Tiffany McCormack, MD
The Plastic Surgery Channel
Who hasn’t dreamed of an easy way to get rid of unwanted, stubborn areas of fat? Fulfilling the dream, however, until recently, has been just as hard as dieting and exercising! And then came CoolSculpting® which really does, on the surface, sound too good to be true – freezing away fat, really? Yes, really! Tiffany McCormack, MD is a believer in this new technology and offers it to her patients. After over 2 million treatments, CoolSculpting® is a valid treatment yielding impressive results, but like any treatment, patients should be well informed and educated before simply signing up. McCormack says, “An educated patient should know how the technology works and its implications, who should administer the treatment, and which areas can be targeted successfully.”
CoolSculpting® uniquely rids patients of undesirable areas of fat through a process called cryolipolysis. This process freezes the fat cells and eventually kills them. Over time, the body will metabolize the targeted cells and eliminate them naturally. Since this is a noninvasive fat fighting procedure, no surgery is required, down time and discomfort are minimal, but it may take longer to see results. Patients usually see the sculpting effects in roughly 6 – 8 weeks.
Sometimes noninvasive treatments can be taken lightly and out of the hands of qualified professionals. ZELTIQ, Coolsculpting®’s manufacturer, will only sell the technology to physicians after stringent certification and training. Coolsculpting® should only be performed by a certified physician or highly trained tech working under the supervision of the physician. But don’t just look at certification, experience is also an important criterion in your selection of a provider. Coolsculpting® was approved by the FDA in 2010 and Dr. McCormack has been using it ever since. It is important to look for a surgeon who has been using the process for an extended time and has a large selection of before and after photos for you to review.
In the last 4 years, the areas of the body that CoolSculpting® can treat have expanded thanks to innovative new applicators that allow surgeons and technicians to address really stubborn areas of fat! In its early introduction, CoolSculpting® could only affect areas of fat that were draped in loose skin and could be picked up and placed within the machine. Now, with the introduction of new applicators like CoolFit and CoolSmooth, areas that were difficult before, like outer and inner thighs, are now treatable and yielding good results!
Coolsculpting® is a unique procedure that is proving its value in the world body contouring. Dr. McCormack says, “Ultimately, there are a lot of gimmicks to beware of in the cosmetic field, especially those that sound too good to be true, but this is not one of them. In my years of experience, I haven’t seen another non-invasive alternative to surgical fat reduction that can achieve the quality of results CoolSculpting® is capable of producing.”