta CoolSculpting® patients must perform, and given that no cutting is required, there is virtually no risk of infection, scarring, or other post-treatment issues.
Are CoolSculpting® Results Permanent?
One truly amazing benefit of CoolSculpting® is the fact that it has the power to permanently destroy unwanted body fat. When you lose weight by exercising and cutting calories, your fat cells shrink. They also start to multiply at a much faster rate than they did before your weight loss. As a result, even though your body will be lighter and look much thinner, you’ll have a significantly higher likelihood of regaining your lost pounds in the future.
This is hardly the case with CoolSculpting®. Once fat cells crystallized, they are no longer able to recover. These cells are broken down, and the resulting, basic materials are filtered through the liver and passed out of the body. They are never to be seen again. People who’ve undergone fat freezing can certainly gain new weight in the years to come, but routine exercise and the careful management of your diet plan can easily prevent this from happening.
How Long Does It Take for CoolSculpting® Results to Manifest?
This isn’t a procedure that produces rapid or instantly visible results. Instead, fat freezing will have a gradual impact on your overall appearance. In fact, to many of your family and friends, it may even look like you are naturally dropping pounds on your own. While the targeted fat cells are quickly frozen and crystallized to incite die-off during these treatments, the resulting waste is broken down and eliminated at a much slower pace. It typically takes about two to three weeks for this debris to be passed through the liver. Once the liver has filtered these materials, the treatment area will become visibly slimmer. It should be noted that additional weight loss will likely manifest for quite some time. Some people continue to see improvements from their CoolSculpting session for up to two months. The health and all-around efficacy of a patient’s liver, and many other general health factors will play a role in determining just how quickly treated fat cells are removed.
How Many CoolSculpting® Treatments Will It Take for You to Reach Your Cosmetic Goals?
Every cryolipolysis patient and treatment is different. Much like liposuction, cryolipolysis is never meant to take the place of a balanced and healthy weight loss plan. This is why the best candidates for this procedure are within 20 to 40 pounds of their ideal body weights. No more than eight to 10 pounds of fat are eliminated during any single fat freezing treatment. Thus, if you have between 15 and 20 pounds of fat that you’d like to get rid of, you may need to undergo two to three separate cryolipolysis procedures in Atlanta. Multiple fat freezing CoolSculpting sessions are also advised for those with numerous areas of excess fat that they would like to address. To find the best fat freezing plan for reaching your cosmetic goals, consider us here at Peachtree Dermatology Associates in Atlanta, GA. Contact us today to schedule your consultation!
