Fat is stored all across the body, from the stomach to the arms and thighs. It is completely natural to have extra fat in a few places, as this depends entirely on your lifestyle, diet, and how much energy you use throughout the day. In light of recent global events, pandemics, quarantines, and all, it is entirely expected for many people to gain a little extra fat, considering how limited their physical actions are.
While one of the first treatments that may come to mind to eliminate unwanted fat is liposuction, there are a few non-surgical approaches that work just as well, and won’t leave you with possible scarring and the post procedural downtime that comes with a surgical procedure. The two most popular minimally invasive treatments to eliminate fat are Coolsculpting and Kybella. CoolSculpting is a purely noninvasive treatment that uses the concept of cryolipolysis to freeze your fat by using custom vacuum applicators attached to the skin. Kybella on the other hand is injected directly into fat and acts to dissolve adipose tissue through aseptic necrosis.
Given that these treatments are non surgical, we wanted to find out how exactly they work and what kind of risks and benefits are associated with them. We were able to get answers to these questions with the help of Dr. Schwarzburg, an expert in cosmetic and laser medicine, who administers both CoolSculpting and Kybella treatments almost every day.
Coolsculpting: Stimulating Fat Cells into Destroying Themselves
The concept of fat freezing has made its way into popular culture, with many people outside of the beauty industry talking about the ability to burn away fat, using cold temperatures. But as not many people are familiar with Coolsculpting and how it works, the methodology and its finer details remain a mystery for most people.
While Coolsculpting may initially seem like something that is impossible, you can look through some before and after photos to see for yourself how well it works. The secret lies in how Coolsculpting uses the biological code of fat cells against them. Each cell in the body is naturally encoded with apoptosis, a type of process which involves the self-destruction of cells after they have been damaged beyond repair. There are many ways to trigger apoptosis, mostly through physical damage, but a safer and less violent way would be to freeze them.
By exposing the fat cells to temperatures of around 12 degrees Fahrenheit (which is -11 degrees Celsius) they go into apoptosis. After several months, as the cells slowly die out one by one, the area of the body becomes more and more sculpted as the fat is reduced. This all happens naturally, without any artificial chemicals, compounds, as well as any cuts or incisions being required.
The procedure is entirely non-invasive, as it does not cause any damage to the body. Oftentimes cosmetic treatments are very effective because they come at the price of leaving side effects or requiring several weeks, even months for the patient to fully recover. This is not the case with Coolsculpting, which at no point causes any damage to the body. Coolsculpting works entirely on the outside of the skin, thus requiring no incisions or injections to get the job done.
With fat freezing, you can easily get rid of the double chin and return your jawline to that perfect smoothness you’ve always been used to.
Kybella: Melting Through the Fat for a Faster Treatment
On the other end of the heat spectrum, we have Kybella. This injection-based treatment involves a compound capable of melting through fat like butter. This is because it has naturally been created to do just that.
This chemical is called the “deoxycholic acid” and it is produced by the stomach to dissolve and digest the fat that you consume. As stated earlier: it is naturally capable of melting through fat. The deoxycholic acid that is injected during the procedure is the same chemical, just a synthetic version of it with slight modifications.
When injected into key areas of the chin and neck, the compound begins to burn through the fat, smoothing out the chin. Given enough time and the entire double chin will be reduced to nothing. Each session of Kybella lasts 30 minutes at most, depending on how much compound is being administered and on the pace of your practitioner.
Once a session is over, at least two weeks of an interval is required before the next one, and altogether, from 2 to 4 sessions are required for a full Kybella treatment. This means that it will take up to 2 months for the double chin to disappear entirely. This is a significantly shorter amount of time than Coolsculpting, but may still seem like a lot. Not to worry, however, since you will notice a major difference with every subsequent Kybella session how much of the difference the compound has made.
One major advantage to the procedure utilizing a naturally-produced chemical is that your body is automatically more accepting of it after the injection. Typically, when an alien compound is injected into the body, its defense systems will go off, causing side effects and in worst cases even allergic reactions. Since your body recognizes the chemical as one of its own, the chances of side effects or allergic reactions are significantly lower than other treatments.
The one downside to Kybella is the procedure itself. While it is minimally invasive as it exclusively involves injections, which deal only tiny amounts of damage to the body, the compound itself can burn a little. Some patients report feeling burning sensations that were somewhat painful, but very bearable. While numbing cream is applied before the injections themselves, as well as an ice pack afterward, this burning sensation is something you will have to bear with.
But don’t be shaken by the procedure. It is still very safe as complicated as it may be for your practitioner. Kybella is widely regarded as the best way to get rid of the double chin. While the injections can get rid of excess fat in other areas of the body, Kybella is primarily used in dealing with the double chin.
