Community Chat

[gertrudecloset]

over a cool sculpting procedure that she had.  She says it didn't remove her fat cells ~ it increased them instead.

Supermodel Linda Evangelista is opening up about how a cosmetic procedure kept her out of the spotlight for years.

Evangelista wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday she was left "brutally disfigured" after CoolSculpting and found herself in a "cycle of deep depression."

"To my followers who have wondered why I have not been working while my peers' careers have been thriving, the reason is that I have been brutally disfigured by Zeltiq's CoolSculpting procedure," Evangelista wrote. Zeltiq Aesthetics did not immediately return USA TODAY's request for comment.

The former model said she underwent two corrective surgeries to no avail.  "I have been left, as the media has described, 'unrecognizable,' " she wrote.

What is CoolSculpting?

According to Medical News Today, CoolSculpting is an FDA-approved fat reduction process that uses "freezing temperatures to break down fat cells." During the process, skin is vacuumed into a device that cools the fat cells.

“Coolsculpting is the No. 1 non-invasive fat reducing procedure in the world,” says plastic surgeon David Rapaport, who performs the procedure in his Manhattan office. "People don’t all want liposuction (because) it is a somewhat invasive procedure, it can be painful you can have bruising.”

Andrew Ordon, who has held a plastic surgery private practice for more than 30 years and host of "The Doctors" says he doesn't use CoolSculpting in his practice because the results are "unpredictable."

Are adverse reactions to CoolSculpting common?

"It increased, not decreased, my fat cells and left me permanently deformed," Evangelista stated.

She said since the surgery she has developed Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia, which according to a 2014 medical journal case report, is an adverse reaction to CoolScultping that results in the cells growing in the treated area.

According to the CoolSculpting safety information, Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia is listed as a possible side-effect. The safety information site suggests "surgical intervention, such as liposuction, for correction."

Rapaport describes Evangelista's condition as a “rare complication” that only occurs in “one in several thousand people" who have had the procedure.

"PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, it sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness, and the lowest depths of self-loathing," Evangelista wrote.

Source, USA Today

[Goldengate8361]

I read this earlier today. Very sad. I become more and more convinced to be happy with my aging body. I am healthy and that's everything! 

[Foxxee]

Can we assume she gave written permission for the procedure and was warned about complications? 

Less than 1% of people who get it done have a complication called paradoxical fat hyperplasia. When this happens, the number of fat cells in the area of treatment increase instead of decrease.

It lessons the fat from 10-25% in the targeted area.  

Here she is at 56 y/o.   She looks heavier  everywhere including her face.  The procedure is not recommended for the face except the jaw and neck.  I'm thinking she has been eating more than she admits or has a medical issue.   

Linda during her modeling days on the left and at age 51.  

[Goldengate8361]

@Foxxee She said that she was NOT warned of this potential outcome or risk prior to the procedure. 

[Icegoddess]

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@Foxxee wrote:

Can we assume she gave written permission for the procedure and was warned about complications? 

Less than 1% of people who get it done have a complication called paradoxical fat hyperplasia. When this happens, the number of fat cells in the area of treatment increase instead of decrease.

It lessons the fat from 10-25% in the targeted area.  

Here she is at 56 y/o.   She looks heavier  everywhere including her face.  The procedure is not recommended for the face except the jaw and neck.  I'm thinking she has been eating more than she admits or has a medical issue.    

Linda during her modeling days on the left and at age 51.  

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If the picture on the bottom right is a current photo at 51 she is still a beautiful woman.  Sure, she can't model, as I can tell she no longer has a model's figure.  I would love to have a face that pretty though even if only with makup.  My best makeup job can't compete with that.

[FiddleDeeDee]

I really don't know about all of this.

* I personally don't think she looks grotesquely disfigured (her words). Nope, she looks like many women you see daily. In HER world she might feel ugly because she has been considered and told she is so beautiful all her life but now she looks like everyone else or at least like those who don't meet the bar set to be a model.

* Her weight gain is obvious. Then again, she's gotten older. Doesn't mean you HAVE to gain weight as you get older but everyone is different and for her, this may be in her genes.

* As someone who has considered having working done, I do not and can't believe that ANY person with a few brain cells would not research everything there is to know about ANY medical procedure ESPECIALLY one that involves your face. I just don't. Maybe she didn't want to be bothered. Maybe this was a trusted 5th Avenue doctor. Maybe it was a friend of a friend. Who knows but to just do something and go "Alrighty. Do your thing" just doesn't ring true for me. 

I truly hope she is able to find peace with how she looks. Being very honest, I thought her pictures would look VERY different based on the language she used to describe her situation. I was very....surprised and will leave it at that.

[GenXmuse]

If you get this rare complication, does it increase fat everywhere or just in the places you get it? I'm assuming from the photo it's everywhere.  

I don't know that being informed of this would have changed her mind, but they should have gone through the risks even the less common ones.

[Goldengate8361]

@FiddleDeeDee She is not showing her body in these photos, so we (i.e.anyone) can't make judgments about her statements about being disfigured. I believe her.

[agb80]

She had the procedure 5 years ago and went into a severe depression having had a rare side affect that could not be corrected by two surgeries.  What part of her body where it went terribly wrong she has not said, only that it prevented her from her livelihood. 

[decaf]

I just read that PAH, the rare side effect (1 in 4000 procedures), can be reversed by a Smart Lipo procedure (laser assisted liposuction).  They remove the fat in the affected area.

If she is heavier all over, that's not from the Cool Sculpting procedure.