Coolsculpting vs liposuction is a common consideration amongst patients desiring body contouring. Coolsculpting vs liposuction have definite differences that must be recognized prior to choosing your body contouring procedure of choice.
Coolsculpting describes the procedure to improve contour concerns with a noninvasive technique. This procedure can be done in the office setting and be performed by a non-medical personnel. The procedure involves placement of cooling paddles over prominent body areas and over 1 hour the skin and superficial fat is frozen. Controlled freezing allows for death of the most superficial fat while preserving viability of the skin. This is because the skin is more resilient than the fat to the freezing insult. As expected the most superficial fat cells are most exposed to harmful low temperatures. Following this injury, the fat cells that die are reabsorbed by your body thus resulting in approximately 20% improvement in treated areas over the ensuing weeks. The benefits of Coolsculpting at face value are encouraging since this procedure is non-invasive and avoids formal surgery. However, the disadvantages of Coolsculpting are several and include only partial correction of concern areas and more importantly removal of the non-physiological layer of fat resulting in propensity for paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, coined PAH.
Liposuction describes an invasive procedure that has been described to improve contour concerns. This procedure involves utilizing hollow bore cannulas to remove fat cells from areas of concern. Liposuction is performed in a surgical suite using either intravenous or general anesthesia especially when volumes of greater than 2 L are required. Traditional liposuction is focused on removing the deep layer of fat preferentially. Liposuction allows for removal of 100% of undesired fat volume thus allowing for complete correction of contour concerns. More importantly, the appropriate physiological fat is removed. This means that if you gain minimal to moderate weight following liposuction you will be protected from ruining your results, unlike PAH associated with Coolscupting. When performed by skilled, expert surgeons, the results of liposuction are definitive and permanent.