About the treatment
Fat cells give up at a temperature your skin shrugs off
Cryolipolysis rests on one useful fact: fat is more vulnerable to cold than the skin, nerves and muscle around it. Hold a pocket of fat at a low enough temperature for long enough and those cells are damaged beyond recovery, while the tissue on either side of them comes through unharmed.
An applicator draws the area up by vacuum and cools it. The first few minutes are genuinely cold with a firm pulling sensation; then the area numbs and most people stop noticing. Nothing is cut, nothing is injected and there is no recovery period to plan around.
What happens next is slow and entirely yours. The affected cells are broken down and cleared by your body over the weeks that follow, which is why nobody walks out of our West Broadway clinic in Kitsilano looking different, and why this is judged in months rather than on the day.
The timeline
One appointment, then three months of waiting
The gap between having the treatment and seeing anything is the part people find hardest, so it is worth setting out honestly before you book.
On the day and just after
Cold, then a pulling sensation, then numbness. Afterwards the area is often red, swollen and oddly firm, with tingling or numbness that can persist for a couple of weeks. All of that is expected rather than a complication.
Around three weeks
The earliest point at which anything is usually visible, and even then it is subtle. Your body has begun clearing the damaged cells, and the swelling from the treatment itself has finally gone so you can see the area properly.
Two to four months
This is where the result actually lands. Clearance is gradual and it does not stop at some announced finish line, which is why we ask you to photograph the area at the start and look again at the twelve-week mark.
The comparison
Cryo or laser lipo cavitation?
We offer both in Kitsilano and we are asked to choose between them constantly. They aim at the same fat and they suit different people and different pockets.
Cryo fat freezing
- A pocket that can be drawn into an applicator
- Very few appointments, often only one per area
- Result appears across two to four months
- Numbness and swelling for a week or two afterwards
Laser lipo cavitation
- Broader or flatter areas the applicator cannot grip
- Eight to twelve appointments about a week apart
- Result builds through the course and a month beyond
- Nothing to feel afterwards beyond mild warmth
If you can pinch the area between your fingers and lift it away from you, cryo is usually the more efficient answer. If it is a wider softness rather than a defined pocket, laser lipo suits it better. Plenty of clients end up doing one of each on different parts of the body, and deciding that is exactly what the consultation is for.
Indications
What is it good for?
Defined pockets that diet and training have not shifted — abdomen, flanks, thighs and beneath the chin.
Under the chin is also treated on our double chin removal page, where we explain which of the two technologies suits that area. Everything available in Kitsilano is listed on our Vancouver clinic page.
Being straight with you
Four things worth hearing first
This is not weight loss
It reduces the fat in one specific place in somebody whose weight is already steady. As a route to weighing less it is an expensive disappointment, and we will say so at the consultation rather than take a booking we know will not satisfy you.
The applicator has to fit
The tissue needs to be drawn up and held. A soft, grippable pocket is ideal; firm fat that will not lift, or an area too flat for the cup to seal on, is not, and no amount of enthusiasm changes the physics.
Numbness afterwards is normal, and lasts
Tingling, reduced sensation and occasional odd twinges in the treated area for a week or two are part of the picture. It resolves. It is also the part nobody warns people about, so we are warning you.
It will not tighten loose skin
Reducing volume under skin that has already lost its elasticity can make the slackness slightly more obvious rather than less. If that is a concern for your area, raise it before the first session, not during month three.
Getting ready
Pre & post treatment
Simple beforehand. Afterwards, the two useful things you can do are drink and move.
Before your appointment
- Drink plenty of water for two or three days beforehand. Your body has to clear what this treatment damages.
- Clean skin on the area, with no lotion, cream or oil.
- Loose, comfortable clothes that give easy access and will not press on the area afterwards.
- No heavy meal, no aggressive scrubs and no intense heat in the day beforehand.
- Declare any medical condition or implant in the zone, and any condition affecting how you respond to cold.
In the days after
- Redness, swelling, firmness and numbness in the area. Expected, and it settles over a week or two.
- Massage the zone gently to encourage circulation, but keep the pressure light for the first day.
- Keep drinking — clearance runs for weeks, not hours, and it happens in water.
- No strenuous exercise, hot baths or saunas for a day or two.
- Loose clothing so nothing rubs the treated area while it settles.
Results
Cryo fat freezing before and after
Two You Glow Aesthetics clients, one treated on the lower stomach and one on the love handles. Each image carries its own labels and the area treated. Note the redness in the first: that is the immediate response, not the outcome.
Results differ with the area treated, how much fat was there, how many applications are done and whether body weight stays level. Some people see a change after one session; others need more, and the honest assessment is at twelve weeks.
Also on West Broadway
Treatments that work well around this one
- Laser Lipo Cavitation in Vancouver — the alternative for broader or flatter areas
- Double Chin Removal in Vancouver — the same problem, under the jaw
- RF Facial in Vancouver — firming, where elasticity is part of the picture
- Microneedling in Vancouver — for stretch marks and texture over a treated area
- Cryo fat freezing brand-wide — how the treatment works across all our clinics
