What Is Thermage Skin Tightening?

Thermage is the brand name for a device designed to tighten skin on the the face and body by delivering radio frequency energy to heat deeper layers of the skin in the dermis, as well as subcutaneous, fatty tissue, without affecting the visible layer of skin, the epidermis, according to the manufacturer, Thermage Inc.

History

Thermage, devised by a plastic surgeon, was patented in 1997, and was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in 2002, according to Solta Medical, Inc., which also notes on its website that Thermage Inc. holds more than 50 patents and the Thermage device is used in medical practices around the world, delivering more than 500,000 treatments.

Uses

Thermage, considered a safe, non-invasive and non-surgical procedure, is used to treat sagging facial skin, particularly in the neck, jowls and eyelids, and can be used to tighten loose skin in the upper arms, improve sagging in the buttocks and treat abdominal stretch marks and cellulite, according to Dr. Darryl J. Hodgkinson of the Cosmetic & Restorative Surgery Clinic in Sydney, Australia, in a study published in April 2009 in the journal "Clinics in Plastic Surgery."

Benefits

The radio-frequency energy in Thermage damages collagen, resulting in collagen remodeling and new collagen growth, which improves sagging skin in the face. Thermage's ability to reach and stimulate deeper dermal collagen can improve the contours and shape of the body, as well as help diminish the appearance of cellulite, according to Dr. Hodgkinson.

Studies have shown that Thermage mildly tightens the eye area, improves the appearance of wrinkles, and tightens the lower faceby decreasing skin laxity, according to Dr. Sean Arvindh Sukal and Roy G. Geronemus at the Laser and Skin Surgery Center of New York in a review published in the November/December 2008 journal "Clinics in Dermatology."

Considerations

The way Thermage might interact with injectable fillers used to address wrinkles needs to be taken into account before treatment. Although five patients who had parts of their skin treated first with injectable fillers, such as hyaluronic acid (Restylane) and calcium hydroxylapatite (Raddiesse), and then had those same parts treated with Thermage, showed no adverse changes in the skin with the filler or in the surrounding skin, according to Dr. Murad Alam and colleagues at the Department of Dermatology, Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, they note that more studies are necessary, using different treatment parameters, to confirm their findings. Their findings were published in the March 2006 issue of the journal "Lasers in Surgery and Medicine."

Side Effects

The most common and expected side effects evaluated in 600 patients who underwent treatment with Thermage was redness and swelling typically lasting 24 hours, but sometimes lasting up to a week. Other side effects include slight depression in the cheek that resolved after three and a half months, neck tenderness lasting two to three weeks, and red, itchy skin lesions that also resolved fully, according to a study by Dr. Robert A. Weiss at the Department of Dermatology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues, published in the September 2006 journal "Drugs and Dermatology." The study also indicated that multiple passes of the Thermage device over the skin, at lower energy levels, was associated with better clinical outcomes and increased patient acceptance.

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