Skin Care Review: Thermage

Rating
Excellent

Benefits
Approximately 3 years after procedure, it's still working

Drawbacks
Hurt a lot while it was being done

Details
This was like a mini-facelift, and the next day I looked ok to go out (my husband didn't even realize something had been done). Then I saw gradual improvement up to about 6 months (getting younger every month is great fun), then results have held steady. Especially on cheeks and forehead, I look younger than 5 years ago--everything got sort of pulled toward the edge of my face, I guess, so everything is tighter. I see many people have a bad experience with Thermage, but my experience was very good, perhaps for a couple of reasons. It cost so much (I don't remember, maybe it was $3500 for my whole face), I was determined to get full value. So I held still, no matter how much it hurt (I still remember Lamaze breathing, and it gets me through this sort of thing well). It does hurt. Staying still helped the doctor's RN (who was doing the procedure) relax and focus and be really thorough. The kit they get comes with a fixed number of laser "pulses" and I wanted to be sure I got every single one of them, to get my money's worth. I got the impression she doesn't always use the whole thing, when people complain about the pain. Besides making it as easy as possible for the RN, I'd also been to this dermatologist before, and knew he had really high standards. For example, he's the only doctor in his office, but he has at least 7 different laser machines for different situations--he's not trying to cut costs on equipment, and he's always trying to learn something new, and there seem to be a lot of things he recommends against. What really sold me is he had the Thermage procedure himself, as did his entire staff, and he also showed me before and after pictures of his mother! And the results have been what I was hoping for--not a miracle, but a big help. I'm hoping if things start to sag, he'll say that "refreshers" are working for him. The main thing, I think, is a really trustworthy and cautious doctor, which this guy is. He's Dr. Bruce Saal, in Los Gatos, CA. I am now 60 years old, very overweight, fair complexion, skin has always seemed average.

Conclusions
This procedure can work very well, but perhaps requires preparation.

Price (paid by reviewer)
approx $2,500

Where to find it
at Dermatologist