A lot of new technologies have come down the pipeline and new anti-aging products and procedures seem to be making headlines every other day. Patients prefer non-surgical procedures with minimal downtime, which makes sense, but how well does non-surgical skin tightening work? And how do these technologies stack up against facelift surgery?
The Aesthetic Channel recently published an article in which Dr. Ross, California Dermatologist, reports findings similar to that of Dr. Thompson and Dr. Henstrom. And that is that these procedures do work, but to a certain extent, only for the right people with minimal laxity, and not very everyone as the outcomes are often unpredictable. Common technologies include ultrasound, radiofrequency, Skin Rejuvenation, and sometimes heat underneath the skin using a cannula (ThermiTight). Even better are the the effects of fractional CO2 laser resurfacing, which is a treatment performed by Dr. Henstrom and Dr. Thompson often.
“The problem is, they’re nowhere near a surgical facelift,” Dr. Ross says, “If you look at noninvasive lifting procedures, they may accomplish (and there’s data to support this) 15 to 30% of what a facelift does”.
The benefit? Little downtime and recovery. Instead of viewing these treatments as alternatives to facelift surgery, we should view that as option for patients not wanting facelift or necklift surgery and are okay getting “less than” results for almost the same price. Another downside of some of these treatments as that it takes a long time before patients notice results.
Dr. Thompson and Dr. Henstrom often recommend some of these non-surgical skin tightening procedures in combination with facelift surgery to address more superficial skin crepiness, texture concerns, pigmentation and wrinkles. CO2 treatments are often done 4-6 week before or after surgery as our surgeons do not feel it’s safe to work underneath the skin and so deep into the dermis of the skin at the same time.
The future will definitely bring new technology that will hopefully provide more drastic results for patients seeking non-surgical skin tightening. For more information on facelift surgery and/or fracitonal CO laser resurfacing, call (801)776-2220 or contact us HERE.