Thermage FLX

How monopolar radiofrequency works

Radiofrequency energy passes through the skin and meets resistance in the tissue, which generates heat. Monopolar delivery spreads that heating through the full thickness of the dermis across the area under the tip, rather than concentrating it at particular depths.

Collagen contracts when heated to a specific range, which gives an immediate if modest tightening. More importantly, controlled heat injury signals fibroblasts to produce new collagen, and that process runs for months. The FLX generation adds AccuREP, which measures the tissue at each pulse and adjusts the energy delivered, and a vibrating tip that makes higher energies tolerable.

What Thermage is good at

• Overall firmness and skin quality across a whole region, rather than a single area.
• The eyelid area, where it is one of the few options available.
• Jawline and lower face, where the skin is loosening but has not descended.
• The body — abdomen, arms, knees and thighs.
• Patients who cannot accommodate downtime, since there is none at all.

What it does not do

Thermage firms; it does not lift. Where tissue has genuinely descended and the complaint is about position rather than tone, Ultherapy reaches deeper and more selectively, including the SMAS layer. Nor does Thermage resurface — pigment, scarring and texture are a laser or microneedling conversation.

It also has limits with advanced laxity. Beyond a certain point no non-surgical device will produce what a patient is picturing, and it is better to establish that at the assessment than after a session.

What the session involves

A treatment grid is marked on the area, and the tip is passed over it systematically with a coupling fluid. Each pulse delivers a brief deep heat sensation followed by cooling at the surface — most people describe it as warm and entirely manageable. Face and neck take around an hour; body areas take longer.

You can return to normal activity immediately. Mild redness or a feeling of tightness may last a few hours.

How often it is repeated

One session is the usual course, with the result assessed at around six months once the collagen response has run. Most people repeat it roughly annually depending on how their skin responds and what else they are having done.