What is sofwave?
Sofwave is a new treatment in aesthetic medicine launched just in 2021. It is skin tightening and collagen stimulating treatment that incorporates many advantages and improvements over previous devices that have come and gone.
It is a true “lunchtime facelift”, in that you would not expect any recovery time at all after the treatment.
Each treatment takes about 30-40 minutes. Pulses of high frequency focused ultrasound are “fired” onto the skin over the intended treatment area. The ultrasound waves then triggers a response to produce more collagen and elastin in the skin. More collagen translates to better skin quality, less wrinkles and skin that is more taut.
The treatments are comfortable enough to be performed without any topical anesthesia. Sedation will definitely not be required.
Over the few weeks after just one treatment, improvements to skin quality and tightness will become progressively more visible as new collagen is formed. Studies have shown improvements to continue up to 12 weeks.
The Sofwave treatment can be repeated yearly. Or more frequently, if desired.
How is Sofwave Better?
Over the last twenty or so years, doctors have tried many methods to tighten sagging skin and remove wrinkles and lines on the faces of their patients. Sofwave has taken the best of each generation of these devices and made it safer and more comfortable for the patients.
Non-ablative, non-invasive, no-downtime.
Compared to earlier ablative methods to smooth out lines and wrinkles, Sofwave is definitely a step up because of the absence of any recovery time after the treatments. It also does not have any risk for PIH or scarring that may be associated with ablative lasers.
Less operator and patient dependent
Compared with RF devices that work on the principle of tissue coagulation to induce the healing response, focused ultrasound technologies have the advantage that they are less dependent on the conductivity of the skin. Conductivity can vary a lot with hydration status and fat content. And different parts of the body will also differ in conductivity. In the older RF devices, the amount of RF energy delivered is also operator dependent.
Improved ultrasound energy delivery
The SUPERB technology delivers a uniform layer of focused ultrasound energy at an accurate depth of 1.5mm to stimulate neocollagensis where it matters. Hardly any of the energy reaches the skin where the nerves that sense pain are located. Hence is it also much more comfortable than older HIFU devices. Clinical studies have shown that 87% of patients experienced a satisfactory improvement in terms of skin quality and tightness.
How does Sofwave Work?
Our skin has an incredible ability to heal and repair. From as far back as in the 1990s, doctors have been trying to harness this ability to repair to improve skin quality.
At about 2005, the industry focus changed to coagulative devices like Thermage and various other RF devices. Instead of causing an outright injury, these coagulative devices created spots of invisible “injury” to trigger the healing response. But the technology depended on the conductivity in the skin which can differ even in the same person on different days, not to mention different individuals.
The Sofwave technology further refined the ultrasound energy to a level under skin which produced maximum collagen regeneration but with much greater comfort. And the energy levels are also more uniform. Less shots of Sofwave are needed to deliver the same results which reduces treatment time. It also has built-in feedback for skin cooling during the treatment.
Can it be mixed with Other Procedures?
Sofwave can be safely performed on patients whom have received botulinum toxin and filler injections. Or even in the same session as these products are placed in a different plane of the skin or deeper structures of the face. Additionally, because Sofwave does not impact the pigment (chromophores) in the skin, it can be performed in a same session with may lasers.