Many doctors who do Coolsculpting (cryolipolysis) discuss how it tightens the skin and removes fat. In general, I am not a fan of Coolsculpt for those who have poor skin tone because the fat removed when you freeze the fat is the fat directly under the skin- and that is the fat which helps puff out the skin and make it pretty. After doing fat grafting to the face for a decade, I see what benefit fat does to the skin, and the stem cells make actual improvements in the skin quality. Also freezing the fat can’t remove a lot in one sitting. It’s really best for small amounts of fat in those with good skin tone.
But I am open to science. And when a study comes along which may challenge my views, especially when it has histologic biopsies and gene analysis, then I must read it.
January 2022 Aesthetic Surgery Journal, “Molecular and Histological Evidence Detailing Clinically Observed Skin Improvement Following Cryolipolysis.” The investigators are big in the Coolsculpting world, and the subject was only 7 patients, so I do take this with a grain of salt.
Study:
- 7 patients who had cryolipolysis
- Tissue samples harvested 3 days to 5 weeks after treatment
- RNA sequencing looked for gene expression of major collagens and growth factors. This was quantified.
Findings?
- Gene expression showed upregulation of collagen mRNA genes
- Histochemistry showed increases in protein expression
- Increases in growth factors and tropoelastin compared to untreated areas.
- These are molecular and protein markers of type 1 collagen.
Then they showed a bunch of pictures.
My thoughts?
I am a skeptic when it comes to these things, and it is because I wonder if these changes are temporary. The photos they showed were subtle for many of the photos (hard to see the difference between before and after), but some were good. The ones with the biggest change were back skin (which is thicker and generally not as stretched out as other areas like the inner thigh and belly). All the patients were female.
I would want to see longer results. I think a lot of the “tightening” things we see in plastic surgery do so temporarily. That means in 6 months or a year, the results are gone. I am not a fan of those things, as it means I will see people happy for the first few months and then upset down the road when the results went away.
So jury out for me on this one. Good to see it causes objective changes, but the timeframe being at most a few weeks out, and the photos also of shorter duration, didn’t change my mind yet.