ReZoom

Something about signing up for a surgical facelift gives ReZoomers pause. Perhaps it's the hefty price tag. Or maybe it's the whole knives-and-doctors element of the experience. And, of course, there are all those celebrities with faces pulled so tight we can't help but wince when they venture out into public without their sunglasses. (Hello, Dick Clark!) Oh, to be sure, there are days when we'd all like an extreme makeover—maybe just minus the extreme.

That's why Thermage and other "non-surgical facelifts" are attracting so much attention. Today's technologies and yesterday's lessons have given rise to a new wave of treatments that have the potential to erase a few years without the cost, recovery time, and commitment that a facelift requires.

With Thermage therapy, doctors use a special treatment device to apply heat deep into the collagen layers of the skin, while simultaneously cooling the surface. Patients leave the office seeing minimal improvements, but over a period of six months, the effects of the procedure take hold, ideally resulting in subtle improvements in texture and wrinkles, as well as a tightening and lifting of the face.

A Self-Esteem Boost for Lunch

"You're basically introducing a controlled, heat-induced injury into the skin. And it takes many months for the skin to repair itself," says Dr. William Groff, a dermatologist and cosmetic laser surgeon at the La Jolla Cosmetic Surgery Centre in La Jolla, California. "Thermage delivers heat down deep into the layers of the skin, including the subcutaneous fat. New collagen formation is stimulated as part of the repair process, which can give people a tightening effect."

Thermage uses monopolar capacitive radiofrequency (CRF) instead of lasers to heat the skin, making the procedure an option for people who have difficultly tolerating laser-based therapies. But the biggest advantage of the treatment is that there's no downtime. Goff says treatments take from 30 to 90 minutes, depending on the areas treated, and after-effects are minimal: usually a little pinkness or very slight swelling. That means someone could potentially order up a self-esteem boost for lunch—and return to work afterwards.

"But with any ‘no-downtime' procedure, there's a certain degree of unpredictability, " warns Groff. "There's no way for any physician to predict who's going to have mild improvement and who's going to have that home run. This procedure isn't meant to replace a facelift. It can provide subtle tightening, which is great for someone with mild skin laxity. But I counsel my patients to have realistic expectations."

In other words, if you want to guarantee dramatic results, you'll have to have that facelift after all. But hey, you never know who you might run into at the doctor's office, incognito behind big sunglasses.