A new procedure to get rid of fat is turning out to be quite popular with men.
It's called the Zeltiq procedure and here in San Diego, it's being performed at The La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre.
Greg Grider underwent his second round of the Zeltiq procedure hoping it'll get rid of something that's bugged him for a long time.
"I've always had the love handles my whole life, even when I was in really, really good shape I still had the love handles and as you get older, they just get bigger along with the rest of you,” Grider said..
According to Dr. Sam Jejurikar, Grider has plenty of company. Since Jejurikar started doing the procedure, most interest is from men.
"Men sometimes have a little more reluctance to have surgical procedures than female patients and they find this to be a very comfortable and relaxing procedure," he said.
He says it works by cooling fat cells in specific areas, triggering a natural response that causes fat cells to disappear gradually.
The procedure takes about two hours per session. The doctor says you see results in 2 to 4 months.
It costs anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, depending on the area.
Zeltiq is cleared for fat reduction in Europe but so far in this country, the FDA has only approved it for skin cooling during other treatments.
President of the San Diego Plastic Surgeons Society Dr. Richard Chaffoo says that at this point, he's not ready to recommend it for his patients.
"The jury's still out. I want to see a series of patients?” Chaffoo said. “I'd like to see something in one of our peer reviewed journals to see what are the long term results with a large series of patients. It might be all it's cracked up to be but we don't really know that."
Looking at his before and after photos, Grider is pleasantly surprised with the results.
"We looked at the pictures,” he said. “I really didn't think a lot was done, until you look at the pictures."
The La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre is the only place we found in San Diego that is performing the procedure at this time.
