Does CoolSculpting Really Work?

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the LA Jolla Cosmetic Podcast.

Monique Ramsey (00:14):
Welcome everyone to the LA Jolla Cosmetic Podcast. I'm your hostess, Monique Ramsey.

Monique Ramsey (00:19):
And today we're talking with Khanh Nguyen, and we're going to talk about something that a lot of people have an interest in, which is excess fat and how to get rid of it. So talking about CoolSculpting, what is it? What is the mystery behind the technology?

Khanh Nguyen (00:41):
So CoolSculpting, what we're using is a device that cools the fat to such an extreme temperature that it destroys the fat. And that's essentially what we're trying to do, use a whole bunch of cold to destroy the fat so then we can sculpt the body. So that's how they came up with CoolSculpting. It's a non-invasive procedure to reduce certain areas of our body of fat.

Monique Ramsey (01:00):
So it gets the fat cold, and then your body just gets rid of it?

Khanh Nguyen (01:07):
Yeah. So if you think about if we put like a piece of meat into the refrigerator...

Monique Ramsey (01:11):
Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Khanh Nguyen (01:11):
... not the freezer, but just the fridge, the fat becomes very, very hard.

Monique Ramsey (01:15):
Oh yeah.

Khanh Nguyen (01:15):
But the meat still stays relatively soft because fat and tissue freeze at different temperatures. If we go past that point to actually freeze the fat, we can get to a temperature where it safely freezes the fat, but it leaves our tissues alone.

Khanh Nguyen (01:30):
So by destroying that fat, anything that our body doesn't want, or if it's dead tissue, our body just eliminates it. So that's how, when we destroy fat, our body over time, and we'll talk about it later, just expels all that dead waste.

Monique Ramsey (01:42):
Somebody told me it's sort of like a bruise. If you want to think of it that way, like your body kind of gets rid of the bruise over time.

Khanh Nguyen (01:48):
Exactly. Yep.

Monique Ramsey (01:49):
And how long does that process take?

Khanh Nguyen (01:53):
With any singular procedure, let's just assume we did CoolSculpting on you right now, your peak results will be anywhere from about three to six months. However, for most of our patients, we say your optimal point will be around three months.

Monique Ramsey (02:05):
Okay. It's not like tomorrow I would be, I'd have an extra inch in my waistband to be able to play with. You've got to give it some time.

Khanh Nguyen (02:16):
Yeah. Good question.

Khanh Nguyen (02:16):
That's why we always give an average because everyone's going to be a little bit different depending on how much fat is reduced in that area. But it does take your body time to expel all that stuff. Just like a bruise takes a week or two to get rid of. Fat take, let's just say three to six months to get rid of.

Monique Ramsey (02:29):
Okay. Now does it matter what part of the body? Like say somebody did their flanks and their arms, does that kind of dissipate at the same rate?

Khanh Nguyen (02:39):
Potentially, probably. For me, if a body area has a lot more movement, I would say more metabolism. Get rid of the area a lot quicker if there's more blood flow to the area.

Khanh Nguyen (02:48):
However, it's hard to say because I don't think there's really been any studies to say, Hey, this area gets eliminated better than others. So in general we say, yeah, it's still 3-6 month average.

Monique Ramsey (02:56):
Three to six months. So plan ahead.

Khanh Nguyen (02:59):
Yeah.

Monique Ramsey (02:59):
So now why would someone choose CoolSculpting over liposuction, let's say?

Khanh Nguyen (03:04):
Yeah, really good question. Especially we get this a lot, because a surgical patient will come down to the surgery center, not a surgical patient come up to us and vice versa.

Khanh Nguyen (03:12):
So a couple criteria that I use is one, what's your health status? Do you have a lot of body mass or do you have a BMI body mass index over a certain number? Do you have a healthy lifestyle? How much fat are we trying to get rid of? One of the big criteria is that we don't necessarily talk about, but our coordinators do a fantastic job is your budget as well.

Khanh Nguyen (03:32):
So let's just assume you want to CoolSculpt your entire body that may cost X amount. Maybe, based on your timeframe, based on your budget, based on your goals. Maybe it's a better option just to do liposuction one and done and be happy with it.

Khanh Nguyen (03:46):
The other piece is, are you wanting to go through scars? Liposuction, they have to make an incision. With that incision, you're going to leave some scars behind.

Khanh Nguyen (03:52):
CoolSculpting is completely noninvasive, no scars, no downtime. That relates to the downtime piece. Do you have time off of work? Is that around holiday time? What's your pain threshold? All those things. So there's a lot of criteria that go into it, but that's why we have a very good conversation into regards to what your goals are. And then because of La Jolla Cosmetic is also a surgery center, we get to bounce those things off of each other as well.

Monique Ramsey (04:15):
True. And I would think at some point it does become maybe cost prohibitive to do your entire body versus lipo.

Monique Ramsey (04:21):
But you know, maybe you're not a, for a health reason, maybe you're not a candidate for surgery. So then CoolSculpting could be a good option.

Khanh Nguyen (04:30):
Yeah. Very good point. I didn't think about that. So maybe you have a medical disorder such as a clotting disorder or something like that, where surgery is inappropriate for you. Then, yeah, absolutely come nonsurgical. Great point.

Monique Ramsey (04:39):
Yeah. It might take a little longer, but now you did use the P word, pain. Pain threshold. Is there pain involved with CoolSculpting?

Khanh Nguyen (04:49):
There isn't. But pain is subjective. So I won't say no to everyone. The actual procedure itself. If, when we talk about the beginning, you'll feel cold once the cooling begins and usually after three or five minutes, you don't feel anything anymore because the area just goes numb from all the coldness.

Khanh Nguyen (05:04):
Now for me, when I had it done, I liken it to having a dead leg wake back up. So when they take the cooling off of you and they start massaging the area, because we want to break up the area, cool it down. And then, not cool down, heat it up, break down the area. What happens is all that area starts waking up. And imagine someone massaging your dead leg foot.

Monique Ramsey (05:25):
Tickly, or pringley, or-

Khanh Nguyen (05:27):
Yeah. It's more ticklish and annoying. Like, why are you still massaging my dead leg? So it's not necessarily pain, but it's, just a very weird, awkward feeling.

Monique Ramsey (05:37):
And that is what for how long? Like a few minutes or something?

Khanh Nguyen (05:40):
We do a two minute massage.

Monique Ramsey (05:42):
Okay.

Khanh Nguyen (05:42):
And then later on during the week, you, and I think you'll address this later, Monique, but you'll have a little bit of numbness for about a week, again, perfectly normal. And then some people will still have soreness and then some people have itching afterwards.

Monique Ramsey (05:54):
Oh.

Khanh Nguyen (05:54):
Yeah. So all perfectly normal.

Monique Ramsey (05:56):
And is that itching from nerves.

Khanh Nguyen (05:59):
Yeah. It's all the nerves waking back up. So it's so, so cold. You kind of just had gone to a shock, a bad word, but it just, it numbs the area. So it takes about a week or two weeks for that whole area to wake back up.

Monique Ramsey (06:10):
But even though there's that time that you might be sore or you might even, I don't know, is there swelling involved?

Khanh Nguyen (06:16):
Probably the next day. So what happens is let's just take my stomach for example.

Khanh Nguyen (06:21):
If we treated the stomach, the more fat you have, the more swelling you'll typically have, because what happens is those little fat cells break apart. So they're no longer in these perfectly formed balloons. So now it's more jiggly wiggly. And so until your body contracts back up until your body slowly starts to expel that for about a couple of days, you'll feel a little more jiggly in that area.

Monique Ramsey (06:43):
Oh, okay. Now who's a good candidate for this type of treatment.

Khanh Nguyen (06:50):
The greatest candidates are the ones that are already healthy. They have a great diet, they have a great exercise routine, but they just have this stubborn fat they can't get rid of.

Khanh Nguyen (06:59):
And stubborn for us are areas that just don't move. The stomach doesn't move. Bra fat doesn't move. Our flanks don't move that much. Our inner thighs don't move.

Khanh Nguyen (07:07):
So we want to put you over the top. You have a great lifestyle, great diet. So now can we give you something that would just knock out that fat in that area and really sculpt you?

Khanh Nguyen (07:17):
The other piece is what are your expectations? We talked about surgical versus non-surgical candidate. Granted you may be a liposuction candidate. However, based on your wants, based on your medical history, you're not a candidate. Then we want to make sure we set the goals appropriately. So you know what you're getting into and what's going to be your outcome when you get into CoolSculpting. So goals is very important as well.

Monique Ramsey (07:39):
You know, back in the day with CoolSculpting, it was sort of like, I think most people figured, okay, I get my treatment and that's the end of it.

Monique Ramsey (07:47):
And now they're really noticing that people get a better result. They get the result they're looking for with multiple treatments. That it's not necessarily a one-and-done. It could be.

Monique Ramsey (07:58):
But what percentage of people do you think really need to just plan on two treatments? Treat to complete, as they say.

Khanh Nguyen (08:07):
Sure. So on the average patient, we say two treatments within any one area.

Khanh Nguyen (08:12):
So if you pick your stomach, your arms, your buttocks, whatever the case is, anticipate two treatments. Roughly one to two months apart.

Khanh Nguyen (08:20):
Now, if you were thinking about average, that means you can take a very, very tiny person that could use only one treatment, we're just spot treating that stubborn area. Versus the other end of the scale, where you have a larger person with a larger treatment area, then they may take three or four. So on average we tell most people, two treatments within any one area.

Monique Ramsey (08:38):
I remember they talked about like, if you can pinch it or if it's a pinchable area, like you can grab it with your hand, that's a good treatment.

Monique Ramsey (08:47):
If you can't grab it, if it's too tight, like let's say the beer belly, the typical guy's beer belly. Is that sort one of the ways that people themselves can kind of think, is this a good spot for treatment?

Khanh Nguyen (09:00):
Absolutely.

Khanh Nguyen (09:00):
So what we're talking about is called subcutaneous fat, the pinchable fat. And you'll find this on people where you said it's the beer belly, a very distended area where they think they have this fat. That's very deep fat that we can't treat because the indicators that we can pinch it, that means it's superficial or close enough to the surface of the skin that we can safely treat with CoolSculpting.

Monique Ramsey (09:22):
Now, how long do the results last and are they permanent results?

Khanh Nguyen (09:26):
Yeah. Kind of a double-sided question, but they're permanent.

Khanh Nguyen (09:31):
So within our bodies, we're born with so much fat in our body. We may develop a little bit more all the way up to like our adolescence 18, 19, 20 years old.

Khanh Nguyen (09:41):
You can imagine a, a bag of marbles or a bag of balloons. So each one of those balloons is a fat cell. We're born with so many. The way we get bigger and fatter is through our diet, through our lack of exercise, whatever the case is, those individual fat cells or individual balloons get bigger, bigger, bigger.

Khanh Nguyen (09:58):
Now with CoolSculpting, with lipo we're permanently destroying or permanently taking out fat. Whatever that's left over, can you make it grow bigger again? Absolutely. But if you have that many less balloons to make bigger, it's just harder to get bigger again.

Khanh Nguyen (10:12):
So yes, as permanent until your lifestyle dictates you increasing those fats cells again over time.

Monique Ramsey (10:20):
Is it sort of like we can think about the fat cells in that area. Maybe they just have a higher density of them in a certain area. And you're just trying to create that new shape. Let's say of somebody's figure, if you think about their hips and their hips really came out and you do some CoolSculpting and you help shrink those down. If they gained weight later, would it be more visible somewhere else on their body? Or does it depend?

Khanh Nguyen (10:44):
If you look at the anatomy of men and women, the distribution of fat is a little bit different. And that's why we gain fat a little bit differently.

Khanh Nguyen (10:50):
So for women, it's more of a pear shape. So the buttocks will get larger. The hips will get larger.

Khanh Nguyen (10:54):
Whereas the men, it's more of an apple, so our trunk will get bigger.

Khanh Nguyen (10:59):
However, if you're eliminating the fat in that area, when we gain weight again, it's evenly distributed. However, we will still gain it in those areas for men and women that we just talked about. However, because there's less fat in the area to gain again. It's just that much harder to get bigger again, in those areas.

Monique Ramsey (11:17):
In those areas. Got it. Okay. That makes sense.

Monique Ramsey (11:19):
Now, is this weight that you might see weight loss on this scale? Or is it more just about the new shape?

Khanh Nguyen (11:27):
Possibly. But we never want to cater it as a weight loss program. One, because fat doesn't weigh that much. So if we're not eliminating a large amount of fat, so we're assuming a percentage of fat with each treatment, because fat doesn't weigh that much. You'll probably see a negligible amount on a scale. So we don't want to use as a weight loss program.

Khanh Nguyen (11:45):
The other piece is, when we talked about the optimal patient, they already have a healthy lifestyle. They're not trying to lose weight. They're trying to just sculpt their bodies. So it's truly trying to sculpt you down to the ideal body that you want and not a weight loss program.

Monique Ramsey (11:59):
Uh-huh. Are there any side effects with this or what are the negative things that could happen?

Khanh Nguyen (12:05):
So although we call a non-invasive, we're not breaking the skin or doing anything like that, you do have to still plan for bruising and swelling. So if that's the case, you want to keep it outside of two weeks of any special occasions.

Monique Ramsey (12:16):
So now studies had shown that maybe two thirds of patients have numbness in that treatment area for up to a couple months, eight weeks after. Is there any reason to worry about this? If you had your CoolSculpting and on week six, you still feel all a little bit numb? Do you have to worry or it just takes time, maybe more for your body to wake back up again?

Khanh Nguyen (12:37):
Yeah. I've never seen anyone last that long in regards to numbness. The average for me is about one to two weeks. When I had it done on myself, it was only about a week.

Khanh Nguyen (12:44):
So whenever studies are done, they have to report like the outliers. So six to eight weeks is was pretty long. However, it would not still be abnormal. We always keep in communication with our patients via phone calls and emails and text messages. So if you do have that and you have a fear about it, always contact us. It's all good questions to have. And we don't want you to go to Google or rack your mind trying to figure out this is normal or not.

Monique Ramsey (13:07):
Right, right. That's true. Let's consult with the practitioner first.

Monique Ramsey (13:12):
Now there's some variations of the treatment that are available. And so one of them is called CoolMini. Can you explain just briefly what that is for?

Khanh Nguyen (13:21):
Yeah.

Khanh Nguyen (13:21):
So different sized people, different places to treat. CoolSculpting comes in various sized hand pieces and different applicators.

Khanh Nguyen (13:29):
So if you can imagine a little suction cup, what we're trying to do is suck the fat into that cup, freeze it and destroy it. Now the mini is meant for under the neck. That's not a big area. So that's where we use it. We can use it for other places as well because we try to tailor it to each patient, but we have very, very small hand pieces to very large hand pieces, curved, flat, minis for the submentum and neck area, flat ones for the arms. So we can cater really to you and to sculpting.

Monique Ramsey (13:56):
That's nice. Well, it makes sense, I guess. Because my arms, there can be a different size than somebody else's arms. And so then you can really, it's not a one size fits all. You're able to really customize it.

Khanh Nguyen (14:07):
And that's why it's important that all of our providers are all medically trained and we've gone through all the trainings. So it's not just a slap on and go.

Khanh Nguyen (14:14):
You really have to understand anatomy of the body, what the patient wants. Like you said, is it deep fat, superficial fat. It's not just strap on a piece of cooling and let it go. We really have to understand the patient.

Monique Ramsey (14:25):
People see CoolSculpting everywhere, right? And we see billboards and we see banners. We see ads on TV and it's like, you think, oh, it's the same.

Monique Ramsey (14:36):
If I go to LA Jolla Cosmetic, is CoolSculpting the same as if I go down the street to another place?

Monique Ramsey (14:40):
And it really isn't. And the reason is what you just said, it's the practitioner, and they experience, and do they have all the latest technology? Do they have all the different applicators to fit that area? They might have three and we might have 10 or something. I don't know, being able to get the right plan for that patient and to get the very best result.

Monique Ramsey (15:03):
So tell me about the latest technology, which is called CoolSculpting elite.

Khanh Nguyen (15:09):
So that is the latest machine coming out from CoolSculpting.

Khanh Nguyen (15:13):
It's just their Tesla 2.0, iPod 2.0, I just said iPod. I just dated myself there about the apple iPhone.

Khanh Nguyen (15:22):
So with any company, they are always trying to build better technology. And that is the latest technology coming out of CoolSculpting. So it's meant to treat more aggressively, quicker, better applicators, just in the long run, better for the patient.

Monique Ramsey (15:34):
Okay, great. And we have that technology at La Jolla Cosmetic. So that's always good to know. You got to stay on top of stuff.

Monique Ramsey (15:41):
Now, what if any, alternatives are there? So we talked about liposuction, but what non-surgical alternatives are there to CoolSculpting? And how are they different?

Khanh Nguyen (15:51):
Yeah, there's quite a few and we actually carry, I think three out of four of them. If I can think of off the top of my head.

Khanh Nguyen (15:56):
So you have CoolSculpting, which is freezing the fat.

Khanh Nguyen (15:59):
You have KYBELLA, which is an injectable. So we're essentially melting the fat with an injectable medication.

Khanh Nguyen (16:05):
You have SculpSure which uses a laser. It's a diode laser to heat the fat. So what that heating, you're breaking down the fat.

Khanh Nguyen (16:12):
And then there's another one, one I'm not all too familiar with, but it uses, I believe radio frequency and with that radio frequency, you're breaking up the fat with that technology.

Khanh Nguyen (16:21):
So those are the four I can think of off the top of my head that are nonsurgical.

Monique Ramsey (16:25):
And you said that the Kybella and the SculpSure are things that we also have. And so how would you decide for a patient or help them come to the right decision on which to use?

Khanh Nguyen (16:39):
Sure.

Khanh Nguyen (16:40):
I always ask first, what have you researched? When it comes to us, we always prefer to do CoolSculpting if we can first, just because in our history, we found that it eliminates so much fat at any one time. So if I can remove as much as I can in a short duration, that's what we go for.

Khanh Nguyen (16:56):
Now, when you asked about the mini and that's the under the neck fat that we talked about. Now, let CoolSculpting get rid of it as much as we can. At some point, you're not going to have enough fat they're left to CoolSculpt.

Khanh Nguyen (17:06):
Now we'll switch over to Kybella, to fine-tune the area, doing some injections into the areas that we can't attack anymore. So that's how we do that transition from CoolSculpting to Kybella.

Monique Ramsey (17:17):
And then SculpSure. Is that ever something that you like to use or do you tend to gravitate more towards the CoolSculpting?

Khanh Nguyen (17:24):
Sure.

Khanh Nguyen (17:24):
So with that one, if we go back to someone who can't tolerate cold, then we'll do SculpSure. Or if the area isn't safely treatable say you don't have enough fat in that area. One, if you don't have enough fat, we can't pull it into the CoolSculpting handpiece, or secondarily, if we're fearful that we're going to knock out too much fat where it's not going to look right on you, then we'll use SculpSure to more fine-tune that area, if you don't have enough fat for it.

Monique Ramsey (17:48):
Oh, interesting. Okay.

Monique Ramsey (17:50):
Now how much treatment costs? I think it really depends mostly on the applicator size. Is that right? Am I right about that?

Khanh Nguyen (17:59):
It's more with how many applicators.

Monique Ramsey (18:00):
Oh, okay.

Khanh Nguyen (18:02):
So as providers, we will mark the patient, we'll have that discussion. Do you want stomach? Do you want flanks? Hey, if you do stomach, you should probably do upper and lower along with the flanks.

Khanh Nguyen (18:11):
So we'll always formulate a game plan with the patient to make sure it's truly what they want. Now, what they see may not necessarily be what's optimal. So the biggest part is the game plan. After that, we give our game plan to the fabulous coordinators and the coordinators at that point, work with the patients to establish the quote.

Monique Ramsey (18:28):
To get them the best pricing. And I think when you do a quote, you might get an estimate like that we're going to do these three areas at two different sessions, right? Two different sittings, let's say. Do you find it easy to guesstimate how many sessions that patient might need?

Khanh Nguyen (18:45):
Yeah. Yeah. So we say two, but if you come into us with a bigger goal and we know how fine tuned you want it, then we'll say three or four, but always have in your back of your head two to begin with. And we can go from there.

Monique Ramsey (18:56):
Uh-huh. And we do have all our pricing on our website. We're very transparent about that. We show you pricing by the area and or applicator let's say. And also with our glam fam, that saves you money. And so we also have that pricing on there as well. So why, Khanh, would you say somebody should have their CoolSculpting treatment at LA Jolla Cosmetic?

Khanh Nguyen (19:20):
For me, the consult is the most important part of any procedure. Anyone can wield a needle. Anyone can put Botox into someone, but who is that person doing it? And how experienced are they?

Khanh Nguyen (19:31):
So with us, assuming we take this full circle, you want CoolSculpting, but if you come into us, we give you the CoolSculpting side of it. But then we say, "Hey, if surgery is an option, are you willing to speak to one of our surgeons?"

Khanh Nguyen (19:43):
So we are an all-inclusive practice where you have that option.

Khanh Nguyen (19:49):
The other one is like you said, La Jolla was part of the initial research. So we have so much history behind CoolSculpting. I think you guys have been there since the very beginning. So we understand the equipment. We understand how to sculpt, we understand what your goals are. So the consult for me is the biggest piece. Having a medical provider, do the procedure for you and having the backing of a surgery center to make sure that you get the right treatment is very, very important.

Monique Ramsey (20:13):
Yeah. I was looking at some of the reviews of you on the website and one really spoke to me about that consultation process. They say, "Khanh was very detailed with me about the procedure. He walked me through every step of the way and made sure that I was comfortable and I felt safe."

Monique Ramsey (20:30):
And that seems so, kind of obvious in a way, but it isn't because you don't know sometimes if you've never had a procedure done and you don't know what to expect, and if the provider isn't really giving you that detail and that assurance through the way, it can be kind of a scary thing. And what I notice in a lot of your reviews, talk about how professional you are and how much you listen. And that you're very detailed. Do you find that sort of your typical M.O.?

Khanh Nguyen (20:57):
Yeah.

Khanh Nguyen (20:57):
Ever since we transitioned to Zoom, I think our coordinators, and I think you've sat in on one of my consults and other people have sat on my consults. So they're like, wow, this is pretty ridiculous.

Khanh Nguyen (21:06):
Because even on Zoom, I'll pull up their pictures, I'll draw on their pictures. I'll rotate their pictures. Because during that time, we really learn that people need that understanding.

Khanh Nguyen (21:17):
But when we used to do it in person, we took it for granted that they would understand us. So let's just say, if I went to a mechanic, the mechanic is like you need, X, Y, Z. I have no idea what they're talking about.

Khanh Nguyen (21:26):
But if we're doing a medical procedure, that's even more important for you to understand what you're getting done. Sure, you want CoolSculpting, but we want you to have an understanding that we're there the whole step of the way with you. And I want you fully informed before you make any decision. So that's very, very important to me.

Monique Ramsey (21:41):
And I had one more that they said, "I felt so comfortable with my whole experience. Grateful for the way I was treated. And I appreciated the way everything was explained and wasn't pressured at all. My results are amazing and I couldn't be happier with my progress and I can't wait to have my next procedure done. Next, my neck."

Monique Ramsey (22:02):
And now that we've all been on Zoom for a year and a half. We all looking at that and we have a whole episode just about your neck. So you can take a look at that and listen to it.

Monique Ramsey (22:14):
So at the beginning we said, does it work? Does it really work? And so, Khanh, talk to me about the results and what you think about. Is this a procedure that is worth it?

Khanh Nguyen (22:31):
Absolutely.

Khanh Nguyen (22:31):
So in the world of non-invasive, we're going to compare noninvasive to surgery. CoolSculpting for me is the gold standard. It knocks out the most fat. It lets us really tailor it to you. It really sculpts you. And with the history between CoolSculpting with LA Jolla. And the 11, what 2010 that CoolSculpting came out. If it didn't work, there wouldn't be over a million cycles that have been done worldwide. So, it's-

Monique Ramsey (22:55):
It's definitely the gold standard, but, you know, you never know because marketing is everywhere and you get bombarded with ads. And just because they say it's the best, how do you know? So, and did you see for yourself, what was your own experience with CoolSculpting?

Khanh Nguyen (23:11):
Yeah, it worked very well. So here's the funny thing when it comes to this stuff, right. And we as providers explain this all the time, but we fall into the pitfall we're like, oh, it looks good, but now let me do this area. Oh, it looks good. So now let me do this area. So you may knock out one area and then all of a sudden, now you're looking at another area. So.

Monique Ramsey (23:27):
You're like, oh right, it works so well,

Khanh Nguyen (23:29):
Yeah.

Khanh Nguyen (23:29):
You go down the rabbit hole pretty quickly.

Monique Ramsey (23:31):
Well, you know, that's, why we're here.

Khanh Nguyen (23:34):
Yeah.

Monique Ramsey (23:35):
We're here to help. If it bothers you, fix it. Is there any patient you can think of where, you know, maybe it changed their life?

Khanh Nguyen (23:45):
So down here in San Diego, we have a huge military presence. We love our service men and women. So we actually get a lot of military coming through for us.

Khanh Nguyen (23:53):
There was one patient. He is Naval. So first off, thank you to all of our military men and women.

Monique Ramsey (23:59):
Yes.

Khanh Nguyen (23:59):
But he had a medical diagnosis that put him out of commission for about a year and a half.

Monique Ramsey (24:06):
Oh, wow.

Khanh Nguyen (24:06):
So you, you think about going from very fit and active military to almost sedentary. So he gained a lot of weight and a lot of fat during that period. He's trying to get back into it, but because of those medical diagnoses really can't get back into it. So what the CoolSculpting, again, actually, this is a great point that you brought up. If you're not medically cleared for liposuction, this is a great option. So with that, he was able to get back to his form, get back to his fitness, get back to the way he perceived himself. So it was, it was just a great step in helping our military men, men and women is always a bonus for us.

Monique Ramsey (24:39):
I love that. I love that. And that makes a lot of sense. You know, you want to look good in your uniform and you want to feel good.

Monique Ramsey (24:45):
Now, somebody listening today is thinking about taking that first step to reach out for consultation with you. Tell us a little bit about what they should do and what does that consultation look like? Because you mentioned Zoom. So how do we do that with a CoolSculpting consultation?

Khanh Nguyen (25:01):
Yeah. LA Jolla and our fabulous coordinators do a very good job with this.

Khanh Nguyen (25:04):
So the initial portion, is just speaking to our coordinators. They get an understanding of what you're looking to do. And you may not even be looking at CoolSculpting. You may be asking other questions, but after they do that, you send in wonderful photos of yourself. And even through those photos, we can get a pretty good idea of what you need done, just because of the history we have here, we've done so many patients.

Khanh Nguyen (25:23):
And then once you get past that level of comfort, then in the comfort of your home, we can jump on a Zoom together. You can be in a bathrobe, you can be hidden in the bathroom. So you feel more comfortable in your home than you do in an office setting. So at that point, we can draw on you. We also email you templates for you to cut out. So you can put those templates on yourself at home as well to really see how we cater and fine-tune the treatment area.

Khanh Nguyen (25:47):
And then after the Zoom, we decide on a game plan together. And then once again, you talk to one of our coordinators to set up a time for in-office and treatment.

Monique Ramsey (25:55):
Oh, perfect. So that sounds pretty painless. I think that's nice. And so then do you ever find that the game plan that you thought of on Zoom, once you see them in person is different or are you able to pretty much nail it over the Zoom consult?

Khanh Nguyen (26:10):
We have a pretty solid understanding of it. We always tell them that. Of course, we're guessing, and we're putting templates on you via Zoom. But for the most part, we're pretty spot on in regards to the final treatment plan. The only times it really changes is, a patient will come in and they're like, "Hey, can we add on this area?"

Monique Ramsey (26:26):
Yeah. I've been thinking. . .

Khanh Nguyen (26:29):
Yeah, exactly.

Monique Ramsey (26:30):
And speaking of that. So while you're having your treatment, your treatments are how long typically?

Khanh Nguyen (26:36):
It depends on how big of an area we're treating. We're pretty fortunate where we have a lot of devices here in La Jolla, so we can put on up to like five hand pieces at a time.

Khanh Nguyen (26:45):
But let's just say I use abdomin as an example, if we're doing from top to bottom, you're probably with us for about two hours-ish. Two and a half.

Monique Ramsey (26:53):
Okay.

Khanh Nguyen (26:54):
So yeah, the larger the area, the more applicator's we have to put on, but each applicator's about half hour ish.

Monique Ramsey (26:59):
Okay. So you can dual sculpt, meaning two machines and use two areas? Like the right and the left arm?

Khanh Nguyen (27:06):
Yep.

Monique Ramsey (27:06):
Or so you could really have almost like both arms and two flanks, maybe at the same time?

Khanh Nguyen (27:13):
You can do both flanks at the same time, along with both arms and then have one more machine doing your lower stomach.

Monique Ramsey (27:20):
Wow. Yeah.

Khanh Nguyen (27:21):
It's like Tetris.

Monique Ramsey (27:23):
And then can you do some Botox while we're sitting there?

Khanh Nguyen (27:26):
I have.

Monique Ramsey (27:27):
Oh, have you?

Khanh Nguyen (27:28):
So yesterday, we had a patient come in doing CoolSculpting, wanted a mira-Dry consult.

Monique Ramsey (27:32):
Oh.

Khanh Nguyen (27:33):
I ended up doing miraDry on her while she was CoolSculpting.

Monique Ramsey (27:37):
Really? Well, that makes sense.

Khanh Nguyen (27:38):
Yeah.

Monique Ramsey (27:39):
I love that. I love being able to be efficient. So, good. That's awesome.

Monique Ramsey (27:44):
So for everyone listening, check our show notes for links to the procedures we've talked about, about how to get a consultation. You can learn more about Khanh. And you know, if you have any questions, let us know. You can write text, call, carrier pigeon. However you want to communicate.

Monique Ramsey (28:03):
We're there to answer your questions. You can read reviews on our website. There's reviews. What's great about the reviews on our website is it's not just in general. We have some just like how many stars, 4.83 or whatever out of five stars.

Monique Ramsey (28:19):
But you can see reviews based on each procedure. So you can see people who've had CoolSculpting at La Jolla Cosmetic, and what their review and how they rated that treatment. So you can look at just reviews for Khanh. You can look at just reviews for CoolSculpting.

Monique Ramsey (28:40):
So just know as you go around the website, you can look at a lot of different things to get a good idea.

Monique Ramsey (28:46):
So thank you, Khanh, for joining us today on this episode of the LA Jolla Cosmetic Podcast and check in the show notes because we do have a special offer that if you subscribe, you get $25 off $50 or more in our med spa. So with that, I will let you all go and thank you again. And we'll talk to you next time.

Khanh Nguyen (29:06):
All right. Thank you for having me.