Dear Dr. Seckel, I recently had Thermage skin tightening treatment. What is the difference between Thermage and the LuxIR, Titan, and Aluma Faces skin tightening treatments. Thank You, Shiela, Boca Raton, FLA
Dear Shiela,
All non-surgical skin tightening systems work by heating the deeper layers of the skin called the dermis and causing the collagen in the dermis to remodel and shorten. Since the collagen fibers provide support and elasticity to the skin, when they shorten the skin is pulled tighter. This is not the same as a face lift.
The basic difference between skin tightening machines such as Thermage and LuxIR is the type of energy that is used to heat the dermis-Thermage uses Radiofrequency energy and LuxIR uses Infrared energy. Other machines include Titan-which uses Infrared, and Aluma with FACES which uses Radiofrequency.
These machines do tighten skin but they are not a non-surgical face lift as so often claimed. Best results are about 30% of the skin tightening one gets after having a face lift.
Technique is important so the experience of the operator is probably the most important factor in obtaining a good result with any skin tightening machine.
There are other differences between the various machines. Generally the THermage and Titan treatments are more painful than the LuxIR and Aluma treatments, at least in my experience-I have tried them all on my face. The LuxIR and Aluma take less time .
The results obtained with all of the non-surgical skin tightening treatments require multiple treatments and a final result is not expected for 6 months-the time it takes for the dermal collagen to remodel.
For more information on skin tightening, lasers and non-surgical facial rejuvenation read Save Your Face or contact me.
Thank you,
Boston, Massachusetts