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Persons in search of that perfect body but don't want to go under the knife for surgery are reportedly turning to cool sculpting, which is being done by freezing the fat in their bodies.

These treatments rely on the use of various technologies to eliminate unwanted fat. The fat is below one degree Celsius and over a period of time, the fat cells will die, leaving you with lesser fat and some inches off your waist.

Racquel Byles, owner of one of the entities that offer the service in Jamaica, said she has seen a steady increase in the number of persons who are trying out the procedure. She said that over the years she has been in service, she recognises that summer time brings in a lot of customers. She said that on many occasions persons who come to the island and those who are planning to leave, oftentimes do the procedure to get the perfect figure while on vacation.

Byles said that the non-invasive procedure can be done in one's lunch time because it is 100 per cent pain-free. She did admit that there will be some side effects, but it is nothing for customers to be alarmed about.

"Side effects, which are temporary, can be redness of the skin because of the suctions and some areas may be a little numb but it usually wears off within a day or up to five days, depending on your skin type. Swelling of the skin which usually goes down within a period of three days will happen as well. It is a 40-minute procedure which you can do in your lunch time," she said.

Because of summer

Sashauna Daley, head esthetician at Body Studio Skin Care, said that more people are coming to do cool sculpting because of summer.

"Cool sculpting takes 30 to 60 days for you to lose at least 20 per cent of the fat, so it's a procedure you have to do more than once. It allows you to lose inches, so it's not like liposuction where your body gets flat immediately, it is gradual," she said.

Dr Winston Dawes, a medical doctor, said the best way to lose weight is by dieting and exercise. He said that the procedure is relatively safe but in order for a person to keep the weight off, they need to live a healthy lifestyle.

"Sometimes they use heat, sometimes they use all kinds of things," he said.

Dawes said that while fat cells may be destroyed and killed in a procedure like cool sculpting. He, however, said that if persons do not eat properly, the weight loss will not be sustained.

Personal trainer Douglas Evenlyn said that cool sculpting is a temporary solution to reducing fat. He said that after the procedure, one has to follow a diet and still engage in exercise in order to reduce relapsing or doing the procedure again. He added that while cool sculpting reduces fat on the outside, fat on the inside needs to be lost as well.

"With eating in a calorie deficit and working with the muscles, the fat cells will get smaller and won't return to their normal size, once you maintain that calorie deficit. Also, working out reduces your body fat overall so you will be healthier. The body fat that you don't see under the skin, around the organs like the liver and heart, will be reduced. So you can look good on the outside but you would still be fat on the inside," he said.

Lifestyle change

"The thing is when they go to the gym, it is a lifestyle change that they have to undergo and they end up being happier overtime. With the cosmetic procedures, they end up relapsing and going back to their former state or putting on more weight because they haven't the time to execute the lifestyle change that the body will need to sustain the body that they paid to get. So they always have to top up or go back to do procedures," he continued.

As with any other procedure, he said that doctors would inform their patients that dieting and exercise is necessary to maintain their bodies. He said that if one intends to lose fat in and out the body, cool sculpting is a good way to start out.

"The only thing is that if you do the procedure and then continues with the gym properly, then you get a head start. So in six weeks, you get the shape that you want and then you work on maintaining it, instead of working out for the year to get the shape and then maintaining it," he said.