CoolSculpting Weight Loss Procedure Customers File Class Action Lawsuit Alleging Bodily Deformation

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A group of CoolSculpting customers who say they were deformed by the weight loss technology and now need expensive surgery to fix it have filed a nationwide class action against the product’s company.

Plaintiffs Phornphan Chubchai, Javier Valencia and Paula Brooks filed the class action lawsuit against AbbVie, Inc. Friday in a California federal court, alleging the company’s CoolSculpting System has the ability to cause permanent deformities to a person’s body. 

The group claims AbbVie advertises CoolSculpting as a nonsurgical procedure intended to reduce stubborn fat bulges “in the areas that bother you most.” 

However, they say the company has known since at least 2011 that the device can cause consumers to develop a condition called Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH), which results in the opposite effect of the medical device’s advertised purpose.

“The CoolSculpting device can permanently damage the tissue in the area it targets to reduce, creating a deformity on the patient’s body much larger in size than the original ‘stubborn fat bulge,’” the class action lawsuit states.  

The condition does not resolve on its own, according to the claim, and unlike regular fat tissue, tissue affected by PAH does not respond to weight loss. “Thus, the only method of removing PH is through invasive surgery. The condition is solely attributed to the CoolSculpting device.”

This has meant many consumers who undergo the CoolSculpting procedure and then go to their physicians to ask about growing bulges on their bodies have not been properly diagnosed, as the issue is so niche, the class action says. An average session of CoolSculpting costs $2,000 – $4,000. 

“Defendant’s conduct was systemic across the nation and resulted in thousands of consumers being affected in the same manner.”

Consumer Valencia says he got the treatment to reduce fat on his upper flanks. Several months after the CoolSculpting procedure, he says he began noticing the treatment area growing in size, even though he kept losing weight. 

Neither his doctor nor his plastic surgeon knew what was happening at the time, and he is now facing medical expenses, past and future pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, scarring, and bodily disfigurement, the class action says. 

Brooks had a similar experience, when she began noticing that her abdomen started growing in size and developing a large mass several months after her treatment. She says she was diagnosed with PAH at the location of each of the CoolSculpting cycles and has been told she will now need abdominoplasty and liposuction. 

Chubchai says, a couple of months after the treatment she began noticing the fat tissue in her abdomen and flanks growing and getting larger. She complained to her CoolSculpting provider, but the supervising physician did not know about PAH or how to diagnose it as AbbVie hadn’t passed on the vital information to CoolSculpting providers.

Plantiff says, after her CoolSculpting treatment, the treated areas of her body continued to grow. Her inner thighs got so big that when she walks, they rub together and develop sores that turn into painful open wounds, she alleges. 

“She can no longer wear dresses and must only wear thick jeans, which develop holes and must be thrown out. Her flanks and abdomen have also got substantially larger, despite her weight loss,” the class action says. 

The group is looking to represent anyone who purchased a cycle of the CoolSculpting procedure in the United States, plus a subclass of people who underwent the CoolSculpting procedure and suffered tissue damage in the form of PAH. 

They are suing under strict product liability, for defective design and failure to warn, plus for negligence, medical monitoring, negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment, and under California, New York and Massachusetts consumer protection laws. 

The consumers are seeking certification of the Class, damages, restitution, a jury trial and an order forcing the company to establish a medical monitoring program for people that underwent the CoolSculpting procedure. They are also seeking an order forcing AbbVie to label the device with a warning about PAH.

Meanwhile, in 2017, the maker of the CoolSculpting fat reduction system was accused of misrepresenting the device as having earned FDA approval, according to another class action lawsuit. 

What do you think of the allegations in this complaint? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by Louiza Tarassova, of Lou Law and Alex R. Straus of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC. 

The CoolSculpting PAH Tissue Damage Class Action Lawsuit is Chubchai et al., v. AbbVie, Inc, Case No. 4:21-cv-04099, in the U.S. District Court Northern District Of California San Francisco Division.

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