CoolSculpting at Home | Why DIY CoolSculpting Doesn’t Work

CoolSculpting at Home | Why DIY CoolSculpting Doesn’t Work

CoolSculpting at home does not work. However, it is understandable why some people may be interested in trying it. Professional body contouring treatments can be a substantial investment for some. Furthermore, the internet is full of DIY CoolSculpting tutorials that encourage people to freeze their fat with ice packs. But, CoolSculpting at home does not work. In addition, numerous doctors have raised concerns after treating thermal burns from gullible individuals who have tried to freeze their fat on their own. If you are thinking about performing DIY CoolSculpting on yourself, do not. Read on to find out why it does not work and how it can lead to serious injury.

Related article: How much does CoolSculpting cost?

HOW COOLSCULPTING REDUCES FAT

To better understand why CoolSculpting at home does not work, it is helpful to know about how the actual CoolSculpting machine works to reduce stubborn bulges without surgery or downtime.

CoolSculpting treatments rely on cold-induced cell death, or cryolipolysis, to achieve results. Multiple scientific journals have verified that cryolipolysis produces long-lasting fat reduction and noticeable differences in appearance. When the CoolSculpting treatment begins, a fatty bulge is suctioned up into an applicator. Fat normally would recede deeper into the body when exposed to cold temperatures, so the suction is essential for keeping fat against the surface of the skin. The CoolSculpting device then produces temperatures within a very tight band – between 39 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit. These temperatures are just cold enough to freeze fat but not cold enough to harm other tissue. Once the fat cells have ruptured, they are cycled out of the body over the course of several weeks by the lymphatic system and are finally excreted as waste.

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COOLSCULPTING AT HOME CAN’T DELIVER CONSISTENT TEMPERATURES

The cryolipolysis reaction requires that the cold temperatures be maintained for a long duration. This presents a significant challenge for those trying to perform DIY CoolSculpting with ice packs. There is no easy mechanism for getting an ice pack to the required temperature, nor any way to keep that icepack at that temperature for the necessary amount of time. An icepack will stay cold for a few minutes, which simply is not enough time for the fat cells to chill enough to trigger apoptosis. This is because ice packs are awful at retaining a specific temperature. The instant an ice pack makes contact with skin, the skin’s heat begins to warm the ice pack, which will cause the ice pack to exit the specific range it needs to maintain to work.

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THERE’S NO SUCTION FROM COOLSCULPTING AT HOME

CoolSculpting relies on the suction from the applicator to be effective. Cold external temperatures drive fat from the surface of the skin. Suction ensures that subcutaneous fat stays towards the surface of the skin, allowing the cold to penetrate the fat cells. The applicator also exposes fat to the cold from multiple angles, which causes the cells to rupture and die in a reasonable amount of time. DIY CoolSculpting has no way to generate comparable suction, and so any attempt to freeze the fat will be ultimately counterproductive.

COOLSCULPTING AT HOME CAN BE DANGEROUS

Ice packs don’t have the capability of freezing fat, but they’re quite capable of freezing skin. DIY CoolSculpting won’t just be ineffective; it has a decent likelihood of causing significant harm. If an ice pack is brought to extreme temperatures and placed against the skin in an attempt to freeze underlying fat, permanent harm to the tissue can occur in a matter of minutes. CoolSculpting avoids these issues by maintaining a safe temperature range. A CoolSculpting device has built-in safeguards and a carefully calibrated temperature gauge, which shuts off the machine if the temperatures should ever leave the ideal range. What’s more, CoolSculpting providers use a proprietary gel pad that insulates the surface of the skin from extreme temperatures, further protecting the skin.

Terrible self-inflicted injuries from home attempts to replicate CoolSculpting have already begun to appear in hospital emergency rooms. The Journal of Wound Care published a case study that featured awful wounds inflicted by shortsighted DIY CoolSculpting.¹ The study contains multiple disturbing images of these injuries. The patient at the center of the study chose to follow dangerous DIY CoolSculpting instructions they found online instead of seeking out the advice of a fat freezing professional and paid the price. The Journal of Wound Care study anticipated that many like injuries would follow from future DIY CoolSculpting attempts, and noted that any DIY CoolSculpting should be avoided.

Why CoolSculpting at Home Doesn’t Work: All Summed Up

The central conundrum of DIY CoolSculpting is this: without the necessary suction to pin fat to the skin’s surface, and without a controlled source of cooling that is designed to maintain a safe temperature for long enough to freeze fat, any DIY attempt is guaranteed to cause significant tissue damage long before any fat cells rupture and die.

FREEZE YOUR FAT, NOT YOUR SKIN

While DIY CoolSculpting might seem to be a budget-conscious home solution, the dangers and injuries that can follow such attempts have shown that it’s best to trust in professional fat-freezing technicians. To ensure a safe and productive fat-freezing experience, reach out to Nusbaum Medical Center, to receive the most reliable CoolSculpting care in Morristown, NJ. You can reach Nusbaum Medical Center at (973) 998-9833 or contact them online to schedule a free consultation.

¹ Full-thickness wounds resulting from “do-it-yourself” cryolipolysis: a case study. Journal of Wound Care.