VelaShape
The VelaShape head combines suction with rollers, so the tissue is drawn up and worked between them as the head is moved along.
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Velashape vs CoolSculpting
VelaShape gives a temporary change in how the thighs look and measure. It heats and kneads the skin with radiofrequency, infrared light, suction and rollers. CoolSculpting thins a defined pocket of fat. It freezes a fold of tissue so the body clears the damaged fat cells over the following weeks. It is the only one of the two with measured fat loss behind it.
At a glance
| The difference | VelaShape | CoolSculpting |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | No dated national figure exists | About $3,268 on average, self-reported |
CoolSculpting
The applicator draws a fold of skin and fat up into the cup and holds it there while it chills. That suction is why the area feels tugged for the first few minutes.
Side by side
The differences that matter
What you actually do
VelaShape
A course of weekly sessions
A handpiece combines radiofrequency and infrared light with suction and rollers that knead the tissue. It is usually sold as four to six weekly sessions. Maintenance sessions follow.
CoolSculpting
Cycles on one area, then wait
A cooling applicator draws a fold of tissue against chilled plates and holds it there for a set cycle. In a review of 3,262 patients, the median was 4 cycles in 1 session.
How it works
VelaShape
Heat from two directions, plus kneading
Radiofrequency warms tissue between the poles. Infrared warms the layers nearer the surface. Vacuum and rollers squeeze the skin and the fat under it.
CoolSculpting
Cold, drawn out through the skin
Fat cells are harmed by cold more easily than skin, nerve and blood vessel are. The settings are specific: minus 10 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes under the chin. The immune system clears the damaged cells over the following weeks.
What you can expect to see
VelaShape
Smoother-looking thighs, for a while
The change on offer is the look of dimpled skin, plus a temporary drop in the tape measurement around the thigh.
CoolSculpting
A thinner fat layer in one area
The fat layer shrank by about 20%, pooled across 4,792 treatment cycles reviewed by the FDA.
What it will not do
VelaShape
It will not destroy fat
There is no fat-destruction wording anywhere in what VelaShape is allowed to claim. Its one body-shape claim is a thigh measurement, and it is marked temporary.
CoolSculpting
It will not treat cellulite
Cellulite comes from fibrous bands tying the skin down to deeper tissue. Taking fat away does not release them.
How long it lasts
VelaShape
Temporary, with no number attached
The wording says temporary and does not say how long. No published follow-up for VelaShape could be found. That is why it is sold with maintenance sessions.
CoolSculpting
Checked at 12 or 16 weeks
That is when the FDA-reviewed trials measured. Nothing in CoolSculpting's own wording is described as temporary.
The downside
VelaShape
Warmth and brief redness
Clinic material describes it as walk-in, walk-out.
CoolSculpting
Numb, red and firm for days to weeks
Delayed pain is common. In one review it ran 3 to 11 days and settled on its own. It happened most often in younger women treated on the abdomen.
Cost
VelaShape
No dated national figure exists
Nothing citable comes from a professional society or a consumer aggregate. Any range you are quoted is one clinic's own pricing.
CoolSculpting
About $3,268 on average, self-reported
1,928 RealSelf reviewers reported an average of $3,268, ranging from $750 to $8,800. 59% of them rated it "Worth It".
The at-home or drugstore version
VelaShape
Home wands and cellulite creams
A home radiofrequency wand never reaches the depth the clinic device works at. Massagers and cellulite creams act on the surface only.
CoolSculpting
Freezing at home is not a treatment
There is no home version of fat freezing. An ice pack cannot hold tissue at minus 10 degrees for an hour the way a cooling applicator does.
Who tends to be happy with it
VelaShape
- Best for — Someone who wants the surface of the thighs to look smoother, and is willing to keep coming back.
- The mindset — Maintenance. Treat the result as something you rent rather than own.
CoolSculpting
- Best for — Someone near a stable weight with a bulge that will not shift, in one of the named areas.
- The mindset — One area, volume only, measured over about three months.
Circumference is not fat, and neither is weight
VelaShape
VelaShape's body claim is circumference, which is a tape measure. The number moves with posture, with which breath you are on, and with how tightly the tape is pulled. It also moves with the time of day and with what you have eaten. Nobody has published how much a thigh measurement varies for reasons unrelated to treatment. That makes a small reduction hard to read.
CoolSculpting
CoolSculpting's claim is fat breakdown, measured as fat-layer thickness by ultrasound. In the better-documented studies that is two or three millimetres.
The fine print
VelaShape
VelaShape's clearance is K122579, granted 13 September 2012. It covers muscle aches, muscle spasm, local blood circulation, the appearance of cellulite, and temporary reduction of thighs circumferences. The only body-shape claim is circumference of the thighs, and it is marked temporary. There is no lipolysis or fat-destruction wording anywhere in it.
CoolSculpting
CoolSculpting was authorised through De Novo request DEN090002, decided 24 August 2010, which created the FDA category for cryolipolysis. The claim is cold-assisted lipolysis — breakdown of fat — of the upper arm, bra fat, back fat, banana roll, thigh, abdomen and flank, at a body mass index of 30 or less. Submental and submandibular areas are covered separately, up to a body mass index of 46.2. CoolSculpting Elite is K212707, cleared 5 November 2021.
Common questions
Questions Patients Ask
Is VelaShape FDA cleared for fat reduction?
Not for fat destruction. Its clearance, K122579 from 13 September 2012, covers relief of minor muscle aches and pain, relief of muscle spasm, temporary improvement of local blood circulation, temporary reduction in the appearance of cellulite, and temporary reduction of thighs circumferences. Circumference is a tape measurement, not a measure of fat, and the word temporary is in the cleared wording.
How long do VelaShape results last?
The clearance says temporary and does not attach a number, and no published follow-up for VelaShape could be found to fill that gap. That is why it is conventionally sold with maintenance sessions. Anyone quoting you a specific duration is not quoting a published figure.
What is actually in a VelaShape treatment?
Four things at once: bipolar radiofrequency, infrared light, vacuum suction and mechanical massage rollers. That combination is why the same clearance carries circulation, muscle-ache, cellulite and circumference claims together.
Is there published research on VelaShape?
Some, and it is thin. Two 2009 papers describe this radiofrequency, infrared, vacuum and massage combination for arm, abdominal and flank fat and skin laxity. Their sample sizes, designs and funding could not be established, so no numbers from them are quoted here. There is no large controlled independent trial.
Which one does more for a bulge of fat?
CoolSculpting is the one with a fat clearance and measured fat-layer outcomes behind it — about 20% pooled ultrasound reduction across the FDA's review of 4,792 cycles, roughly 14% in an independent randomised trial. VelaShape's body claim is a temporary circumference change on the thighs. If the complaint is volume you can hold, those are not equivalent options.
Which one hurts more, or has more downtime?
CoolSculpting has more to feel afterwards. The area is numb, red and firm for days to weeks, and delayed pain running 3 to 11 days is common. VelaShape is described in clinic material as warm and walk-in, walk-out, though no manufacturer instructions for use could be obtained to confirm that.
Will either of them help my cellulite?
VelaShape carries a cleared claim for temporary reduction in the appearance of cellulite. Zeltiq's earlier skin-cooling clearance from 2009 — a different device from the fat-freezing one, with no fat claim in it — carried a similar phrase using an optional massage function, which is not part of the cryolipolysis indication. Neither addresses the underlying cause: cellulite comes from fibrous bands tethering the skin down, and removing fat does not release them. The devices the FDA has cleared under its dedicated cellulite category work on those bands mechanically, and neither of these is one of them.
Safety to keep in mind
These get treated as interchangeable, and they are four separate things. The distance around a limb. The thickness of the fat layer under the skin. The volume of a bulge. And what you weigh. Different devices are measured on different ones.
Neither of them will change what you weigh. A pooled analysis of cryolipolysis found no real weight change at all. The FDA says the same: non-invasive body contouring "does not treat obesity or improve your health. It will not result in weight loss."
Say if you have an implant near the area. That means a pacemaker, a defibrillator, or any metal or electronic implant. Radiofrequency device labels rule these out as a precaution. The team who look after the implant are the right people to ask.
Three blood disorders rule out fat freezing completely. They are cryoglobulinemia, cold agglutinin disease and paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria. All three share one logic. The blood behaves abnormally when it gets cold.
Raise any hernia at or near the site, including a repaired one. Hernia is on the FDA's risk list for this class of device. It is also in CoolSculpting's own precautions, and it is the item most often passed over.
Ask what the plan is after the first course. When the wording says temporary, the maintenance schedule and its cost are part of the price.
Also mention these for either treatment. Cold urticaria, Raynaud's or chilblains. Poor feeling or poor circulation in the area. Bleeding disorders or blood thinners. Recent surgery or scarring at the site. Eczema over the treatment area.