The three major morning news shows - NBC's Today, CBS's The Early Show and ABC's Good Morning America - all featured stories yesterday about the recently FDA approved non-surgical fat removal procedures CoolSculpting by Zeltiq and Zerona The Wall Street Journal and MSNBC also recently ran stories about these new fat busting technologies and since then, search popularity for these two procedures on American Health and Beauty has skyrocketed.
Zerona uses low-level laser technology to cause a pore to open in fat cells so that the contents empty. Dr. Walter Tom, a cosmetic surgeon in Napa, CA describes the function, "Zerona's concept is that through this laser system that's placed on the skin - usually on the abdomen and the back area - it causes our fat cells to become leaky, and as these fat cells become leaky, the fat leaches out of the cells and is carried away by our lymphatic system, our circulation system, to our liver and to our kidneys and then we excrete it in our stool or our urine." Treatment is fast at only 40 minutes per session, and patients return every other day for 2 weeks for a full course of treatment. Results are seen as early as 2-3 weeks and patients can return for another course.

Actual Results of Zerona with Dr. Walter Tom
Lost 3 lbs, 1 3/4" around flanks
On the other hand, CoolSculpting by Zeltiq uses cold therapy. The treatment area is suctioned between two cooling plates which drop the temperature of the fat to just above freezing. The cold extracts energy from fat causing it to die. Though it is referred to as cryolipolysis, it is not actually "freezing" the fat or the surrounding tissues. Rather, it crystallizes the lipids in fat cells causing the slow collapse of cells as they die. The procedure is biologically selective meaning that it only targets fat cells and only those in the superficial fat layer close to the skin. The body then carries off the dead cells over the course of two to three months so that the result is seen more gradually. One treatment session takes an hour, and many patients return for additional treatments to boost their results.
Actual results of Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick and Dr. William Groff of La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre
It's important to bear in mind that the results with both of these treatments are minimal. They are intended for patients who are generally fit, but have a small pocket of fat they can't get rid of with diet and exercise. Erchonia, the Zerona manufacturer, promises patients will lose at least 3" in total circumference, that is the total of inches lost from all over the body. If not, they offer a second series at no charge.