Not All Cold Is Created Equal: A Deeper Look at leveraging cold therapies for therapeutic results.
Glacial® Skin vs Cryo Globes, how Cryomodulation™ protects the skin from cryo-injury and reduces the risk of cross-contamination.
Sometimes the skin doesn't need more.
It needs you to take the heat out of it.
This is something I've learned firsthand in my treatment room.
I've had clients come to me with significant sensitivity, inflammation and reactivity. Skin that looks angry. Skin that feels hot to the touch. Sometime even skin that looks fine but just isn’t responding to treatment. Clients who have tried product after product and treatment after treatment.
In those situations, my first thought isn't always:
What else can I put on this skin?
Sometimes it's:
How do I calm this skin down?
Not all cold is created equally..
What if too cold does more harm than good?
This question has completely changed the way I think about which treatments I use when reducing inflammation in my clients skin, especially those with compromised skin barriers.
Rather than exposing tissue to unpredictable temperature, Glacial Skin’s patented precision cooling, also known as Cryomodulation operates within precisely engineered, temperature-specific safety guardrails. It precisely balances what is safe and effective for skin biology, suppressing the inflammatory cascade without triggering protective vascular rebounds, cold-induced tissue stress or injury. This continuous thermal regulation allows providers to extend cooling delivery for as long as the protocol demands.
With Glacial® Skin, temperature control isn't a guess, it's a continuous, calibrated clinical variable designed to maximize safety and efficacy even after the treatment has finished.
The more I've learned about Cryomodulation, the more I've realized that our industry needs to have a much deeper conversation about it.
Because not all cold is created equal.
Cryo globes feel cold, but are they even effective?
Cryo globes are everywhere in our industry, but feeling cold is not the same as demonstrating a clinical outcome. When evaluating a cooling treatment, we should ask what has been studied, what benefits have been shown, and whether cooling remains controlled throughout use.
Cryo globes are not all the same. Their thermal behavior depends on whether they are glass/gel-filled, hollow stainless steel, or stainless steel with an internal cooling medium. Material matters. Stainless steel conducts heat much more efficiently than glass, so two globes at the same measured temperature may not deliver the same thermal exposure to skin.
Freezer-stored cryo globes may expose facial skin to subzero surface temperatures for the first few minutes of treatment, depending on their construction, while refrigerated globes begin around approximately 4°C (39°F) and remain above freezing throughout use. Because globes vary in construction and use instructions, providers must follow the manufacturers guidance and consider surface temperature and contact time to avoid unintentional cryo-injury. Refrigerated cryo globes are variable, cannot sustain heat extraction. Frozen cryo globes may be potentially unsafe as they can produce an intensely cold initial contact temperature, there’s no sensing or controlling mechanism to modulate. Because their temperature is highly variable and starts to rise as they absorb heat from the skin, they have a short window of opportunity to deliver cooling.
Applying ice globes to the skin can potentially cause unintended cryo-injury and can yield a paradoxical inflammatory effect The extreme cold from frozen globes may trigger an inflammatory response whereas Glacial Skin does not pose that risk balancing safety and efficacy through their patented Cryomodulation algorithm.
This exposes a whole new set of questions, am I doing more harm than good? Are there other risks of reusing my cryo globes? And am I even providing a therapeutic benefit to my clients?
Risks of Using Reusable Cryo Globes Across Multiple Patients
Cryo globes are inherently reusable. In a busy clinic, they are routinely rolled over active acne pustules, excoriated lesions, and compromised skin barriers. Facial lesions can contain organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus, Cutibacterium acnes, gram-negative bacteria and other microorganisms. A reusable device, like a cryo globe, creates a potential vehicle for transmission if organisms survive between patients. Using new cryo globes with each patient just isn’t feasible for most practitoners.
Even with manual wiping or cleaning, reusable globes present infection control challenges:
The Freezer Is Not Sanitization or Sterilization: Storing globes in a refrigerator or freezer does not disinfect them, it preserves microorganisms.
Surface Defects: Microscopic scratches, handle seams or insulators, and material chips harbor organic buildup (sebum, blood, bacteria) that resists quick disinfection.
The same surface is placed directly against multiple patients’ skin, creating an opportunity to transfer microorganisms from one patient to another if sanitization or sterilization techniques are not properly ensured.
Even properly performed high-level disinfection is not synonymous with sterilization. If the objective is 100% assurance that there will be no cross-contamination between patients, a validated sterilization or disinfection process (performed correctly) or a single-patient-use interface/device is required rather than assuming routine surface disinfection eliminates all risk.
Every Glacial Skin treatment utilizes a single-use disposable tip. By pairing active Cryomodulation™ technology with a new aluminum-based tip for every single client, we can significantly reduce cross-contamination risk, chemical compatibility issues, and manual reprocessing steps.
Raising the Therapeutic Bar
I've personally seen what sustained Cryomodulation can do for some of the most uncomfortable, inflamed skin that has walked into my treatment room.
We are working with more sophisticated products, devices and treatment protocols than ever before.
Patients are increasingly aware of infection control and what is being used on their skin. Being able to confidently explain your cooling technology and your infection-control process is part of delivering a premium clinical experience, they can trust.
Glacial Skin’s sustained cooling enables us to safely couple cryomodulation with chemical exfoliation, mechanical exfoliation, and advanced professional and medical-grade skincare. Consistent heat extraction and dermal cooling throughout the entire treatment, therapeutically relevant cryomodulation, the ability to deliver clinical benefit with safety guardrails that prevent cryo-injury, and a significantly reduced chance of cross-contamination or infection. Should I say more?
Cryo globes certainly have a place in home care routines for a quick morning depuff. But inside the professional treatment room, clinical outcomes require clinical technology. With Glacial Skin, utilizing cooling therapies evolves from an informal, passive add-on into a high-tech, repeatable, and hygienic clinical standard of care.
Not all cold is created equal, and it's time our industry starts raising the bar.
Professional education only. Estheticians should work within their scope of practice and follow applicable state regulations, infection-control requirements, product labeling and manufacturer instructions.
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