No More Facelifts? New Procedure Tightens Aging Skin Without Resorting To Surgery
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Have you been looking in the mirror and wondering why your face looks much older than you feel?
CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reports that new technology is getting better at rejuvenation without surgery.
Previous technologies used radio-frequency (RF) to heat and contract the skin, but you can heat the skin from above for only so long before burning it.
Now, there's a better way to do that.
"I have a 50-year-old body and 21-year-old mind," patient Carolyn Orena said.
That's probably how many baby boomers and generation Xers feel these days.
"A little under here… a little jowly. I think just the fine lines," Orena added, pointing out the areas she wanted to improve.
Orena didn't want surgery, fillers, or even Botox. So she came to Dr. Thomas Romo, director of facial plastic surgery at Lenox Hill to get the latest in non-surgical skin lifting and tightening.
"This is all going to be about radio-frequency induced heat contraction, unlike prior devices that were superficial - this is deep," Dr. Romo said.
The key to that deeper skin heating is a device called AccuTite.
The thin part gets inserted under the skin and the flat part over the skin.
Then RF energy is transmitted between the two parts, achieving carefully controlled skin heating.
"You're delivering the heat deep, where you want it, to cause that contracture and then the contouring heals and elevates that skin," Dr. Romo explained.
The procedure is done under light sedation. Recovery is just a few days but the improvement continues for weeks and months as new collagen is made in the skin.
Skin tightening can be done on multiple face areas as well as various body parts that often develop loose skin.
"In the selected patient this easily provides 40-50 percent of what a facelift does, and in the right candidate, even more than that," Dr. Romo added.
