Category: Thermage Blog

Did I get your attention. I have read at least 20 of those headlines. OK its America you can say whatever you want to sell your creams, but its a bit disingenuous or not quite truthful ( is that how they say it when politicians LIE) when you say “untruths.”  As financial Director of Precision Aesthetics, I would know if anyone was unhappy enough to want a refund, let alone have a negative outcome, let alone all of the horror stories people make up to sell creams. That would be equivalent to me calling their creams sulfuric acid. Thermage IS the gold standard. Its been around for 12 years.

There are probably a lot of med spas and “non core physicians” who may not be getting the best results ( a word you should learn a little about) Let me segue for a moment. A “core physician” means it is his specialty. When we go to cosmetic medical conferences, many of them are only open to “core physicians” ( ear nose throat surgeons, Plastic surgeons, Dermatologists etc) Many of the ex emergency room physicians or urologists, dentists or other non core physicians are not even allowed to attend these very same technical medical conferences where the most recent technological advances are introduced and demonstrated to physicians.

Yet any doctor can purchase a “therm-age” machine or any other “medical device” So one of the first things you should look into is what is the doctor’s specialty ? Has he or she trained their whole life and career in surgery,plastic surgery,  facial surgery ?  Let me give you another example Dr Lisa Zdinak was a molecular geneticist, worked in the burn units, did facial reconstructive surgeries, eye surgeries, went on to get her degree in Ophthalmology (eye surgeries)  then did a private fellowship in Occuloplastics
( facial plastic surgery) and lasers.  Who would you want even doing your Botox ( the most powerful neurotoxin in the world)  around your eyes, Your dentist ? Or the one advertising $99 Botox ? Let me segue again, about Botox.

It would take 300 billionths of a gram to kill you.  There are hundreds of muscles in your face and around your eyes. How do you know which ones to paralyze ? If you are qualified and experienced in doing surgery in that area, you might know which ones to paralyze and where they are.  This can just go on forever. So let me get back to the headline. Sure there are lousy physicians and lousy clinics getting poor results, that’s why you are doing your research and reading this. Once again go to a core physician one whose specialty, and decades of training, is cosmetic surgery, not someone who took a weekend seminar in injecting Botox or a one day training in Thermagee.

If you go to a facility that is black diamond as listed by Thermage.com there will probably be depth in the number of people trained in Thermage. In fact look on the walls, those that were trained will have certificates of their training by Thermage. Like everything else in life those with the most experience charge more. Its supply and demand the best technicians make a lot of money. In fact just look again at the review sites. Notice the trend those who paid the least were the least happy. Thermage tips cost a fortune. We spent over $150,000 in one year just on disposables for Thermage.

Does that sound like a procedure that can be given away for $1500 ? as some advertise ? Perhaps yes if the person performing the treatment has little to no training and is being paid very little. Perhaps yes, if the supervising doctor is retired and sitting at home or is a doctor who is not “specialty” trained. Perhaps yes again if you use the wrong tips.  What does that mean ? Keep reading, Or read ” How to choose your Thermage provider”  There are lots of different tips that are used for Thermage procedures and they range from a few hundred pulses for the eye lid up to nearly a thousand pulses for a large body area like legs or tummy.

The price of the tips range from a few hundred dollars up to close to a thousand dollars. And each tip is only good for one treatment. In fact I have seen large treatment sessions where multiple tips costing thousands of dollars were used. Are you starting to get an understanding why some people are not happy with their results ?  Do you think with these kinds of numbers their might be a tendency to under treat in order to save on consumables ? Or worse yet reuse tips or use boot leg ones that could burn someone ? So like every other business there are low cost providers that may or may not cut corners. I am not accusing anyone. But use your common sense. On the other hand it is possible to treat improperly in a number of ways. Thermage can be used to “lift” as you would do in the cheeks or reduce fat as you would do under the chin.

This would require a completely different technique in each area. Obviously those with years of experience know the right way to do it. I would not go to someone who has less than 5 years experience in doing the procedure if you want the best results. This is a serious as surgery. Why not ask how many years of experience the person doing your treatment, the doctor and the practice has ? As far as what I read this morning. Thermage should sue the person who wrote it. They even went on to say that you need multiple follow ups within the first year. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The beauty of Thermage is that it is a one time treatment, the results lasts for years. My Thermage made me look at least 5 years younger and I looked 5 years younger 3 years later as well. So when i was 50 I turned the clock back to early 40’s (appearance wise) And even in my late 50’s I still look younger than i did when i first did the treatment. The math gets really confusing, The point is I got older but looked younger than even the age when i first did it.  The super rich billionaires and celebrities do come back yearly for touch ups, but that’s wholly unnecessary Again using myself as an example the jowls I was starting to get almost 10 years ago are less today then they were a really long time ago. I haven’t done a body part. As far as horror stories, never seen a one. And we at Precision Aesthetics are the largest provider in New York.

I would guess that’s about as big as it gets. We don’t over promise. Are there people that are so obsessive that they are never happy ? Of course there are. By definition if you are still reading this and I am writing this we are not like the billions of people on this planet that are content to age gracefully. If you want great results or a great suit for that matter its a safe bet the ones that are charging the most are doing the best job and using the best materials and providing the best service and have the best employees. Come to NY stay at the Four Seasons and come get a treatment or at least go to the Thermage website pick through the Black Diamond providers. Then call them all and ask how many years they have received the award.

Then ask if the Doctor is a core physician. And here’s another one, if the Doctor is a physician trainer that means they are so good they actually train other doctors. Anyone in a facility working alongside a physician trainer ( like Dr Zdinak) would have the benefit of years of training with her.  Ask yourself would you rather be treated with someone that has had years of training or one day of training ? So just because someone is a Doctor does not necessarily mean they are going to do a better job. In fact a technician who has years of experience, well lets just say they would have more experience than a doctor with less experience.

I think core and non core deserve its own post.

P. S.  Thermage has also had numerous updates in the past 7 years. So reviews that are from 2007 2008 are irrelevant. Its not even the same machine. The new NXT was released in 2007, there was the 16.0 body tip, then in 2009 there was the vibrating hand piece ( which cost $20,000 and made all of the older consumables obsolete) And even this year 2013 there were more updates. If you really do your homework with the guidelines and advice I have given you, there is no doubt you will love your results, if you are a candidate. Thermage works best for loose skin on the face and body and does some circumferential reduction on the body as well ( up to a few inches in one treatment). One more PS; the before and afters that you see are for the best results that’s why they are posted. If your “before” issues are similar to ones that you see in the ” before” pictures you are a definitely a candidate. Hopefully I have given you at least 10 reasons why some did not get great results and helped you to navigate your way to good results. Make sure that when someone gives you a price that they actually see you and quote you “number of pulses”  If you are not getting adequate number of pulses your results will be very little, or barely noticeable. Please read How to choose your Thermage provider.