Freezing temperatures could help slim you down, firm you up and make your skin glow just in time for the party season. Health and Beauty Editor Nadine Baggott looks at the different treatments on offer in HELLO! magazine, out now.
Don't be surprisedif you get the cold shoulder the next time you walk into a beauty salon or clinic – or even a cold bottom or face. Cooling the skin is the hottest new trend in beauty treatments, for everything from a pre-party facial to helping you get into your LBD.
"Heat is well understood and has long been used as a means of tightening and treating the skin," explains Dr Tracy Mountford, who runs The Cosmetic Skin Clinic in London. "Heat in the forms of lasers and IPL can target veins, excess hair and collagen and can also be used to melt fat, so has revolutionised cosmetic medicine. And now we are starting to use freezing-cold temperatures in a similar way."
Cryolipolysis can be used on the face and body
Is it any wonder that Demi Lovato, Kris and Kylie Jenner, Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Alba are all said to be fans? Cryolipolysis, to give the freezing-off-your-fat treatment its technical name, is a staggeringly clever yet simple idea; fat freezes at a higher temperature to skin, so if you suck up the pocket of fat and freeze it you can destroy fat cells without damaging the skin.
"CoolSculpting gives the same results as liposuction – in other words permanent fat loss – but without the need for anaesthetic or puncturing the skin, nor the downtime or trauma," continues Dr Mountford. "It was originally designed to work on the pouch of stubborn fat beneath the belly button, but now we have specific [apparatus] heads for the inner and outer thighs, knees, back fat, bra bulges, underarms, waist, love handles, even the chin.
"We can plan a very smooth, contoured, bespoke treatment for each person – the possibilities are limitless."
In other words, it is the perfect pre-party body streamlining and slimming treatment. Find out more about the different treatments on offer and read the full feature in HELLO!, out now.