Thermage

As a more costly option, this procedure is particularly suitable for thick-skin, heat-tolerant individuals who desire a convenient one time treatment. 

Thermage Face

This treatment tightens and contours the face by using electrical energy to produce collagen remodeling, growth, and fat shrinkage in select areas. Correctable conditions include early stages of nasolabial lines, jowls, and double chin.

Thermage Eyelids

This treatment improves early skin eyelid redundancy, improving hooding and fine wrinkles around the eyes. 

Thermage Body

This treatment improves body wrinkling. Correctable conditions include skin wrinkling and cellulite associated with pregnancy, weight loss, and/or aging.

Skin tightening refers to technologies which tone, lift, and contour the face and neck without surgery. These technologies can re-build collagen, condense unwanted fat, and tighten the superficial muscular layer of the skin.  Specifically, these technologies tighten loose skin on the brows, eyelids, the jowls and neck, and under the chin.

Fundamentally, all skin technology uses focused deep heat to achieve skin tightening.  Currently, there are three ways of achieving skin tightening:  laser, radiofrequency (RF), and ultrasound.  Each modality targets different depths of the skin, emits different type of heat patterns, and thus produces different clinical benefits for different conditions.

Commonly, combination of laser, radiofrequency, and ultrasound produce faster and better results.  And further combining with botox and fillers create the best overall results.

How many shots are used?

The number of pulses will vary between 600 to 1200.  The energy targets only the necessary areas of sufficient collagen depth. Areas with thin collagen or absent fibromuscular layer will often further flatten down with heat energy and thus intense energy to the deep depth to these areas is not needed.

Do more pulses, shots, or lines make better results?

The short answer is “yes” for areas where one wants flattening.  The answer is “no” for areas where one does not want loss of volume.

For these areas where excess plumpness or volume is not desired, more energy via more pulses, shots, or lines to these areas will flattening the areas down.

Areas where plumpness or volume is not desirable and thus enhanced energy may be warranted include:

1. lower cheeks
2. nasolabial prominence
3. jowls
4. double chin.

For areas which plumpness or volume is not desired, more energy via more pulses, shots, or lines to these areas will actually decrease the flattening of the areas down, and produce a more hollowed appearance.

Areas where plumpness or volume is to be maintained and thus excessive energy is not warranted include:

1. Forehead
2. Temples
3. upper cheeks

With combination technique, both ultrasound and radiofrequency energies are performed, all on areas where flattening where contraction is desired.  Combination results are better than single modality ultrasound or radiofrequency alone.

Thus, where the skin tightening is targeted affects the aesthetic outcome and can either rejuvenate or age your look!

Does skin tightening with a single modality of laser, radiofrequency, or ultrasound provide the best skin tightening result?

The short answer is that combination technique, not single modality, produces the best results.

Laser

1. focused columns of superficial heat energy, with gaps of no energy between columns
2. targets superficial collagen

Radiofrequency

1. uniform, radiant, circumferential, wavelike heat without gaps
2. targets deep collagen and fat more comfortably

Ultrasound:

1.     focused columns of deep heat energy, with gaps of no energy between columns
2.     targets deep collagen and muscle with intense heat.  
3.     While ultrasound can also be used for fat, monopolar radiofrequency provides far more uniform heat for better fat reduction.

The efficacy of skin tightening depends on:

1. Levels of heat:  superficial heat(superficial collagen), deep focused heat(deep collagen and muscle), and deep radiant heat(fat contraction).
2. Amount of heat
3. Sessions of heat

Combined treatment with other modalities such as laser, radiofrequency, botox, and fillers.