Coolsculpting And Fat Freezing Negligence Claims Guide

By Marlon Rudy. Last Updated 15th August 2022. On this page, you will find information about making a compensation claim for CoolSculpting fat freezing negligence.

CoolSculpting/fat freezing medical negligence

CoolSculpting/fat freezing medical negligence

The guide provides information to help you understand why you could have a valid claim, and how to proceed with one if you do.

We can provide you with a personal injury lawyer to process your medical negligence claim, as well as additional help and advice. For more information, please contact our team on 0800 652 3087, they are available 24 hours a day to answer any questions you have.

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A Guide To Coolsculpting Fat Freezing Medical Negligence Claims

This guide to making a claim for CoolSculpting malpractice, covers many aspects of pursuing a case against a negligent third party, and also helps you understand how a medical negligence solicitor could assist you in processing a claim. We start this guide off by taking a look at just what CoolSculpting fat freezing is, and how it works.

The guide then moves on to look at the potential risks of undergoing this cosmetic treatment. We go over the possible side effects (even the rare ones), and we provide information about the kind of injuries this treatment can cause. You will also find a section that gives info on who should not consider undergoing CoolSculpting for medical reasons.

The last part of this guide is related to the actual claim itself. We provide details of applicable time limits related to filing a compensation claim. You will also find a list of many of the damages a claimant might receive as part of their settlement.

Finally, we look at how we can help you by providing a solicitor who will handle your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. If you need additional information, or have any questions about this guide, you can talk to a member of our claims team.

What Is Coolsculpting Fat Freezing

In order to answer the question, does fat freezing really work? We need to explain what CoolSculpting is and how it works. CoolSculpting uses the process of freezing fat cells to kill them, and then have them absorbed into the body being flushed out. The body is perfectly capable of breaking down dead tissue and getting rid of it as bodily waste. Enzymes break down the dead fat cells in a process called Apoptosis, a natural part of the bodies function, with no adverse effects.

What makes CoolSculpting stand out from other methods of non-surgical fat removal, is that the process causes little or no damage to the surrounding tissue, organs and skin.

For optimum results, patients need to undergo between one and four sessions. However, most patients will be able to see a change after just the first treatment. However, it can take the body some time to accommodate the changes made to the volume of fat cells.

This is a permanent solution, and fat cells that have been killed by CoolSculpting will not return. However, new fat cells can form, so this is not a solution for over-eaters, and diet still needs to be an important part of the overall weight loss regime.

Typically, around 25% of fat cells are removed per treatment using CoolSculpting. It takes the body between six and twelve weeks to break down the dead fat cells and flush them out. CoolSculpting is effective at removing excess fat from the Arms, Chin, Belly. Flanks, Waist, Thighs, and breasts.

This all sounds great. An effective, reliable and relatively safe way to remove excess fat from the body. However, things can, and do go wrong from time to time. If cosmetic surgery negligence was the cause of harm to a patient undergoing a CoolSculpting treatment, it may be possible for them to make a compensation claim for the harm they have suffered against the negligent third party,

What Could Happen If CoolSculpting Has Gone Wrong?

All procedures such as this have attached risks. Your medical professional has a responsibility to inform you of any possible side effects. In some cases, they could be found liable for the harm you suffer from a side effect if you were not properly informed of the risks. If you undergo CoolSculpting, you could potentially experience the following if it went wrong:

  • Burns: Freezing burns could potentially occur as a result of a botched CoolSculpting procedure, in which use of the machine was not properly regulated.
  • Hernia: Some patients could potentially suffer a hernia as a result of this procedure.
  • CoolSculpting disfigurement: if the procedure went wrong, there could potentially be hyperpigmentation or subcutaneous induration.
  • Pain: You could potentially suffer from late onset pain. Even if you were not in pain at the time, but you could prove your pain was due to your procedure, you could still potentially claim.

If your procedure for cool sculpting had gone wrong and led to physical or psychological injuries please call one of our advisers today.

Potentially Rare Side Effects

In the section above we looked at many of the risks and common side effects of CoolSculpting fat freezing. In this section, we  look at some of the rarer, but often more serious side effects of the process. The least well understood of these, is a condition named Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH). This is a medical condition that occurs when the fat cells are not killed, and instead, become enlarged or inflamed.

Most people who develop PAH after the process are men. The symptoms of PAH is that the person looks fatter, as the fat cells have become larger. However, the condition can only be treated with surgery. Further applications of CoolSculpting will only exacerbate the condition. Fortunately, the chance of contracting PAH after undergoing the process is very low, at just over 0.0050 percent.

There are some other very rare side effects of CoolSculpting that have been reported, and these include:

  • Moderate to severe pain that begins some days after the treatment has been completed. This can last for up to a month in severe cases
  • Changes to the colour of the skin, or some kind of scarring
  • For people who have had their chin or neck treated, they may find that the movement of their tongue is restricted
  • For people who have had their chin or neck treated, the muscles of the lips may be weakened temporarily
  • For people who have had their chin or neck treated, the ability for them to produce saliva may be impeded or reduced
  • Send degree burns or even frostbite in the area that has been treated
  • After the treatment, the patient may suffer from minor, combined symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, sweating and cold/hot flushes
  • The pigmentation of the skin can change (hyperpigmentation) causing it to become much darker
  • Strange and rapid changes to body shape due to loss of body fat

It must be stated that all of these side effects are considered rare. They only affect a very small percentage of all of the people that undergo CoolSculpting. However, regardless of the symptoms a person may suffer, if the underlying cause was some form of clinical negligence, a personal injury solicitor could be able to process a claim for the harm they have suffered.

If you need more information about making a claim for symptoms such as those covered above, then please speak to one of our claim advisers.

Groups Who Should Avoid This Procedure

Even though CoolSculpting is considered to be a fairly harmless way to deal with excess body fat, it is not without risks. Certain people are advised to not undergo the process at all, and these include:

  • Women who are pregnant, attempting to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding a child
  • People who have a medical condition called cryoglobulinemia
  • People who are suffering from an autoimmune condition that is called cold agglutinin disease
  • People who are suffering from a blood condition known as paroxysmal cold haemoglobinuria
  • Anyone who is suffering from Raynaud’s disease
  • People who currently have chilblains
  • Any person that has a problem with blood circulation in the area they wish to be treated
  • People with nerve-related conditions
  • Any person suffering from certain skin conditions such as eczema, even if the condition is not currently manifesting symptoms
  • People with skin conditions such as hives or dermatitis
  • Anyone who has scar tissue or a recent wound in the area of the body they wish treated
  • Sufferers of severe anxiety disorders

If you are suffering from any of these conditions, or fit into any of the boxes  this list creates, if you are offered CoolSculpting despite this, it could be construed as negligence. If you are harmed because of it, a personal injury solicitor could be able to process a medical negligence claim for you.

Injuries Which Could Be Caused By Fat Freezing

In the previous two sections, we covered all of the common and less common side effects of CoolSculpting fat freezing. We can distil this list of symptoms down to produce a more manageable list of possible injuries that could result from undergoing the process, and this would be:

  • Changes to the skin, this could he scarring, a change of colour, or a darkening of pigmentation
  • Reduced function of the neck, tongue, mouth and lips, including the inability to produce sufficient saliva
  • Pain ranging from moderate to severe, lasting from days to weeks.
  • Physical injuries such as frostbite or cold burns
  • Odd sensations including numbness, tingling or pinching
  • Serious changes to body shape due to either PAH or to the body not adapting to the loss of fat cells properly
  • Psychological issues such as depression, anxiety or even post-traumatic stress disorder caused by having to live with a disfiguring condition, even in the short-term

Anyone who suffers any of these kinds of physical or psychological injuries, could be entitled to file a claim for compensation. However, in order to do so, it would need to be proven that the cause was some form of cosmetic surgery negligence.

Coolsculpting Fat Freezing Medical Negligence Claim Time Limits

In order for you to be eligible to make a compensation claim for plastic surgery negligence, you must begin your claim within the personal injury claims time limit specific to your case. In general, this time limit will be:

Circumstances of the ClaimTime Limit
For symptoms that manifest immediately3-years from the date the CoolSculpting was performed.
For symptoms that manifest at a later date.3-years from the date the symptoms are diagnosed

However, there are external factors that could affect this time limit. We recommend that you speak to a member of our claims team and explain your situation to them. They will then be able to tell you exactly what time limit applies, based on the actual circumstances of your own claim.

Coolsculpting Fat Freezing Negligence Damages

When you make a personal injury claim, your solicitor will attempt to process a claim for all applicable damages. These can be for physical harm, or they could be for financial loss. For example, your overall settlement could include:

  • To compensate for financial and other losses (special damages):
    • The cost of care – for hiring in-home help or nurse
    • Travel costs – if you had to travel to get treatment, or to deal with the claim itself
    • Medical fees – if you had to pay for private treatment that was not available from the NHS
    • Lost income – if you had to take time away from work and were not paid
    • Lowered prospects – if your working life will be negatively affected in the future

To compensate for physical and psychological harm (general damages)

  • Pain and suffering – at the time of the accident or when receiving emergency treatment
  • Mental trauma – caused by the shock of the accident
  • Phycological injuries – such as post-traumatic stress disorder caused by either the accident itself, or the impact of your injuries on your life
  • Painful treatment – if your injuries will require long-term, painful medical treatment to heal
  • Permanent disability – if you will never recover from your injuries fully

If you want to know what kinds of damages you could receive if your claim is successful, please speak to one of our claim advisers. They will go over your claim with you, and once they know enough about the circumstances of your claim, the financial losses you have suffered and the extent of your injuries, they can tell you the kinds of damage you might receive.

No Win No Fee Coolsculpting Fat Freezing Injury Claims

As part of the service that we offer claimants, we can arrange for a solicitor to process your claim under a No Win No Fee  agreement This type of fee structure has many benefits. For example:

  • When the solicitor starts working on your claim, they won’t ask for a fee to be paid upfront
  • While your solicitor is processing your claim, even if this takes several months, they won’t ask you to pay any ongoing fees
  • If your solicitor doesn’t successfully secure you a compensation settlement, they will not expect you to pay anything at all

As you can see, you really don’t pay anything unless your claim is a success. When it is, the solicitor will take their fee out of the compensation payment they receive from you automatically. If you would like to learn more about the way this service works, please get in touch with our claims team on the number below.

How The Medical Negligence Assist Team Could Help You

Our service can help you in many ways. Whether you have been the victim of NHS negligence, or you need to sue a private healthcare practice for medical malpractice. For example, you may have already tried to use a personal injury claims calculator to get a rough idea of how much you could be able to claim. However, we can give you a personalised valuation based on the actual circumstances of your claim. To learn about the many ways we can help you, please contact a member of our claims team on 0800 652 3087 today.

Fat Removal, Cosmetic Surgery And Medical Negligence Resources

You may find that these external links have additional, useful information:

NHS information on the treatment of obesity

NHS information on liposuction for fat removal

UK Government recommendations for protecting cosmetic surgery patients

Below, you can find links to all of our medical negligence claims guides:

Article by MW

Editor Honey