As you age, the collagen and elastin keeping your skin tight and smooth weaken. Your skin succumbs slowly to the effects of gravity and all those times you went outside without sunscreen during the cold, winter day. If you’re concerned about loose, sagging skin, Thermitight at Perfect Skin Center in Scottdale and Tempe, AZ can help.
Thermitight FAQs Answered
How Long Does Thermitight Last?
The results of this treatment last several years. Exactly how long the results will last depends on how healthy your skin is and how much stress you put on your skin. For example, if you keep your collagen as healthy as possible and your weight doesn’t fluctuate, your skin tightening results may last five years. Contrastingly, if you smoke, sunbathe and lose 24 pounds in just a few months, the results of your treatment may last only two or three years.
How Does Weight Loss Affect How Long the Results of Treatment Last?
When you lose weight too quickly, your skin can struggle to adjust to the new shape of the body. For example, if you have inelastic skin and you lose five pounds from your upper arms, it could take six months or longer for your upper arm skin to “snap” back flush with your upper arm muscles. When skin is inelastic enough and weight loss is dramatic enough, your skin will never return to its proper flush position. In such cases, cosmetic treatment is the only option.
How Can I Lose Weight and Maintain the Results of My Treatment?
Fast. When you fast, your body turns to the glycogen it stored for periods without carbs coming in. Glycogen is simply carbs and water stored, primarily, in your liver and, secondarily, in your muscles. Once your body runs out of glycogen it can use your fuel, a couple of processes occur. First, your body gets to work transitioning into ketosis, a natural process that allows fat to be converted into and consumed for fuel. Second, autophagy occurs.
Autophagy is a compound word that translates into “self-eat” or “self-eating.” In other words, your body finds damaged cells and consumes them so it can regenerate new, healthier cells. This includes damaged collagen cells. This process starts 24 hours after your last meal and really accelerates at 48 hours without consuming calories. If fasting to maintain the results of your treatment interests you, talk to your PCP about how you can do it safely.
How Can I Support the Health of My Collagen?
Eat healthy foods. Since collagen is a protein, you need to make sure you’re getting enough protein in your diet for your body to produce more of its own collagen for your skin. Good sources of protein include eggs, whole dairy products, and lean meat and seafood. You should opt for whole dairy products because skim milk, 2% cheese and similar products are far more processed than natural dairy products.
You should also minimize your consumption of unhealthy foods. Avoid consuming unhealthy fats, like seed oils and trans fats, because your body has a hard time processing these fats. Since your body only has so much energy, if it is processing unhealthy fats, it doesn’t have enough energy to make stronger, healthier collagen. Processed sugars are also bad because they get tangled up in the supportive structure that is your collagen, weakening it.
How Else Can I Support the Health of My Collagen?
There are several other steps you can take to support the health of your collagen. One of the easiest things you can do is to protect your skin from UV damage. The first step in doing this is to avoid tanning beds. If you want a bronze look, there are safe cosmetics you can use for that. The second step you should take to protect your skin from UV damage is to wear a broad-spectrum SPF 30 sunblock and reapply every four hours.
The third step in protecting your skin from UV damage is to minimize the time you spend outdoors between the hours of 10 AM and 4 PM. During these hours, the sun’s UV rays are at their strongest. While sunscreen protects you from most damage, it is not an infallible method of protection. Minimizing your time outdoors when your risk of sun damage is the highest goes a long way in protecting your skin and the health of your collagen.
How Long Does This Treatment Take?
Most treatment sessions take an hour to complete, but this varies based on the size of the areas being treated, the number of areas being treated, and how severe the cases being treated are. During your initial consultation, we will talk to you about your aesthetic goals and assess how much progress needs to be made to achieve those goals to give you a better idea of what to expect.
Where Can This Treatment Be Used?
This treatment can be used to tighten skin virtually anywhere on the body. It is most commonly used to tighten core skin, like the flanks, hips, abdomen, and back. However, it can also be used to tighten upper arm skin and rejuvenate the skin of the lower face and neck.
During your initial consultation, we will assess your problem areas to determine whether this treatment can benefit you. You won’t get the results you want if you have excess skin in the trouble area.
How Many Sessions Will I Need to Achieve My Ideal Results?
One of the most astonishing benefits of anti-aging treatment with this device is that you only need one session to achieve your ideal results. There are other anti-aging treatments that can tighten your skin, but they require six treatment sessions spaced four to six weeks apart. Even worse, you have to wait four to six weeks after the final session to see your ideal results.
How Long Do I Have to Wait to See the Final Results With This Device?
Individual results vary, but most people who use Thermitight to tighten loose skin discover that they only need to wait three months to see the final results of treatment. While this may seem slow at first, remember that you will only need one session to tighten your loose, sagging skin satisfactorily. If you opted for an alternative skin tightening method, it could take over 10 months to achieve your desired results.
Keep in mind, it takes so long to see the final results of your treatment because treatment with this device works by encouraging your skin to produce healthier, more robust collagen. You’ll start to see really good results four weeks after your treatment session, but there is no rushing your skin’s protein production process. Just be patient, don’t smoke and don’t drink, and you will see your final anti-aging results soon enough.
Am I a Good Candidate for Treatment With This Device?
We will determine whether you are a good candidate for anti-aging treatment with this device during your initial consultation. Most people who are between the ages of 18 and 65 will be considered a good candidate for Thermitight treatment. While you should be in fairly good health to be considered a good candidate for this treatment, the health requirements aren’t nearly as strict as the requirements to be considered a good candidate for an invasive procedure.
When you opt for an invasive skin tightening procedure, you are put under general anesthesia or administered a combination of local anesthesia and a sedative. Regardless of the option available to you, your heart and lungs must be extremely healthy. To be considered a good candidate for this radiofrequency treatment, you must have realistic expectations about the treatment and loose, but not excess, skin.
What Medical Conditions May Preclude Me From Being Considered a Good Candidate for This Treatment?
You should not consider tightening your skin with this device if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you are pregnant and plan to not breastfeed, you can consider treatment shortly after giving birth. If you’re breastfeeding, wean your infant off of your breast milk completely before you consider receiving radiofrequency treatment. There’s no evidence to suggest it is dangerous, but there is no evidence to suggest it is safe, either.
You should also avoid this treatment if you have any metal in the treatment area, including metal plates and screws or gold threads. You should hold off on this treatment temporarily if you are taking herbal supplements or drugs that may cause dry or sensitive skin. Finally, avoid this treatment if you have a defibrillator or pacemaker in place.
How Should I Prepare for Treatment?
Preparing for this treatment is incredibly simple. During the 72 hours prior to your treatment, be extremely diligent about avoiding potential sun damage. In other words, do your best to stay out of the sun for prolonged periods, and when you go outside, make sure you’re wearing a broad-spectrum sunscreen. You should also drink 34 ounces of water a few hours before your treatment session to ensure that you are adequately hydrated.
If you are having your facial skin tightened, remove any cosmetics, like makeup or lotion, before you come in for your appointment. You should also remove jewelry. Furthermore, we strongly recommend eating a light meal before your appointment so you’re not hungry during the hour-long session. Finally, wear comfortable clothes to your appointment. You’re going to be sitting for a while, and we don’t want you to be uncomfortable.
What Should I Avoid Before My Skin Tightening Session?
In the 10 days leading up to your scheduled appointment, do not apply tanning creams to the area that you are seeking to treat. On the day of your appointment, do not apply any creams or oils to the targeted area. Finally, within the two hours leading up to your session, you should avoid eating a rich, carb-heavy meal. Again, you should eat a light meal or healthy snack before your appointment, just go easy on the carbs and healthy fats.
Discover If This Powerful Anti-Aging Tool Is Right for You!
Sagging skin is a natural part of the aging process, but it can be reversed temporarily. If you’re dissatisfied with the appearance of your skin, Thermitight can help. The results of treatment will usually last between two and five years depending on how well you take care of your skin health, and treatment only takes around an hour. To learn more, contact us at Perfect Skin Center at either our Scottsdale or Tempe location to schedule your consultation.
