Skin Tightening With Radio Frequency 

What is radio frequency skin tightening? What kind of results can you expect? Is it painful? How long does it last? If you are researching skin tightening with radio frequency therapy, I’m sure you’ve wondered those questions, amongst others.

The good news is you are in the right place. We have been offering radiofrequency skin tightening treatment since we opened our Hertfordshire skin clinic back in 2013. We use a well-known, respected, and industry-leading radio frequency device called Thermage. To assure you further that we are qualified to answer some of those questions you may have, our founder and nurse, Jane, was the trainer for Thermage in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, so we’ve benefited from her skill, knowledge, and extensive experience.

If you’ve landed here, I’m presuming that you’ve noticed changes in your skin either from age, weight changes, or post-pregnancy. All three of these factors are often cited as the cause of skin sagging or skin creepiness on the face and body by the many clients we’ve consulted with and treated. Radiofrequency therapy is highly effective in rejuvenating skin texture and tightening loose skin, stimulating collagen production, and addressing various skin concerns. Without further ado, let’s get going as I’m keen to share our knowledge with you by answering some radio frequency FAQs.

What Is Radio Frequency Skin Tightening?

Radiofrequency skin tightening uses low-level electromagnetic waves which safely generate heat within the deep layers of your skin. This heat stimulates collagen production and the production of new collagen and elastin, resulting in softer wrinkles and tighter, firmer skin.

I will be focusing on the radio frequency band, Thermage, going forward in our discussions.

Where Can I Have Radio Frequency Skin Tightening?

With Thermage radio frequency treatments, it is safe to have on your body, face, around the eyes, and even on the eyelids themselves. The most popular areas we treat at our Hertfordshire skin tightening clinic are the eyes to help smooth wrinkles and retract and tighten drooping, sagging eyelids; the face, particularly concentrating on the mid to lower face to help counteract the appearance of heaviness and jowls that can appear with age; the neck is a popular area as it quite often is one of the first areas to show signs of ageing with lines, creepiness, and laxity; the stomach is a very popular body area to be treated with Thermage, particularly useful if you’re noticing loose, crepy skin after pregnancy or dramatic weight loss; and around the knees are a sought-after area with clients also wanting to improve sagging skin and creepiness in this area.

What Happens During the Treatment, and Does It Hurt?

With Thermage skin tightening, you’ll have a consultation prior to arranging your non-invasive treatment so that your practitioner can assess your suitability for treatment and discuss the skin treatment with you fully.

On the day of the treatment, ideally, you will arrive with clean, make-up-free skin and then your practitioner will prepare your skin prior to treatment.

If you are having treatment that requires placing the treatment handpiece directly over your eye then they will gently place an eye shield into your eye; this isn’t painful but might feel a little strange at first, particularly if you’ve never used contact lenses in your eyes. On that note, if you use contact lenses, please don’t wear them for your Thermage eye treatment as you will have to remove them; please wear glasses as an alternative. You may put contact lenses in straight after the Thermage eye treatment, however.

Once the treatment starts, your practitioner will adjust the settings to your personal comfort level, whilst treating you therapeutically. They will then begin passing the handheld treatment head over your treatment area, usually concentrating the energy strategically to target the areas that you specifically wish to improve.

The sensation of warmth will gradually build up as more energy is applied to the skin; this is not a painful sensation. You might find that certain spots are uncomfortable, whilst others are not at all. When I say uncomfortable, the most common description of the feeling is a momentary warm or hot zap in the area. You may not find that any areas are uncomfortable to pass over but if you do, we encourage you to say so that your practitioner can ‘cool’ the area to make you as comfortable as possible; see the next subheading for more information on this.

We are all unique, and there are many factors that can impact our pain threshold daily, such as stress, hormones, and lack of sleep, but know that our clients find the treatment very manageable. So manageable that they come back for additional treatment areas and repeat Thermage treatments. We encourage you to feedback to your practitioner throughout the treatment so that we can implement techniques, such as additional cooling, to make you comfortable.

What Do We Do to Make Sure Your Thermage Treatment Is as Comfortable as Possible?

Well, we don’t have to do much because the treatment device is super clever and will not release energy into the skin if it senses that it’s reached a certain temperature; an especially important safety feature of Thermage.

In addition, the treatment tip allows us to cool the skin before and immediately after energy has been discharged. This makes the treatment very comfortable and allows us to adapt it entirely to everyone’s unique requirements all need different things to make us comfortable, after all! You may feel momentary pings of heat during the treatment, and we encourage you to feedback to us when you feel any discomfort so that we can offer extra cooling to the skin in that area.

Thermage: How Long to See Results?

I’m directly discussing Thermage here as this is an industry-leading device when it comes to radio frequency skin tightening. We have the most experience in treating a range of clients, both men and women, of all different ages, skin types, and degrees of skin laxity and wrinkles with Thermage radio-frequency treatments. Our clients have provided positive feedback and recommendations after experiencing noticeable results and improvements in their skin and body.

The average person will start seeing positive changes by around three months post-treatment. This is a sweeping statement and does not consider factors that may influence this, such as lifestyle and your unique ability to produce collagen and elastin.

Some people start to see changes before this, and some may take a little longer to see those changes. However, if you are considering this treatment in time for an event or celebration, we would suggest not leaving it any closer than 3 months before to give your skin time to get going with all the hard work it must do after the treatment!

I’ve included a timeline of the progression of an individual’s Thermage results further down under the subheading ‘Thermage before and after’.

Are Thermage Results Permanent?

No. Thermage is a non-surgical treatment which stimulates the formation of new collagen and elastin fibres in your skin; it does not protect those new fibres from the ageing process going forward. Your skin will continue to age after the procedure, Thermage will have simply given it a better starting point from where it will continue to age.

After around the age of 25, we start losing our natural collagen stores by about 1% per year. This dramatically increases around peri-menopause and after menopause so, unfortunately, it is an ongoing battle against the natural ageing process.

Depending on the skincare regime used, alongside your unique ageing process and lifestyle, the average person will find their results lasting up to one to two years. We tend to recommend that our clients assess their skin 12 to 18 months post Thermage to see if they feel they require further treatment to maintain or boost their results.

What Are the Benefits of Thermage Radio Frequency?

1. No downtime, which means it fits easily into your lifestyle without any telling signs of having had a skin-tightening treatment.
2. Single treatment. No course of treatment is required.
3. Results gradually build. No abrupt changes here!
4. Long-lasting results.
5. Non-invasive, therefore none of the risks associated with surgery.
6. Quick, and comfortable procedure.

How Will I Look After Having a Thermage Treatment?

Usually, immediately after your Thermage treatment, no one would know that you’ve had a skin treatment; your skin may look pink or flushed in the area treated which subsides usually within 24 hours. You may apply a tinted moisturiser or cover up immediately after your radiofrequency treatment if you wish.

You may notice some mild swelling in the treated tissue also; in our experience, this tends to only be noticed by the client, with some liking this temporary effect as they feel it makes their skin look immediately plumper and firmer!

Please note that Thermage is FDA-approved to treat the skin, including that on the eyelids. Thermage also has inbuilt safety features that greatly reduce the risk of side effects, such as burns.

Thermage Before and After Radiofrequency Skin Tightening

To give you an idea of the type of results that people have achieved with Thermage radio frequency skin tightening, I have popped a few facial examples below. Remember, these are examples only and not indicative of what you may achieve as an individual.

These Thermage before and after examples illustrate that if you are looking for the natural-looking results radio frequency can offer, this non-surgical treatment option may be worth exploring. Radiofrequency treatments are known for their effectiveness and safety, making them a popular choice for those seeking non-invasive solutions. However, should you desire, or require, the more dramatic results that surgery offers, then it may be good for you to explore that path also.

If you would like to discuss your skin, what you wish to improve, and to see if you would be a good candidate for non-surgical skin tightening options such as Thermage radio frequency, we recommend coming in for a consultation to gain personalised recommendations and a better understanding of what skin treatment could look like for you.

We would be pleased to assist you on your skincare journey; simply contact us today to arrange your appointment.