Kybella® vs. Coolsculpting For Submental Fullness
We all have that one area in your body that refuses to lose fat. For some, it’s their thighs, for others, it’s their stomach. If it’s in your face, then you know how frustrating it can be to try and lose weight in that area. That’s why a lot of people turn to non-surgical means to help. In this blog, we’re going to compare Kybella® vs. Coolsculpting when it comes to shaping your face — more specifically, submental fullness, otherwise known as a double chin.
As a reminder, skin tightening is a procedure that can help almost every area of your body. It is meant to improve collagen production and reduce fat, which naturally gives your skin a youthful boost. There are a large variety of options outside of Kybella® and Coolsculpting that you can explore.
What Causes a Double Chin?
A common misconception is that a double chin can only form when an individual is overweight. This is simply not true. Submental fullness can be a genetic condition or it can be a result of loose skin caused by aging. Anyone can have one and they are nothing to be ashamed of. However, if you want to reduce its appearance, you do have options.
How to Lose Weight In Your Face
Unfortunately, your face is one of the hardest parts of your body to exercise and there is limited research to prove chin and jaw workouts actually work. Anecdotal reports claim that adding facial exercises to your regular routine can also tone facial muscles, and make your face appear slimmer, but there is very little scientific evidence to back it.
If you’re looking to lose weight without injections or surgery, you can try these tips.
Adding cardio to your daily routine can help reduce excess fat everywhere in your body, but there’s no guarantee you will lose weight in your face right away.
Limit your alcohol consumption. Alcohol is high in calories and is often associated with weight gain. Cutting back on alcohol and refined carbs may help you shed a couple pounds, but again, you may not see the results in your face, chin or neck.
If these don’t work, then we understand the frustration. So let’s compare two popular treatments to help tighten skin and reduce fat: Kybella® vs. Coolsculpting.
What is Kybella®?
Kybella® is an FDA-approved procedure that specifically targets submental fullness, otherwise known as a double chin. A Kybella®-trained healthcare specialist will administer a series of small injections to permanently dissolve fat. A nice side-effect of the treatment is that it can tighten the skin around your chin and jaw too!
The average treatment lasts 15-20 minutes and patients normally need about 3 treatments. Kybella injections are spread out — normally 4+ weeks apart — to give you ample time to heal and to let the full results develop.
You may experience significant swelling for 3 days and residual (yet much less noticeable) swelling for up to a few weeks. You can also experience bruising or numbness under your chin for a couple of days.
Kybella® works too: in a clinical trial, 82.4 percent of people reported significantly improved satisfaction with their appearance.
The results can be permanent.
What is Coolsculpting?
Coolsculpting was a big trend in 2010 and has since begun to die down in popularity as more modernized fat reduction treatments became available. It targets specific areas of your body, including your chin, and freezes fat cells, thus killing them.
The noninvasive process can be unpleasant due to the cool temperature. However, the general consensus is that the procedure itself numbs the area so there is no pain. The moment the affected area begins to warm up is when most patients experience the worst discomfort.
There is little recovery time, however there can be damage to the surrounding tissue/nerves, and the affected area may be sore for a while after. Other side effects can include:
Less sensation in the treated area
Swelling
Bruising
Sensitivity
Skin redness
Localized pain
In very rare cases, coolsculpting can lead to an increase in fat cells in treated body parts. It’s not known why this happens, but it appears to be more common in men than women. It occurs in less than 1 percent of patients.
Results should last indefinitely.
However, coolsculpting does not always work. For results to be noticeable, you have to be in a very specific weight range — your Body Mass Index (BMI) needs to be under 30, but you need to have a BMI of 25 or under to see optimal results. This is because coolsculpting is very targeted — only a small area of fat is frozen — which means it’s harder to notice results if you’re overweight.
Coolsculpting also does not tighten your skin. This means you may not notice results under your chin, especially if you’re older. Your face is naturally very elastic, meaning it is good at snapping back and retaining its shape, though it loses this elasticity as you get older. This results in looser skin, which can accumulate under your chin. In other words, you can still have sagging skin under your chin after undergoing coolsculpting treatments.
Kybella vs. Coolsculpting
Let’s compare the two side by side.
Kybella
Modern technology
Destroys fat cells with injections
Can tighten your skin
Gives noticable results for most patients
No recovery time
Causes mild swelling and bruising
Results take a couple of weeks to peak
Coolsculpting
Outdated technology
Freezes fat cells
Does not tighten your skin
May not have noticeable results
No recovery time
Mild side effects
Results can take 4-12 weeks to peak
If you want to try Kybella®, Meridiem Aesthetics has you covered. Our services are meant to enhance the natural beauty inside everyone through nonsurgical body contouring, injectables, and more. We offer gentle treatments administered by trained professionals to ensure you are happy with the result. We service multiple locations in California, including offering Kybella services in San Diego, Palm Desert, Temecula, and San Francisco. Contact us today to schedule an appointment!