4 Things to Do After Coolsculpting

Back in the day, if you had excess fat that just wouldn’t go away, you had limited options. If diet and exercise weren’t helping to minimize or eliminate unwanted fat, your only real option for getting rid of it was to surgically remove the fat through liposuction. While liposuction is effective, it also requires a fair amount of recovery time and can really throw a wrench in your schedule and daily habits.

Now, there’s Coolsculpting, a fat reduction treatment that uses cryolipolysis, or very cold temperatures, to destroy fat cells. Once the cells are destroyed, the body naturally flushes them away. The result is a slimmer look in the treated areas.

Unlike liposuction, Coolsculpting is non-surgical. You don’t need to take time off from work or rearrange your schedule while you recuperate. There’s pretty much no downtime afterward.

While you won’t have to press pause on your life after Coolsculpting, there are a few things you might want to do after the treatment to help your results along and to get the most out of it.

1. Massage the Area

Right after your Coolsculpting treatment, you’re likely to notice that the area that was targeted looks a little funny. It might be red and swollen thanks to the exposure to the cold temperatures. It’s pretty common for the team providing your Coolsculpting treatment to massage the area right after the procedure is over.

Massaging the area doesn’t just help you feel better immediately after treatment. It might also help to improve the results you get from Coolsculpting. According to one study, patients who had a massage in the treated area for about five minutes after a Coolsculpting session saw a significant improvement in their fat reduction after a few months.

Massage might help improve your results because it encourages lymphatic drainage and can help to increase circulation. Plus, it can feel pretty good to have someone work on the treated area after Coolsculpting.

2. Wear Compression Clothing

If you were to get liposuction, your surgeon would give you a compression garment to wear around the treated area. The compression garment would be medical grade and most likely custom-fit to your body. These garments reduce swelling and help to shape the liposuctioned area.

You don’t have to wear a medical-grade compression garment after you have Coolsculpting, but you might find that wearing something tight and somewhat compressing, such as Spanx or leggings, helps to keep swelling down. In some cases, wearing stretchy clothing such as leggings or other elastic garments can also help you feel more comfortable after your treatment.

3. Stick to a Healthy Diet and Exercise Routine

Coolsculpting eliminates fat from your body for good. But, it only gets rid of about 25% of the fat in the treated area. It’s not going to remove all of the fat you have (your body does need to hold on to some fat).

This means that while the eliminated fat is gone for good, there will be fat cells remaining. And if you gain weight, those fat cells can get bigger, reducing the effect of your results.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to follow a healthy diet after your Coolsculpting treatment. Watching what you eat and avoiding too many sweet or fatty foods will help you avoid weight gain and keep your remaining fat cells from expanding.

It’s also a good idea to commit to a regular exercise program after Coolsculpting. If you’ve never exercised before, talk to a doctor before you start a program, to make sure you’re in good enough shape for the program and to get advice on the type of exercises that will help you best. You might also want to work with a trainer, at least at the beginning.

4. Relax and Be Patient

Coolsculpting does not require any downtime or have a long recovery process. The tradeoff is that it takes some time before your results appear. Depending on your body and metabolism, it can take up to 16 weeks before your final results are visible.

As you wait for your results to show up, relax and be calm. If you’re particularly concerned that the results won’t be what you wanted, you might talk to your Coolsculpting provider to see if an additional treatment would be beneficial.

Interested in learning more about Coolsculpting and what you can do after treatment? Call Mirror Mirror Beauty Boutique at (281) 810-9083 to schedule a complimentary consultation at our Houston, TX medspa.