CoolSculpting Cryolipolysis - A Patented Cooling Process

The patented Cryolipolysis technology is exclusively licensed by ZELTIQ from Massachusetts General Hospital.

A Simple Observation Led to Industry-Changing Technology

Developed by renowned Harvard University scientists Dieter Manstein, MD, PhD and R. Rox Anderson, MD, the cooling process was born of the observation that some children got dimples due to eating popsicles. The idea that cold can selectively affect fat was the insight behind the proven Cryolipolysis science on which the CoolSculpting technology is based.

The CoolSculpting Cryolipolysis Procedure

CoolSculpting Cryolipolysis is the non-invasive cooling of adipose tissue to induce lipolysis - the breaking down of fat cells - to reduce body fat without damage to other tissues. The scientific principles of the CoolSculpting Cryolipolysis procedure were discovered by dermatologists Dieter Manstein, MD, PhD and R. Rox Anderson, MD, of the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

The physicians and their team conducted research that demonstrated that under carefully controlled conditions, subcutaneous fat cells are naturally more vulnerable to the effects of cold than surrounding tissue.

Their initial work, published in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine in November 2008, showed that:

• Exposure to cooling via energy extraction causes fat cell apoptosis - a natural, controlled cell death - which leads to the release of cytokines and other inflammatory mediators that gradually eliminate the affected cells.
• Inflammatory cells gradually digest the affected fat cells in the months after the procedure, reducing the thickness of the fat layer.
• Lipids from the fat cells are slowly released and transported by the lymphatic system to be processed and eliminated, much like that of fat from food.

Based on their research findings, the investigators concluded that "prolonged, controlled local tissue cooling can induce selective fat cell reduction and subsequent loss of subcutaneous fat, without damaging the overlying skin." This discovery, called "selective Cryolipolysis," led to the development of the patented technology behind the non-invasive CoolSculpting Cryolipolysis procedure.

See more details about CoolSculpting scientific studies.

How Non-Invasive Cryolipolysis Fat Reduction Works

1. Some stubborn fat cells are immune to diet and exercise

2. CoolSculpting Cryolipolysis targets and cools fat cells to temperatures that trigger fat cell apoptosis

3. No damage to nerves or other tissues because lipids in fat crystallize at a warmer temperature than water in other cell types

4. Following treatment, fat cells enter an apoptotic death sequence and are gradually removed by the immune system in the next few months

5. Fat layer thickness significantly reduced

6. Fat layer reduction in targeted area leads to an improvement in flank appearance