Dear Dr. Seckel, I am planning to have a face lift but have heard about Thermage. I asked my plastic surgeon but he does not do Thermage. My main problem I want to correct is that my neck sags like a turkey neck and I have bad jowls. Will Thermage help me? Thanks, Wanda, Boston, MA.
Dear Wanda,
I cannot give you a recommendation without examining you. If your plastic surgeon is a board certified plastic surgeon and you trust him/her then you should follow his/her advice.
The non-surgical facial rejuvenation skin tightening machine called Thermage® and the other new skin tightening technologies Titan®, LuxIR, Refirme and the Aluma® FACES®, can tighten skin but they are no substitute for a face lift. Non-surgical skin tightening takes 3-4 treatments scheduled 4-6 bweeks apart and 4-6 months to see the final result which is at best about 30% of the facial tightening you will see with a face lift. There is no non-surgical face lift at least at this time. If you have severe neck laxity and jowls a face lift will be more effective than the new skin tightening technologies. Skin tightening is expensive, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the cost of a face lift and not as effective. Non-surgical skin tigtening is most appropriate for younger people with good skin and less severe aging changes.
If you want to learn more about the details of skin tightening or proposed non-surgical face lift procedures visit my Boston Plastic Surgery Practice, check my other blogs on non-surgical facial rejuvenation, read Save Your Face or contact me.
As always my advice is to find a board certified plastic surgeon who you have confidence in and follow their advice.
Boston, Massachusetts
Peabody, Massachusetts
Concord, Massachusetts