You’re comfortable with growing older. It does come with a certain amount of wisdom and privilege, but you’re not comfortable with wrinkles, sagging skin, or scars. A smooth complexion may feel out of reach, or attainable only with surgery, but at Inner Vitality in Bellevue, WA, we have a faster and easier solution to help our patients feel younger and more confident. We are pleased to offer Radiofrequency (RF) microneedling with both Agnes RF and Secret™ RF.
Who will Benefit from Agnes RF and Secret™ RF?
Agnes RF is best for tackling specific problem areas on the face: eye bags, upper and lower eyelid sagging or wrinkles, jowling and loss of jawline definition due to excess fat and lax skin, or undesired fat and skin fullness in the submental region.
Secret™ RF is designed for more global improvement of fine lines, wrinkles and scars as well addressing as poor texture and tone of skin on whole face, neck and chest. This is also an excellent treatment option for stretch marks and wrinkles of your body skin.
Who are not Good Candidates for
Agnes RF and Secret™ RF?
These treatments are not safe for women who are pregnant or those men and women experiencing heart problems. We do not recommend treatment for those with an infectious disease or metal implants.
What is Radiofrequency Technology?
Radiofrequency (RF) energy consists of waves of electric and magnetic energy. In aesthetic medicine, RF energy is used to heat the dermis to approximately 60 degrees Celsius which initiates new collagen and elastin formation, leading to visible tightening of the skin.
Why are Agnes RF and Secret™ RF Better than Traditional Microneedling or RF Alone?
Agnes RF and Secret™ RF combine both skin microneedling AND radiofrequency, producing a synergistic effect much greater than the sum of each treatment individually.
Agnes RF is used to target smaller areas of concern with near surgical precision whereas Secret™ RF tackles larger areas, as in the whole face, neck and chest for more generalized improvement of skin concerns.
Traditional Microneedling
With traditional microneedling, a hand-held device with sterile disposable needle tips is used to create micro-channels in the skin. This micro-injury stimulates the body’s own healing response with collagen and elastin production. Applying serums or platelet rich plasma (PRP) for penetration of nutrients and growth factors through the micro-channels created in the skin to augment the healing response.
Traditional Radiofrequency
Traditional RF uses a handpiece that sits on top of the skin’s surface. The RF energy has to penetrate through the surface layers of the skin before it produces an effect. But limited by the patient’s pain tolerance to the heat at the skin surface, the traditional RF devices typically deliver lower energy level to the dermis layer, producing less collagen stimulation.
RF Microneedling
Agnes RF and Secret™ RF microneedling, on the other hand, use needles to deliver the fractionated RF energy directly and precisely into the dermis. The RF energy administered this way has greater heating and denaturing effect on the dermal collagen resulting in greater stimulation of new collagen and more effective remodeling, producing better and more consistent results. Its effect is closer to fractionated laser than traditional RF. RF Microneedling adds the superboosting effect of radiofrequency energy to the traditional microneedling procedure. RF energy delivered deep into the skin produces faster, more dramatic results with skin tightening and collagen and elastin production.
We always have the option to further enhance the results with use of serums or PRP applied immediately after the RF microneedling treatment.
What are the Benefits of Fractional RF Technology?
In devices that use fractional RF like Agnes RF and Secret™ RF, the percentage of skin treated can be adjusted for each patient’s condition. Treating a fractional portion of the skin allows the skin to recover more quickly with minimal risk and complications. A complete treatment course typically involves a series of treatments so that each cell gets treated at least once during the series. This way you can achieve the same effectiveness as an invasive laser treatment with fewer risks and a shorter downtime.
How is RF Microneedling Different from Laser Skin Resurfacing?
RF microneedling targets the deep layers of the skin while bypassing the epidermis, the most superficial layer, which is most prone to side effects and prolonged downtime. RF microneedling offers similar results to ablative laser procedures, but with significantly less discomfort, downtime and risk for hyperpigmentation, especially in darker skin types.
Before RF Microneedling was available, you had to undergo aggressive laser skin resurfacing or deep chemical peels if you desired significant improvement in skin wrinkles and laxity. But lengthy recovery times made it difficult to fit these treatments in to busy lifestyles. Also, these treatments were not safe for people with darker skin due to significant risk for post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation.
Unlike laser skin resurfacing or deep chemical peels, fractional RF can deliver the energy where it’s needed most, in the lower dermis, while minimizing the damage to the skin’s surface. This means minimal visible downtime but achieving results similar to aggressive laser treatments, improving the skin texture and tightening skin, even for dark skin or skin that is prone to scarring or hyperpigmentation.
Can Agnes RF or Secret™ RF be Combined with Other Treatments?
It can be advantageous to combine Agnes RF which precisely targets problem areas with Secret™ RF which is designed for RF microneedling of the whole face, neck and decollete.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a great addition to RF microneedling. The growth factors concentrated in PRP enhance the results of RF microneedling and shorten the recovery time.
Other treatments, such as Botox/Dysport/Xeomin and fillers are great complementary treatments, but would not be done at same time as the RF microneedling treatment.
Using great medical grade skincare products before and after the Agnes RF or Secret™ RF treatments will promote even faster healing of your skin.
RF Microneedling Technological Breakthrough
With their ability to address multiple concerns, short recovery times, and rapid treatment sessions, the Agnes RF and Secret™ RF are technological breakthroughs. No longer do you need to sift through various treatment options, trying to find one that most closely matches your needs. The multi-faceted nature of the RF microneedling means it can open a whole new world of firmer, brighter, and smoother skin for almost anyone.
We welcome you to come in for your in-depth consultation with Dr. Alice Kuntz to discuss your concerns and explore the optimal treatment for you.
