- you're watchin' the wellness hour, the leader in medical news and information. i'm randy alvarez. today's topic, we're talking about freezing fat. it's the new liposuction. it's called coolsculpting. with us, a board certified plastic surgeon, dr. robert graper. dr. graper, welcome to the program.
- randy, thanks for having me. - now, you brought some photos, - [dr. graper] i did. - [randy] and we'll start off with this whole fat freezing, this technology. they're calling it the "new liposuction." it may replace liposuction in many cases. does it work? - it absolutely works.
after more than a million treatments there is scientific evidence, photographic evidence, personal testimony is it absolutely works. - okay, we were talkingin the green room about technologies and you don't like the ones that don't give results. - and you say-- - [dr. graper] no, you know,
- in plastic surgery, the commercial people are always trying to bring us treatments that they can sell us. so, we've become very jaded and we don't really believe most of them are gonna work, 'cuz they don't. in the last 20 years there have been two that have worked: this ipl machine that takes care of red spots and brown spots
with light therapy; absolutely works, and coolsculpting. - it does work? okay. - the first timei heard about it i thought, "yeah, right. "how are you gonna get rid of fat "just freezing the skin?" but it turns out a couple of phd's, md's at harvard
observed patients that would get atrophy in their fat cells. these were little kids with dimples in their cheeks and they couldn't figure out what was happening. well, this atrophy was occurring because of the coldness. chance favors the prepared mind and they understood that the cold
was killing the fat cells, inducing program cell death. from that, they expanded on that and took it to coolsculpting and using it on other areas. - okay, good. we're here in california, in san diego. it's sweeping--- this is, like, the hot topic. it's going on where you are, too?
absolutely. nobody wants to be operated on if they don't have to be. coolsculpting gives a safe, affordable, quick way to loose as much as 22% of the fat in the area involved. that's incredible that it absolutely works. i think that's one of the big barriers that people say, "i'm not doing that, "'cuz there's no way it's real."
it is real. - i asked you on the phone who should get this and you said anybody over 40 or something like that. - anybody! i mean, how many of usdon't have areas of fat that we'd like to get rid of? i mean, you go in a room of 100 people, there might be one ortwo that are truly thin, maybe even too thin,
but that's one or two out of a 100. the rest of us all wouldwant some fat removed and if, you know, if you're trying with diet and exercise and it's not working or not working as well as you'd like it to, this is a great alternative. i mean, why not? - so the fat is frozen and the fat cells die,
so, like lipo, it doesn't come back? - it's exactly like lipo, but in a kindler, gentler way. lipo's the gold standerd. it's gonna produce the most results. it's gonna do immediate results, but there's more cost. there are incisions. there's anesthesia. - [randy] you do like lipo?
- we do lipo every day. it's the number one procedure, 'cuz, again, so many people have extra fat. but, for instance, men. men, for whatever reason aren't gonna do surgery, most of them. there are probably 10% of 'em that'll do it, but they will come in every day and sit down and read their emails or watch a movie
while they undergo an hour treatment of freezing the fat. they get 22% of their fat removed. - [randy] what about you? you had it done, you said? - [dr. graper] absolutely! - what areas? - i did tummy and did hips. - really, hips? - [dr. graper] yeah, hips.
the love handles, as they say. - and you saw results? - absolutely. you know, it was funny. i was on a trip with my wife and, you know, we're taking pictures and i got home and i sawone of these pictures and went, "whoa, is that real?" and she went, "yeah."
so, you know, i go into the office and i've got an rn that does this for me and she's very thorough and does a great job and put those things on and i did emails-- [randy] does it hurt? it seems painful. i mean, it's grabbing onto the fat, is that right, like, your love handles?
- [dr. graper] yeah, what the technique is, is the device, and they're different sized devices, and it is a combinationof suctioning the tissue up into that device, which then freezes it. the device is in a u-shape, so the cold's coming all around it. it does that suction so fast and it cools it tofour-degrees centigrade,
so fast, it's numb like (snapping) that. you know, it's on, you go, "whoa." and then there's nothing. it's just so cold, it's numb. - so, you get numb to it? - [dr. graper] yeah, and then you're an hour, just like that. you could do otherthings at the same time, like, frequently, thenurse will do some botox
while somebody's got an hour to spare, or they'll do some fillers while they've got an hour to spare. we haven't done any surgery yet while somebody was doing coolsculpting but i guess it's possible. but then when they take the machine off the tissue is massaged out and it's very cold.
it's, like, if you put awashcloth in a freezer, it'd come out very cold and you massage it out and it gets flat. but then right away afterward, i went out and hit golfballs and pumped iron. i mean, it was nothing. i didn't take any pain meds, nothing. the results were great. my clothes fit better.
i feel better about it. when i see pictures now i don't have that problem. - 'cuz you're a lean guy. - [dr. graper] you feel-- - [randy] like, when i look at you, i don't look at you as a guy that needs this. but everybody, i guess, has that... - [dr. graper] you know, clothes are very generous and if you're trying to look good
in your bathing suit, and look good for your wife, you know, same thing goes for my wife. she's had it as well. - oh, she did this? - [dr. graper] she's done it as well. she does yoga five days a week. she is a beautiful womanand a tremendous figure, but, you know, she's had three children and she's got some genetic areas, like we all do.
i think she did her inner thighs, 'cuz the rest of her was fine. it fixed a problem that had bugged her for years. she's a pretty happy person all the time, but that made her feel good about it. - okay, good. - [dr. graper] so, she's glad i had the coolsculpting. - now you do more than just coolsculpting and liposuction, things like that.
for people who don't know your practice, tell us a little bit about your practice, who's your typical patient and what services do you offer? well, i'm in charlotte,north carolina. it's a great town. we have a full-service cosmetic surgery practice. - and you do all the plastic surgery procedures, breast and tummy-tuck...
- we do all of those things. if you're gonna have a full range of plastic surgery practice, then you've gotta havea skin care department. you've gotta have fillers and botox, which we have three rn's doing that. people come in and don'tlike their frown lines, they don't like their smile lines, you know, they're happy all the time,
but they don't wanna look like they're smiling all the time. they wanna erase some of those ages. we actually call it a "liquid face lift." then, of course, we have a surgical suite in the office. it's accredited, and we do a full range-- - [randy] an operating room? - [dr. graper] an operating room with overnight capacity for those that wanna stay.
- face lifts. - [dr. graper] facelifts, breasts surgery-- - we talked about this. - [dr. graper] all the things. you're like a natural-looking face lift. - [dr. graper] exactly. - [randy] one that nobody knows? well, you know, randy, you don't wanna look different. if you get a face lift,which you don't need, but, you know, someday maybe you'll call me.
you don't wanna look different. you wanna look like you did five years ago or 10 years ago. you don't wanna look like your brother, steve. - do women say that? "i don't wanna look done?" - all the time. they don't wanna look done. they don't want that--- - [randy] like the people
in california; do they say that? - the stars, yeah. you're attuned to this. they don't wanna look like different people. they wanna look like the same people, but younger, fitter, healthier. and, through all that range of services, the skin care, the botox, the surgery, that's what we try to achieve
is a very natural, normal look. normal's important. so, moving on, for people just tuning in, we're talking about freezing fat. i call it the "new liposuction." so, you think this is the next big thing? - it's the next big thing and it's still really not discovered yet, 'cuz if it was really discovered,
there weren't enough machines out there to take care of all the patients that would want it. i think people either don't know about it, and that's one of the reasons we're doing this show, but also they don't trust it yet. they don't believe it yet, 'cuz it's too good to be true that you could, in an hour, and with no recovery time,
fix this problem at a very reasonable cost. - so, with one or a few treatments, i mean, if you have love handles, you could wipe them out? - [dr. graper] you can wipe them out and 22% of the fat is the most you'll get per treatment. - so you can do multiple treatments? - you can absolutely do multiple treatments and, unlike surgery, you're not gonna go back to surgery
and have anesthesia in that recovery time. nobody's gonna do that. you wanna doeverything at one time, but with coolsculpting,it's so scalable, you could literally, though people don't do this, you could come in, and if you only had time for one hip, you could do one hip one day, you could come back and do another hip another day because the results are gonna take time
to shop up and it will all blend together beautifully. - now, you're not new to this, right? you were, like, one of these early adopter-- - [dr. graper] we were one of the, yeah. i mean, we've had it for four years and we're up in the company ranks of numbers of procedures. i don't wanna brag too much, but yes, we were in early.
- and for some people, by the way, you say this could be life-changing? elaborate on that. - oh, i mean, randy, howmuch time have you got? everybody's bothered by something and most of it, a lot of times it's fat, and so the clothes that you can't wear that you wanna wear and the clothes that you've already got
that won't fit anymore. people will come in and say, "i wanna get into that little, black dress. "i've got a big party coming up. "i've got an engagement party. "maybe it's my own engagement, "or maybe it's my son's engagement. "i've gotta get into this dress." we see that a lot.
we see a lot of, youknow, "i've got a closet "full of clothes that ilove, but i can't wear." then we'll start working on it. we'll start working on tummy. we'll start working on hips. we'll start working oninner and outer thighs. and they get there, and it's easy and they can take their time doing it or they can do it all at one time.
you know, you might need to do one area, one, two, maybe even three times. talk about transformations. when people have something they don't like and it bothers them, they may know it bothers them. they may may not know it bothers them, but it's holding them back. they're not living life to the fullest. they wanna be more, but they can't get past this thing.
unfortunately, sometimesit's a physical thing, but fortunately we can fix it. i remember a young woman had a nose she didn't like, and it wasn't a very good nose. i've gotta admit. so, we operated on her nose and it changed it to a very normal, pretty, young woman's nose. she went for a wall flower
to the debate team and the cheerleading squad and she just blossomed incredibly. should it be that way? i don't know, but it is. to be able to help people make that transformation is fun every day. - so, what are the mostpopular or common areas that you're treating with coolsculpting? - well, the most popular are abdomen,
where you'll get a mommy who's had a couple of babies and she doesn't like the residual fat that's been leftover with, and if only the problem is fat, than coolsculpting works great. frequently that mom doesn't have time to go in and have liposuction, but she's got time totake an hour for herself and come get that treated with coolsculpting.
inner thighs are very popular. ladies don't like it when their inner thighs will touch. when they're walking, it makes a sound. that bugs 'em. you and i don't even notice it but they do, and to treat that is liberating. outer thighs, very popular. - so saddle bag area? when you talk about outer thigh?
- [dr. graper] outer thing or saddle bags, yes. that's very popular. that didn't used to be treated, but there's a hand piecenow that works great. takes a little longer than the traditional one hour. takes about 75 minutes but it works very nicely. - so, they could read a book or whatever? - they could read a book
and i think in many ways it's better than liposuction, 'cuz it's very smooth. the yoga person or the athlete, who they work out. they diet, and they've just got body fat that's resistant to diet and exercise. that is the perfect candidate. - [randy] like genetically they just have that little-- - [dr. graper] yeah, everybody deposits their fat differently.
on men it tends to be inter-abdominal, but on women it is, you know, tummy. it's saddle bags. it's hips. it's inner thighs. rarely, it's breasts and so, when you get an ideal candidate, everything else is right. you know, the face is right.
the chest is right. the bottom's right, but they've got a little tummy or they've got a little bit on their inner thighs that they don't like. you don't wanna make everything else get worse with diet and exercise, 'cuz it's getting too thin now. you wanna just treat the problem, 'cuz it's the one area that's a problem. everything else is fine.
that's the idea candidate, not the person that comes in 20, 30 pounds overweight. although coolsculpting will help them. - because it still kills the fat, right? - [dr. graper] it still kills the fat no matter what size, and 22% of a big tummy is more fat than 22% of a small tummy. your results are better if you're an ideal candidate,
'cuz if you're 22-poundsoverweight after coolsculpting, you're still 20-poundsoverweight after coolsculpting. - so, if a woman goes in, and we're talking about women and men, but if somebod,y goes in, let's say for the-- - [dr. graper] men do this. - they do? - oh, yeah. - real men are coming in?
- real men are coming in and men are probably gonna be the bigger market, 'cuz men, again, for whatever reason, are less likely to have surgery. women have babies. they have procedures that are for gynecological procedures. men don't have any of that, so they're not experienced with surgery. they're gonna be the big users of this.
- okay, so, as you said, you say that, pretty much, people know, the word on the street,i'm paraphrasing, that liposuction works and they're skeptical about this even though it's not new to you. you've been doing it for four years. they're skeptical that it works. do you give, like, if you do those love handles,
do you offer any kind of a guarantee? - who told you? is it out? (randy laughing) yes, we have a guarantee. i don't know-- you do have a guarantee? - we have a guarantee and it's that if you don't see noticeable results in your clothes or photographic results
and you've maintained your same body weight, we'll do that area again for free, 'cuz you're gonna have results. - okay, we're gonna take a quick break. we come back, and you brought photos? - [dr. graper] i did. - you're very proud of these. they're like baby pictures. - they are like baby pictures.
- (laughing) you're watching "the wellness hour." i'm randy alvarez and we're talkingabout freezing the fat. we'll be right back. - the ideal candidates for coolsculpting are those people that have stubborn pockets of fat that are resistant to diet and exercise; the love handles, muffin top, so-called spare tire.
these are the people that reallydo best with coolsculpting. - coolsculpting only took one hour. one hour, no general anesthesia, no local anesthesia, no pain. one hour, in, out,bing, bang, boom, done. - it's been really nice because i feel likei've finally gotten back the body i had 15 years ago when i was in college
and i didn't expectthat from the procedure. - after i had coolsculpting done and saw the results that i had, i've definitely recommended it to a few people, several people at my gym that have the exact same issues. they work out seven days a week but there are still some areas that, regardless ofhow much they work out,
it's not gonna go away. - i feel confident in atwo-piece bathing suit. i haven't had a two-piece on in years and i can walk around with it on. i have a form-fitting dress on and it just slinks off my body so when i walk down the street i feel confident. i feel strong.
i feel sexy. i feel beautiful. coolsculpting is probably one of the best things that i've ever done. - i knew that i wasn't gonna be able to make it to the gym as often as normal. i looked into it and it seemed like the price was reasonable and it wasn't one of these things
that was gonna cost so much that i wouldn't be able to afford it. i've had twocoolsculpting treatments and i'm looking to do my third sometime next week. if you decide to do it i think it's a good investment. i really do. - you're watching "the wellness hour." we're talking about freezing the fat
with board certified plastic surgeon, dr. graper. dr. graper, okay, soyou brought some photos? - i did bring some photos and these are evidence that this works. this is the real deal. so, randy, this might be you. this just might be you. here's a man who's got a little extra on his hips. probably not you, but it could be you.
he doesn't like it. he's not gonna do surgery 'cuz he's not gonna do surgery. but, for an hour, he'll sit there and have his fat frozen. you can see the results on his hips. it is a definite improvement. his clothes fit better. he's happier about it.
he may do it again, but at this point he's very happy. you can look at this photograph of his after results and he is so much more narrow afterwards and that's just one treatment. - [randy] he is more narrow. - [dr. graper] he is narrow. the bumps on his hips are much smaller
and he's much more narrow and that's what he's looking for. that particular patientwas transformed by that. he got energized to go out and exercise more. that's, you know, ideal. if you feel better about yourself, you're motivated, then you're going out to the gym more and you're taking the weight off through diet and exercise.
- you can tuck in your shirt. - you're tucking in your shirt. you're taking off your shirt, randy. - so, those fat calls are gone. - [dr. graper] they're metabolized. they enter into a program cell death. it's not more than 22%, but as much as 22% each time you treat. they die over the next month.
the body metabolizes them. the inflammation comes in and rids the area. the area loses volume because the cells are gone forever. all that fat's metabolized in the liver. there's no elevation in the cholesterol, no elevation in the lipids. - so, somebody could, let's say, if they wanted to get rid of all that saddle bag
or all those love handles they could do multiple treatments. could you get rid of all of it? - yes, in fact we've got a picture we can show you. this is a patient whocame in multiple times. you can come in more than once. you can treat the abdomen. in her case, we treatedher abdomen four times. technically you can put one large coolsculpting device on
or you can put two smaller devices in each of the quadrantsof the abdomen. that's starting to getsome sculpting going on. we've gone from early coolsculpting, just treating a patient, to now transforming them, literally etching them and sculpting, just like you do with liposuction. randy, look at the before.
there's a big thing of fat-- - [randy] yes. it's a roll. - and afterwards, now that's several treatments but it is dramatically better and for a 68-yr old who wasn't a candidate for surgery, that's a miracle. - that looks like a flat stomach. - [dr. graper] it lookslike a flat stomach. - [randy] is she sucking it in?
- [dr. graper] no. - [randy] is that right? - [dr. graper] she is not sucking it in. we tell them to make itlook as bad as it can be on their pre-op and on their post-op. look how flat it is afterwards. i'll tell ya a funny story. she looked better in her clothes. she liked all that,
but what she really liked the best was her grandchildren didn't come up and grab her fat. you know, just used it as a pillow and they'd grab it and they'd tease her about it and they can't do that anymore. she loves that. - so, are the patients younger and younger, getting younger and younger over the years or older and older?
- [dr. graper] no, i mean-- - [randy] 'cuz she's 68. - [dr. graper] she's 68. it's a wide range of patients 'cuz there are young patients who come in and they've got extra fat and either they don'twanna diet and exercise or they're doing it and it's not working. they're candidates.
the older patients who aren't gonna have the exercise tolerance, they're not gonna have the cardio ability to work off the fat, they're candidates. the older patients, orreally any age patient, who has a medical problem. they can't undergo anesthesia and so liposuction's much more difficult for them
and they're no problem with coolsculpting. - [randy] on this lady right here, this 68-year old, 'cuz a dramatic result, did, i mean, she looks like she'd be a good liposuction candidate. did she not want lipo? she had a medical condition. - [randy] okay. she had a medical condition and anesthesia wasn't interestedin putting her to sleep
and i don't wanna doanything that's not safe and nor does she. when coolsculpting became available she jumped right on. here's an inner thigh photo. i want you to look at her inner thighs. look at the before and after difference. in a bathing suit, that's huge. when you're at the pool with your kids,
when you're at thebeach with your husband and your self confidence, and knowing you're rocking that bathing suit, it makes a difference. it makes people happy and that's the fun thingabout plastic surgery. you make people happy. - [randy] so, that inner thigh, is that a tricky area for liposuction?
- it can be. if you get lumps there you notice it'llbug ya every day and the coolsculpting's smooth. - and anybody that's been to a gym knows a lot of women are doing that inner thigh machine. - so, this could hit it. - works way better thaninner thigh machine. - [randy] you could keepgoing and keep going
and just hit all the fat. - [dr. graper] you couldhit it until it's smooth the way you like it. it's infinitely scalable. the scalable part of it is interesting because you can keep doing it. not like you'd keep doing surgery. it's too much trouble and hassle and risk, but this, you can keep doing it
'til you get the results you want. but also, economically, your resources may not be as good as you'd like them to be and you've only got resources to do one thigh at a time. you can come back when you've got your resources done. you wouldn't do that with surgery. if you don't have enough courage
to do the surgery, you can come in and do coolsculpting. - but is the most popular right around that belly button area? like, they hit that flat, or is it just a combination of everything? - it's what bothers you. if you're outer thighs are a problem, you do your outer thighs.
sometimes it's the whole thing 'cuz you're really trying to treat to transformation, so that means tummy. it means outer thighs, inner thighs. so, here's another one of the inner thighs. you know, huge difference. now, you know, the picture isn't all that great but it's a clinical picture. it's what we use to document our results
so it's not a marketing picture. - [randy] it's not a flattering photo. - yeah, but it shows the result. - [randy] her inner thighs are gone. - [dr. graper] much better. and that means the world of difference if that's the thingthat's holding you back and you're not feeling the way you wanna feel about life
and living it and you're inner thighs bug ya every day. people come in and say, "should i have this done?" and i go, "how often doyou think about this," 'cuz if you think about it once a month, i don't think i'd bother. if you think about this every day, absolutely, coolsculpting's a reasonable thing to do. - now, you're a plastic surgeon so when you're out and about
is this one of those things where people wanna know? they're asking questions about it? like, you say your wife, like her friends that are saying, "hey, does this work?" well, my friends are calling and saying, "come on. "this can't be real." and they're coming over and finding out it's real. - have you done some friends, had coolsculpting?
- absolutely! - 'cuz you've had it! - they say, "what's the downside?" and i say, "well, you'regonna loose an hour, maybe two, depending on how much areas you wanna treat, but, you know, the cost isn't very much. there's no down time. you can go, you know, to a business meeting or a party, whatever you need to do right away afterwards.
you can leave our office and, you know, go to the event. randy, do i have time for a few more? - [randy] yes. - all right. - [randy] two more. - all right, this one's a little bit racy, the story. i don't know if this show will handle it or not, but it's a good story. all right, so this picture shows a mom
and she comes in with atummy she doesn't like and she's had some babies and, you know, is not feeling so great about her figure anymore. we treat her; very nice result and, as she's had her last follow up visit about three months later, we say, "well, do you like this? "how did it change your life?" and she goes, "well, i don't know
if i should tellyou this or not, but i was really embarrassed about how i looked with my husband and whenever we were together we'd turn the lights off. and he was like "why don't we turn these lights off?" she says, "now i turn the lights on "and i'm prancing around." i think she really loved it. i was proud that she shared that story with us
'cuz it's kind of personal. look how flat that post-operative result is. i mean, it's pretty incredible. that is non-surgical. there's no lipo there. there's no tummy tuck there. that is flat. how do you do that? - [randy] that's very nice.
- [dr. graper] there's no mirrors there. there's no smoke. there's snowflakes. it's cold. - is it more women than men right now? - well, everything in cosmetic surgery's more women than men. i mean, women are brighter than we are, randy. - [randy] okay.
- if you don't know that, they are. and there are beautiful people. everybody pays more attention to them then they do us, but it's about 90/10 with females/males getting the treatment now. but i can see it rising as the men realize there's no surgery and the guys that areworking out in the gym,
or the guy's that aren'tworking out in the gym and are just too big, and they realize they get a simple solution. that is the fastest growing part of coolsculpting is men. - knowing you were coming on the show, i talked to a few people about this. because when we talked on the phone you convinced me this works. i was thinking, "could it be that easy?"
- i got one in my car. we can go out. (randy laughing) you've got acoolsculpt in your car. if you did, i would take you up on it. so, it is that easy? - it's a no-brainer. - [randy] so if the machine grabs onto the fat-- - grabs onto the fat-- - [randy] on the abdomen--
- yep, and it sucks it up in there and it freezes it. and you just stay put for that hour. you're sitting in a comfortable chair, watching a movie, reading emails, working, whatever you wanna do. - it's shocking how easy it is. - and for the areas like inner thigh and outer thigh, love handles, that is more of a flat kind of plate?
- the plate is curved for the abdomen. it's less curved for the inner thighs. it's less curved for the hips, but for the outer thighs it is flat. - i mean, what's your favorite place? if you had to say, "the favorite place is this place." - my favorite place is what makes the patient happy. - so, we're out of time. a final message though.
somebody that maybe hascertain fatty areas, but who should get it? i mean, who should absolutely get it? - the person who is bothered by fat. it changes their life every day and they've got extra on their abdomen, on their hips, their inner thigh, their outer thigh, and it bothers them. this is a simple, effective, fast
reasonably priced treatment that absolutely works. if you don't get it, you're cheating yourself. - really? - it works. it works! - [randy] you'll feel better about yourself? - you will feel better about yourself. - good. all right, well thank you for coming to the show.
- [dr. graper] thank you, randy. - it was excellent. great information. - [dr. graper] appreciate it. - they can go to your website, find out more, get an appointment and go from there. you've been watching "the wellness hour," for now, i wish you good health. - [voiceover] thanks for watching "the wellness hour,"
the leader in medical news, with your host, randy alvarez, the authority on health issues. (jazzy music)
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