Risky Knock-off CoolSculpting Can Hurt You. Here’s Why

CoolSculpting has become a popular non-invasive treatment for safely and effectively getting rid of unwanted fat. Everyone from stay-at-home parents to career types and even athletes love supplementing their diet and exercise regimens with this painless process that speeds up weight loss.

The technical name for CoolSculpting is called cryolipolysis, or fat freezing. Using an intense cold, the CoolSculpting machine freezes fat cells until they die. They are then flushed from the body via its natural metabolic processes. 

Nothing could be easier. You lie back in the treatment room and watch videos on your phone. When the treatment is completed after about 35 minutes, you get dressed and go on about your day. There is no prolonged recovery time.

Your body begins shedding fat cells from the treated area and continues to do so months after treatment. The treatment areas can be upper arms, thighs, buttocks, upper back, flanks, and hips. These are all areas where stubborn fat refuses to respond to workouts.

Many clients who love CoolSculpting prefer it to surgical fat reduction, which can be painful and take weeks to recover from. Still others would love to try CoolSculpting and save money on the sessions at the same time. 

Here’s why “discount” or copycat CoolSculpting is a very bad idea:

• The machines are knock-offs. Even the name CoolSculpting has been used to trick clients into thinking they are getting genuine CoolSculpting treatments. Don’t fall for it. Look at the device. If it doesn’t say CoolSculpting by Zeltiq, it isn’t the FDA-cleared device. Zeltiq is the only company that has gotten FDA clearance for safe cryolipolysis treatments. When other companies try to recreate a proprietary process they are guessing. Will you trust your health and safety to a guess?
• The technicians are not CoolSculpting qualified. Authentic and intensive training is necessary to operate the CoolSculpting device properly and safely. If a spa worker cannot show you a certificate of completion from a Zeltiq training course, walk out. There is a specific protocol for the technician operating the CoolSculpting device and a targeted method for applying the cooling. Untrained operators won’t have this knowledge or experience and they won’t be destroying fat cells effectively.

Other things to avoid are “at-home” cryolipolysis treatments with cheap devices found on the internet. The devices are generally a wrap with pockets for cold packs. These can be completely ineffective and downright dangerous. They could even leave you disfigured. Here’s how:

• No Continuous, intense cooling. To effectively kill fat cells, the cold must be intense and continuous for a minimum of 30 minutes on the targeted area. A cold gel pack can never achieve the required temperatures over that length of time.
• No targeted effect. The CoolSculpting device pulls the targeted fat into the applicator to freeze a wide area of fat cells. A cold pack placed over a small area won’t give a smooth result and you could even end up looking pocked with an awkward bumpy effect.
• It doesn’t go deep enough. Much of the fat you want removing lies deep under the skin and trapped in and around muscle layers. The CoolSculpting device sucks the skin into the applicator so the cooling effect can reach those hidden fat cells. A surface cooling treatment cannot achieve this.
• Potential damage & health risks. Authentic CoolSculpting has gone through intensive testing so it could be FDA-cleared. At-home devices are simply thrown onto the marketplace with no proper safety testing. For this reason, at-home treatments put you at risk for skin damage, tissue damage, and even frostbite. It could also be very painful because the proper safeguards are not built into the devices.

In conclusion, knock-off and at-home CoolSculpting treatments that are not authentic or FDA-cleared can at best be completely ineffective or at worst damaging to your body.

For more information about licensed CoolSculpting treatments by trained professionals, click here.