The skinny on freezing fat

There has been a lot of buzz lately about freezing — and no, we don’t mean winter temperatures in Boston. Freezing fat, known medically as cryolipolysis, is one of the hottest trends in noninvasive body sculpting — that is, losing pockets of fat without needles, knives, or real downtime. The basics of body fat Let’s start with the basics. Not all fat is created equal. We have two distinct types of fat in our bodies: subcutaneous fat (the kind that may roll over the waistband of your pants) and visceral fat (the stuff that lines your organs and is associated with diabetes and heart disease). From here on out, when we refer to fat, we are talking about subcutaneous fat, as this is the type of fat that cryolipolysis targets. A recent study showed that the body’s ability to remove subcutaneous fat decreases with age, which means we are fighting an uphill battle with each birthday we celebrate. From popsicles to freezing fat Cryolipolysis — which literally translates into cold (cryo) fat (lipo) destruction (lysis) — was invented, in part, by observing what can happen when kids eat popsicles. No kidding here. The cofounders of this process were intrigued by something called “cold-induced fat necrosis” that was reported to occur after young children ate popsicles that were inadvertently left resting on the cheek for several minutes. Skin samples taken from pediatric patients like these showed inflammation in the fat, but normal overlying skin. Thus, it appeared tha...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Cosmetic surgery Source Type: blogs