Fat freezing is a popular cosmetic procedure and an estimated 8 million surgeries have been performed worldwide at various clinics and spa centers, but recently the procedure has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Stayed.
Canadian model Linda Evangelista is considered one of the top models of the 1990s. He filed a $50 million lawsuit, claiming the procedure left him in ‘brutal shape’.
She says this left her with paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, a side effect that caused her fat cells to grow. Linda Evangelista claims that she was not told about this earlier.
The English Publisher has contacted the company Linda has accused but has yet to receive a response.
However, the company’s website now states that ‘results may vary in patients’ and ‘side effects may occur.’
Evangelista’s lawyer says it was written after his client underwent the surgery. So what are the risks of this surgery and what does its treatment involve? In this article we are describing the experience of three people.
‘It felt like a vacuum cleaner had sucked me in’
Cosmetic procedures are nothing new to 39-year-old Elsa Burn Murdoch from the UK.
She has struggled with her body image since she was a teenager and underwent liposuction and breast surgery at the age of 21, but decided to keep it a secret from her friends and family at the time.
I had liposuction several times, but I also had problems with eating and drinking.
‘I should never have had liposuction, I was so thin.’ Elsa opted for the fat storage treatment last year and had a total of three sessions over three months on her back, stomach, arms and legs.
Despite extensive research, he decided to go with the cheapest option.
“I had the choice to go to a place that was a room under a hairdresser’s shop where a woman operated, or to go to a beautiful clinic inside a department store,” she says.
“And in the end it was the low price that attracted me and I moved to a much cheaper place.”
Elsa spent about 650 pounds ($875) on her treatment. Liposuction treatments in the UK cost anywhere from £400 ($545) to £800 ($1090) depending on the number of sessions and part of the treatment.
Elsa says she did not have any counseling before the treatment. Each session usually lasted 45 minutes for each part of the body where the fat was removed from their body by the machines.
“It felt like a vacuum cleaner had sucked me in,” she says. “I remember my stomach looked like a block of frozen butter.” And my stomach was very hard and cold.
There were black marks on my body. I think the worst injury was on my back where there were purple marks for a few days but they didn’t hurt.
Elsa says the treatment went as expected but she didn’t feel any difference afterwards. ‘I didn’t really see any results and felt like I had wasted my £650 ($875).
Elsa suspects it may be because they opted for cheaper treatments. “I think the results would have been different if I had gone to a more expensive clinic,” she says.
So where does Elsa stand now? “It’s embarrassing to judge my self-worth by how much fat is visible on my back when I remove my underwear.” It’s very basic, I still value my appearance very much.’
I’m sensible, I think my body isn’t the problem and if you want to focus on your health, treating fat alone isn’t the way to go.
What is fat freezing?
It is a procedure that claims to destroy fat cells by freezing them to very low temperatures.
Many clinics around the world that perform this procedure claim to shrink fat cells, usually found under the chin, around the legs, arms, abdomen or waist.
This procedure is not suitable for people who are obese and want to lose weight. In general, its side effects include marks and rashes on the body.
A very rare side effect, however, involves paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, in which fat cells increase instead of shrinking.
There is no specific cause of paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, but it is said to be more common in men.
This method really works.
Joanne Mohammed, a London-based photographer, underwent the fat-freezing procedure four years ago after losing 15.9kg.
“I noticed that my stomach was a little bit bigger and that fat just wasn’t going away despite a lot of methods.
Joanne says the decision to undergo the procedure was not about achieving the ideal body, but an expression of self-love.
‘It’s just something so that when I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, I can congratulate myself.’
After doing some research, Joanne underwent three fat-freezing sessions at a London clinic, which cost her £450 ($613).
“Every step of the way he was very careful and made sure I was interviewed by the doctor before proceeding with the procedure,” she says.
“They clearly warned me about the side effects. He said that if something goes wrong with the machine, he will pay for liposuction.
‘I’m a mum and I could feel that little bit of a bulging belly gone. He removed the fat cells from that area for me and it looked great but then there was a lockdown.’
‘These treatments are effective but you have to do the right things, such as exercise, drinking lots of water and leading a healthy lifestyle.’
“Everyone should do what they want with their bodies”
Rainer Joati, a mining engineer from Ghana, felt pressured to change her appearance.
She was thinking of undergoing cosmetic surgery but after learning about paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, she now feels that this may not be the best option for her. Growing up, Renner saw his weight fluctuate. He was teased in school sometimes for being underweight and sometimes for being fat.
For Rainer, culture and social media are the main reasons she wants to change her body.
After a year of dieting and lots of exercise, he started looking for the ‘easy way’. Coming from an African background where you have people in your family who openly make fun of you or laugh at your obesity, says Rainer, 29.
She says there is even a song in Ghana to make fun of people who are obese.
‘I’m very body positive but I also believe that everyone should do what they want with their body.’
She wanted to lose weight without waiting long to see physical changes. “But then what people say affects you and you look for easy solutions.
Surgery is still uncommon in Ghana, but Rainer says that is changing.
‘In the past no one wanted to talk about surgery but someone you knew would travel abroad and come back looking very different.’
Renner feels that despite the current awareness of the risks and complications of fat freezing, most people will not opt out.
What do the experts say?
Mark Pacifico, a plastic surgeon and vice-president of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons, warns against procedures that look great but are performed by people who are not medically trained.
“It’s important to make sure that anyone who offers this treatment tells their patient the truth because it’s a medical treatment,” he says.
Mr. Pacifico says people who undergo fat freezing need to be aware that “it’s not painless and it’s not always predictable.
The British Association of Plastic Surgeons says that according to a recent survey, surgeons have seen 21 cases of complications from fat freezing. The British Association of Plastic Surgeons is calling for better rules on the marketing and advertising of treatments.
“When we talk about non-surgical treatment, it doesn’t mean risk-free, and I think that’s a misconception,” says Mark Pacifico.