I don't know about you, but I would be happy to look like the image of Martha Stewart pictured right at 70 plus years of age. I think she's aging quite gracefully.
If you carefully look at the neck of Martha Stewart on the left and then on the right you will find that there is a lot less waddle in the image on the right. In my expert opinion I would guess that Martha might have had some kind of radiofrequency around her neck, face and jawline.
Why radiofrequency and not a facelift? My first clue is that the actual skin on her neck appears to be much thinner. When one gets a radiofrequency treatment like Thermage® the skin tends to thin out. The skin almost shrink wraps around the face. Because the heat in radiofrequency can be quite intense it can also melt the fat. This is why the area around Martha's chin is more heart-shaped and refined on the right than it is on the left. That refinement is not easy to get with a facelift.
In this particular instance Radiofrequency is wonderful tool for the following reasons:
1. She has thick skin
2. She is much older and RF treatments, which produce a brittle collagen is appropriate on older skin versus younger skin.
3. She has a lot of excess waddle in the neck, which is perfect for RF (in fact I think RF is perfect for older necks)
Who shouldn't do RF?
1. People under the age of 45
2. People with thin skin like Kristen Chenoweth or Kelly Ripa.
3. People with little fat on the face.
Doing RF outside of these guidelines can actually make the face look drawn, less youthful, even haggish after the effect wears down a bit because of the inferior collagen. Excessive lines will begin to appear around the mouth. You may have a tight jawline and the face may look tight initially, but in the end I've seen the RF band-aid make many celebs look older beyond their years especially as that inferior collagen begins to break down.
Again on someone like Martha Stewart it looks absolutely wonderful, but on most others the long-term results do not outweigh the short-term benefits. I've seen a good result last about 2-5 years at the most depending on the device, but you can only go back a limited number of times before the skin collapses.
Many doctors see RF as a business model and income strategy. I'm tired of practitioners building skyscrapers on swamps. Doing RF on many faces makes just about as much sense! I look forward to the day when plastic surgery becomes more of an art and not just a business model. We're getting there though. Remember the whacky filler days??
