Before and After of a woman in her 30's, post-pregnancy
I had Thermage done 2 weeks ago to get rid of wrinkles and extra skin left after 2 pregnancies. And I am already seeing results. I'm not going to lie, I am too embarrassed and vain to put up pictures of myself so this isn't me up here. But I will divulge that I have a serious muffin top that folds over and below that is scrunched and crumpled up skin like that of an elephant. It's like my skin collapsed and is now in a pile. Needless to say, this bothers me beyond words. I would never get a tummy tuck because I am too much of a chicken when it comes to knives. So when I heard of Thermage, I immediately knew this was the best option for me. I went to Dr. Alex Liu, who I interviewed for the story on peels. I was very impressed by him so he began consulting me on various potential procedures I needed (well, mostly wanted), including Thermage.
Thermage uses high frequency radio waves that penetrates deep in the skin to stimulate new collagen growth. My wrinkled skin was caused by the breakdown and collapse of the underlying collagen. This radio wave heats up the collagen under the skin. Dr. Liu recommends heating the skin 7 degrees Celsius (surface skin temperature is around 31 degrees and during treatment it increases to 38) as 37-38 degrees Celsius is when skin biopsy studies demonstrated noticeable increase in collagen growth. Over heating the skin (up to 41-42 degrees Celsius) can lead to a accidental skin burn. There is no cutting or invasion of the skin or body of any kind. It just heats up the skin to the point where your collagen is stimulated to regenerate but not hot enough to damage any surrounding cells. The radio waves weaves around healthy cells because of its frequency pattern, unlike laser which zaps through everything in its path. I just want to reiterate this point because there is a lot of misconception about Thermage. A hand held wand is held over your skin that emits radio waves, there are no lasers, cutting or chemicals used. The only thing "cutting" is its cutting edge technology. The procedure is not new but the medical devise used now is 2nd generation and is incredibly high tech.
