In 2010, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved cryolipolysis, a method developed a few years earlier by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, in Boston. Also endorsed by the European Medicines Agency, it is an alternative to liposuction to remove localized fat, but without surgery, needles, or anesthesia and, consequently, without postoperative and recovery time. fantastic Millions of people undergo the procedure every year both in advanced aesthetic clinics and in modest beauty salons that use cheap equipment but without guarantees. A problem, because the technique is not harmless and requires validation from the doctor.
Cryolipolysis is a non-invasive treatment that aims to eliminate fat by applying extremely cold plates (up to 11 degrees below zero) on adipose cells. The cold produces apoptosis, “a kind of programmed death of the cell, it induces it to commit suicide”, explains Dr. Susan Judas, from the Tufet clinic. The effects are not immediately visible. The body gradually eliminates the adipose tissue destroyed by the cold, the effects begin to be visible after three or four weeks and the process lasts about three months.
CoolSculpting (from Allergan Aesthetics, a subsidiary of AbbVie) is the only medical cryolipolysis device authorized by the FDA and with the EU seal. According to the company, 17 million treatments have been performed worldwide with this device. The latest version of the machine costs more than 100,000 euros and the consumables are also very expensive. However, the online offer of Chinese-made equipment that is advertised as “professional” at very cheap prices – a few thousand euros – is extensive. Domestic equipment is even advertised, such as “a freezing machine for fat loss at -5 degrees” for 63.95 euros. “The best thing that can happen to you with this is wasting time and money,” says Dr. Judas. “With a quality machine you cannot offer sessions for 100 euros”, he continues.
In fact, aesthetic clinics charge each session (if it works, there is no need for a second intervention) at a minimum of around 350 euros depending on the area to be treated. But hairdressers and beauty centers have found a vein in the ease of acquiring a machine and the supposed safety, which is not the case, of the treatment. In the absence of possibilities to practice liposuction, proceed with false cryolipolysis. Cheap devices to get cold through the skin without damaging its structures are useless at best. At worst, they can become dangerous. But for 25 euros, the price per session offered by a beauty salon in Murcia, no guarantee can be expected.
According to EU documentation, cryolipolysis may cause mild side effects, mostly transient, such as erythema, maceration and swelling. But “significant and long-lasting effects, such as paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH) are also reported.” Allergan puts this risk at 0.033% of treatments, one in 3,000, although there are higher risk estimates than those advertised by the manufacturer.
“It works so well that, if you don’t do it well and go overboard, you can remove more fat than is appropriate”, says its medical director, Carlos Jarne, and points out that numerous doctors undergo this treatment at his centre. But, he points out, it is not for everyone, it has side effects and a medical assessment is essential.
In eight years, a case of PAH has been found, which consists of an effect contrary to what is sought: the adipose tissue grows in volume, hardens and forms a lump. It was resolved, as in most cases, with the treatment that was intended to be avoided: liposuction. scalpel He wanted to perform a biopsy on the patient (not the client) to investigate the cause of the malfunction, but he refused. “I just wanted a solution and that’s it,” remembers Dr. Jarne. Last year the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine processed 500 complaints for intrusion, “which produces a widespread feeling of impunity and a wrong perception of aesthetic medicine”.
