Most often when people talk about a nonsurgical facelift, they are talking about a skin tightening procedure. These include Ultherapy, Thermage and Titan, to name a few. All of these treatments use heat to stimulate your body to create collagen and tighten the skin and deeper structures. There is an immediate tightening and then the process of collagen production takes approximately 3-6 months to complete. So you will continue to look better over about 6 months. The difference between them is how collagen is stimulated.
Ultherapy
Ultherapy uses ultrasound waves, just like is used for pregnant women (so you know it is safe), to visualize the level of muscle or skin that will be treated. The machine then focuses the ultrasound waves at specific points at these levels to stimulate your own collagen production. This works really well for the face and neck, since facial and neck muscles are composed of a thin layer just beneath the skin.
Thermage
Thermage differs from Ultherapy because the delivery of energy is more of a diffuse application. This is better for large areas with thicker skin and more subcutaneous fat, like the abdomen, love handles or thighs.
Titan or Refirme
Titan and Refirme use infrared light to stimulate collagen. These are used both for the face and body. According to some patients, these can be associated with more discomfort.
Skin tightening treatments are great for people who want a tightening or lift, but are not ready for surgery, don’t have the time needed for recovery or don’t have enough extra skin to really need surgery. These treatments can be done in the office, have very little, if any, downtime and are cheaper than surgery. Needless to say, there are no incisions, bruising or swelling that can be associated with surgery!
The following are two examples, showing the before and after of these procedures…..
Before:
After:
