Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice. All statements are merely the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their dermatologist's guidance in regard to cosmetic procedures.
Cryoskin is a slimming and body contouring beauty treatment brand. The company uses medical devices that it claims can cause fat loss, decrease the appearance of cellulite and reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.
But is Cryoskin actually proven in medical studies to have these effects, or are these just marketing claims? What's the underlying technology and how does it work? Are there serious side effects? And how do real users rate and describe the effects of Cryoskin?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the technology behind Cryoskin to give our take on whether or not it's likely to work.
We'll document some questionable health claims on Cryoskin's website, feature unsponsored customer reviews that include before-and-after images and compare Cryoskin to CoolSculpting, another popular body contouring service.
We'll also discuss the potential for side effects.
How Does Cryoskin Work?
There is surprisingly little specific detail on the Cryoskin website about how their procedures work. The fat loss treatment, called “CryoSlimming,” appears to be a type of cryolipolysis.
This is a medical term for a procedure that causes localized fat loss and body contouring via topical application of cold temperatures.
While this may sound questionable to some readers, there is actually significant medical backing for cryolipolysis.
A medical review published in the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery journal analyzed data from 19 clinical trials on cryolipolysis for fat loss. The results were impressive. The average fat reduction as measured by ultrasound ranged between 10.3% to 25.5%.
We cannot confirm for certain if this is the procedure used by Cryoskin, because the word “cryolipolysis” does not appear on their website at the time of updating this article.
We find the descriptions of the “CryoToning” and “CryoFacial” procedures on the brand’s website to be relatively vague.
The brand makes statements like “cold temperatures smooth skin, reduce the appearance of cellulite, and improve the skin’s overall texture and appearance” but there is no medical citation or explanation of the specific medical procedure used to achieve these outcomes.
We have not come across any convincing medical research suggesting that topical application of cold temperatures reduces cellulite or improves skin quality.
Overall, we consider CryoSlimming somewhat likely to cause fat loss given our best guess about the underlying technology, but it's hard to make an educated guess since the brand is so vague about what specific medical procedure is used.
Questionable Health Claims
There are some health claims and clinical references on the Cryoskin website that we consider questionable. On a page titled "Real Results," the company publishes the below figures:
However, there is no citation for the clinical study referenced.
We strongly disagree with the practice of publishing favorable clinical trial results without publishing the full trial for consumers (and researchers like us) to review.
We can't find any publicly-available clinical trials on Cryoskin, and we urge the company to either publish proof to back these figures or remove these marketing statements from their website.
When we first published this article, Cryoskin was featuring other supposed clinical trial data points that we previously highlighted as questionable, shown below:
These figures appear to have been pulled from the Cryoskin website since our initial publication and discussion of them.
At the time, the brand had shared a link to a Google Sheets presentation with a summary of the study results, and stated that “the full paper is available upon request.”
We only consider claims of clinical efficacy to be legitimate when the clinical study in question is published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
Real People Try Cryoskin
A YouTube creator named Susan Yara shared her experience using Cryoskin and included before-and-after images:
A YouTube creator named Ahliyah Michelle vlogged her experience using Cryoskin to reduce body fat:
Cryoskin vs. CoolSculpting
CoolSculpting is another popular fat loss and body contouring brand, so consumers are often curious about which treatment is better.
We have no affiliation with either brand, but we consider CoolSculpting to be a superior option.
First, CoolSculpting transparently explains that their treatment involves cryolipolysis as well as the nine areas of the body it’s cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat (under chin, under jawline, thigh, abdomen, flank, bra fat. back fat, underneath the butt, upper arm).
The most important distinction in our opinion is that CoolSculpting has been shown to be effective in clinical trials published in peer-reviewed medical journals, which we consider to be the gold standard of product research.
A clinical trial published in the Dermatologic Therapy journal reported a “significant improvement” in body contouring after CoolSculpting treatments.
As we documented in our CoolSculpting reviews article, there are other clinical trials published in legitimate medical journals backing CoolSculpting’s efficacy.
Put simply, CoolSculpting very clearly indicates the medical procedure they use, and their specific procedure has been shown to be effective in multiple clinical trials published in peer-reviewed medical journals.
Cryoskin remains vague about the specific medical procedure they use (at least we can’t figure it out from their site), and we cannot identify any clinical research on Cryoskin published in medical journals.
Does Cryoskin Cause Side Effects?
Because we can't find any fully accessible clinical trials on Cryoskin, it's challenging to determine whether or not the treatment is likely to cause side effects.
However, since we believe the underlying technology is cryolipolysis which has been studied in clinical trials, we can make an educated guess.
In rare cases, cryolipolysis can cause severe side effects, including severe pain, skin discoloration, motor neuropathy and more, according to a medical review published in the Dermatologic Surgery journal.
A 2021 medical review on this technology reported the side effect rate to be between 0.05% and 0.39%.
This makes Cryoskin potentially a favorable option compared with more invasive surgeries like liposuction, which is clinically shown to have a serious side effect rate above 3%, as we documented in our review of popular lipo brand Sono Bello.
Overall, we consider Cryoskin unlikely to cause side effects in most individuals.
The FAQ page on Cryoskin's website states that their service "essentially carries zero risk."
Our Clean Weight Loss Picks
There are food-based nutrients which have been shown in medical studies to be effective for weight loss.
Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition to cause 16 pounds of weight loss in 6 months when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline).
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top fiber pick because it's certified organic, provides 7 g of fiber per serving and costs under $1.85 per serving at the time of updating this article.
MCT oil was shown in a meta-study to cause more than one pound of weight loss over 10 weeks. This equates to potential annualized weight loss of 6 pounds per year with less than one tablespoon's worth of MCT oil per day.
Performance Lab MCT Oil is our top MCT oil pick because it's certified organic.
Ginger intake "significantly decreased body weight" according to a 2019 meta-study on ginger and weight loss that analyzed data from 14 clinical trials.
Pique La Ginger is our top ginger product, because it's an organic tea in convenient crystallized form, and all that's needed is to pour the powder into a glass and add hot water.
All three of the products mentioned in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Pros and Cons of Cryoskin
Here are the pros and cons of Cryoskin in our opinion:
Pros:
- Likely safer than lipo
- The technology we're assuming is used has clinical backing
- Some before-and-afters show impressive results
Cons:
- Expensive
- Brand is vague about technical details
- Company makes questionable and uncited health claims
- May cause side effects in rare cases
- More invasive than lifestyle modifications
