I often talk about the 3Cs all modern women need in abundance: caffeine, collagen, and confidence. After noticing the wear and tear of life manifesting on my face – a bit more drooping of the brows, a pronounced sagginess forming into jowls, and visible laxity around the jaw, chin, and neck area – I decided enough talk. It’s time to walk the walk, to lift and whip my skin back into shape for more youthful contours.
In our beauty-crazed world, there are a multitude of treatments promising amazing, youthful results, but there’s always a catch, if not a total oversell. As a beauty warrior who’s been in the game for a while, I’ve learned that magical de-aging miracles do not exist. However, I do know there are treatments, backed by science, that can disrupt the aging process and renew the face that greets us in the bathroom mirror every morning.
In my search for such a treatment, I listed a few criteria after ruling out anything invasive i.e., no cutting or puncturing of the skin. I have a low threshold for pain so the latest skin-beautifying trend – whose name I shall not utter – rumored to be excruciating was a no-no. Thirdly, I needed a procedure safe for skin tones darker than 3 on the Fitzpatrick scale – some ablative treatments are just not friendly to melanin. And lastly, minimal downtime was essential, nothing that would leave me so post-procedural I’d scare children on the subway. My list was soon whittled down to the latest and most precise form of ultrasound therapy for face and body: the Sofwave non-invasive, mini lift at Optiskin Medical with its founder, board certified dermatologist Dr. Orit Markowitz.
A week before the treatment, I was sent pre-procedure skin care guidelines which instructed me to shelve the more invasive actives and treatments: retinol, AHA, lasers, and microdermabrasion, to basically be kind to the skin. Jonesing from the lack of exfoliation my oily skin craves, I started to worry that the treatment would be more intense than I expected. By the time I arrived at the posh Upper East Side address, directly across from the lush greenery of Central Park East, I was a bit nervous, so nervous, in violation of my own mantra, I declined a coffee from the fully stocked Nespresso bar by Optiskin Medical’s welcoming receptionists.
After being ushered into a private treatment room, Dr. Markowitz’s medical assistant took photos for a before-and-after comparison and patiently walked me through the process. She explained that first and foremost, Optiskin Medical and Dr. Markowitz are as equally committed to giving patients stunning cosmetic results as to pain management. In the spirit of ensuring my comfort, the assistant first applied numbing cream in a thick layer from forehead to neck to minimize even the slightest bit of discomfort.
When the doctor promptly arrived, she conducted an examination of my skin – even gave me tips for the stubborn melasma on my forehead – while I talked her ear off about my multi-step skin care routine. With a background in cancer treatment, who has prioritized and pioneered non-invasive skin cancer treatments, Dr. Markowitz’s bonafides are without question – she knows skin, the dermis and epidermis, inside and out.
She reviewed my photos, and pointed out the lax areas she wanted to focus on for collagen and elastin stimulation with the targeted ultrasound delivery of Sofwave. With the brow, jowls, and the fleshly neck contour agreed upon, Dr. Markowitz, with a gentle bedside manner, explained the science in easily digestible terms.
Sofwave is not the first ultrasound facial lifting treatment, but it is the most advanced on the market today. Ultrasound technology, the delivery of high energy waves as sound or heat, has been used in a myriad of medical treatments for years. When delivered into the correct depth of the skin as heat, ultrasound causes thermal damage which in turn triggers collagen production.
Earlier iterations of ultrasound therapy for facial lifting were hit-or-miss, either not hot enough to provoke the right result or too hot, as well as delivered at the wrong skin depth – all which contributed to painful, inefficient treatments which lasted an hour for full face and neck coverage. With Sofwave’s award-winning, high-frequency ultrasonic pulses, the heat is delivered via SUPERB Synchronous Ultrasound Parallel Beam technology to the exact depth of skin and at the exact temperature – 1.5 mm at 60-70 C – needed to maximize thermal damage for collagen renewal and remodeling.
With my curiosity for beauty science sated, the doctor’s assistant administered the next step in the pain management protocol – nitrous oxide, ie. laughing gas. Dr. Markowitz then applied a cool gel to allow a smooth glide of the device head along the cheekbones, jaw, and orbital area so she could fully focus the treatment on prioritized areas.
With each pulse of the Sofwave, heat intensifies under the surface of the skin until it reaches the optimal temperature, immediately followed by a cooling blast. In certain spots, namely the hollow of the cheekbones and the undereye, it felt pretty spicy at times and then subsided with the cool setting in seconds. After a few passes along the face and neck, about 35 min, I was all done. Just like that, I was ready to go about my tasks.
Dr. Markowitz advised a gentle skin care regimen for a few more days, and a return visit to assess the full results. The benefits of the Sofwave continue to manifest and peak 12 weeks post-treatment as skin amps up collagen remodeling, production of elastin, and native hyaluronic acid for taut contours and less visible fine lines and wrinkles.
On the way out, I checked out my reflection, expecting the worst. I was barely pinkish and totally errand appropriate – the downtime was so short-lived I’d barely call it that. On the way out, I belatedly took the receptionists up on their offer. With a crema-rich espresso, and facial contours growing more and more snatched with every passing month***, I sauntered out of Optiskin Medical with a megadose of caffeine, collagen, and confidence.
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***In a little under a month since my first Sofwave treatment, I’ve noticed the upper eye is lifted and less hooded, cheekbones are more sculpted, marionette lines appear less aggressive, and a slimmer projection of the neck contour. I can’t wait to check in another month to gauge even more stunning, youthful results from this ultrasound mini-lift.
